I Love You, I'm Sorry; Sydney Adamu

008. Next of Kin

The chatter around the table persisted, until Carmen dropped a cardboard box at the end of it. Despite the way Alessia had been zoned out for the past several minutes, the thud seemed to rip her away from her thoughts.

"Okay!" Carmen clapped, "Everyone go ahead and grab one."

Alessia reached into the box, tugging out one of the folded aprons. They were all solid blue, which meant the staff would be uniform. She was sure Tina and some of the others wouldn't like that.

"Uh, Carm," Marcus also grabbed one of the aprons, "The phone ringing."

"Yep, yep. I hear it. Thank you, Marcus." Carmen aknowledged, "This way, we're going to look like a team, right?"

"Robust," Ebraheim noted.

"Mine is better, Jeff." Tina proclaimed, looking at the bland apron.

"Okay," Carmen cleared his throat, and took a step back, "I'm going to hand it over to chef Sydney, in just a second but first uh," he took a deep breath.

"Look, I'm not trying to be an asshole," Carmen stated, "and change your guys' system, okay? I don't wanna fuck it up—I don't want to meddle with it or whatever the fuck. Alright, I want to harness it. Okay, I want to organize it."

Alessia understood her brother's plan and delicate way of approaching the restaurant's dynamic. What she didn't understand was why it seemed like he didn't want her help with that.

It was beginning to feel like she was an outsider, even to Carmen.

"We can't keep operating like this—we got a 'C'. Guys! A 'C' stands for Chaos. That can't happen again! And that's why we're going to start operating like a French Kitchen. That means there's going to be a chain of command."

The video games behind Carmen was the only thing uttering a sound as he spoke.

"Okay? This was developed by Escoffier, and I think—"

Richie waltzed through the door, "Oh scoffi-gay? Love that dude! What's up? I don't know what's going on."

Carmen sighed, "We're implementing a French Brigade."

"Cool! Got it!" Richie picked up an apron, "Yeah, Fuck that."

"Nah, it's bullshit," Tina agreed.

"Okay," Carmen began once more only to be cut off.

"Carmy, no, no, no. I was in a brigade once." Ebraheim interrupted.

Tina arched an eyebrow, "What happened?"

"Many people died." Ebraheim deadpanned.

Tina turned towards Carmen, "See Jeff?"

"Okay this is—it's gonna be different." Carmen insisted, "this is what real kitchens do. Guys, this is what real teams do. Okay? Everybody takes care of their own station. They keep their own side of the street clean. Yeah? Okay."

Carmen tapped the spoon on the inside of his hand, "I am going to go get the phone, um, but you are in good hands. Uh, take it away, Chef."

Alessia almost got up and followed Carmen, fully ready to barate him with questions. Starting with why he didn't talk to her about this before.

However, when her eyes fell on an already nervous Sydney...she decided that walking out of the room right now would only make things worse.

"Okay," Sydney stepped forward cautiously, "So um, as you may have heard...we are implementing a French brigade.We all heard that right, so."

The woman flipped open her small notebook, her eyes flickering down to the page for support. Alessia almost stood up to help her, herself but decided against it.

"Carmy is the head Chef guy," Sydney explained, "Or uh, the CDC, Uh I would be, I am, the sous."

"Like hierarchy?" Ebraheim inquired.

Alessia shook her head, "It's not hierarchy—it's um more like—"

"Chill-archy," Sydney quipped, "It's more about dividing labor."

The conversation only got more intense from there. Alessia listened carefully as Sydney explained each member of the staff's role and how day-to-day things would flow using this system.

"I promise this structure will be super helpful," Sydney stated, "It will make things run smoother, calmer..."

Panicked footsteps echoed until Carmen was in sight. The man's jacket was half-on and half-off, and he seemed to be in quite the rush. This worried Alessia.

"Hey chef, I gotta run a quick errand," Carmen explained plainly, "Can you hold down the fort? Thank you Chef."

And with that Carmen was gone as soon as he appeared. Alessia stood up, eyes wide and looked to Sydney to make sure she was alright before following behind her brother.

"Carmen, wait!"

Alessia rushed behind him, catching up once the two of them reached the sidewalk.

"Carm—hey?" Alessia softly touched his shoulder and he flinched, spinning on his heel to face her. It was like he hadn't even noticed that she was following him.

"Mae— why uh, why aren't you in there?" He motioned to the building and his sister shook her head.

"What's going on with you, Carm?" Alessia folded her arms, attempting to block the chilly air from her skin.

He sucked in a shaky breath and shook his head, "Nothing, nothing."

Alessia scoffed, "Don't do that."

"Do what?" He asked, his arms dropping down by his sides.

"Lie to me," she frowned, "What's going on?"

Carmen shook his head, "It's stupid. Some guy called looking for Mikey—and I don't know..."

"It felt like he was alive?" Alessia asked quietly. The woman had unfortunately experienced the same thing, more than once.

Carmen nodded, his eyes falling to the ground in front of him. Alessia frowned, wishing there was something more she could do to help him.

"Where are you going?" She inquired softly.

Her brother sighed, "Just to clear my head."

Alessia frowned, unsure of whether or not that was the full truth. She pinched her lips together, trying to come up with something else to say.

"Carm?"

The man hummed in reply, his eyes returning to his sister.

Alessia pinched the bridge of her nose, "Do you think I'm not as capable as Sydney or something?"

The man's eyebrows tugged together as he tried to work out where the hell that question came from. He studied her for a few seconds, while he formulated a reply.

"What do you mean?"

Alessia scoffed, "I feel like—I don't know, I feel like you don't even ask or take into account my opinion on stuff. Carmy, I came here to help you—"

Carmen sighed, he understood his sister's question now, "Mae, it's not that I think Sydney's more capable than you, I just—I want you to have a way out of this place."

The woman's eyebrows pulled together, "What makes you think I'd want an out. I came here to help make this place better Carm—"

"You are better than this place and I don't want it to drag you down, Mae."

Alessia shook her head, "Whatever, Carmy. I'm gonna head back to my station."

Before Carmen could get a single other word in, the woman had spun on her heels and took off back into the restaurant.

"Fuck," he muttered, running a hand through his hair.