The Romeo Problem

Baking Bliss

Michael's bakery always had warm, fresh pastries and a delicious smell in the air. Today was the exception.

When Julie showed up to work, thirty minutes early on a Sunday morning, she didn't smell fresh pastries. She smelt burnt toast.

She rushed into the kitchen to find Romeo and Molly trying to rush around the kitchen. There were only the two of them and they were trying to bake too much for the two of them to handle.

"What the heck is going on?" Julie asked.

"No one showed up to work! I think there must have been a mix up with the schedules." Molly explained as she was trying to salvage some cookies.

"Where's Mr. Cameron?" Julie wondered.

"Nick's trying to hunt down a couple employees because we don't have enough help." Romeo said as a timer went off. They must have had at least three going.

"Alright, what can I do to help?" Julie rolled up her sleeves ready to help.

"We need a new batch of chocolate chip cookies, because let's face it these are unsalvageable." Molly sighed as she tossed out a plate of crispy, black charcoal.

Julie grabbed the cookie recipe and got started right away. Three part time employees weren't exactly enough to make enough pastries for the entire day, especially since one of them had a hard time paying attention, but they were doing their best.

"Do you think it'll be a slow day?" Julie asked hopefully. Romeo shook his head as he molded dough.

"I doubt it. It's a nice day and lots of people are out and about. It seems like the perfect time for a busy day to me. Cool enough to want hot chocolate but not too cold that everyone is indoors all day." Romeo stated.

Julie sighed. "Perfect." She said sarcastically.

Romeo smirked as he tossed the biscuits he had been working on in the oven.

"Sarcasm, that's original!" He replied.

"Hey, that's my line!" Julie said.

"You stole it from a movie." Romeo laughed.

"Still!"

There was a chime of a small bell, meaning someone had entered the bakery. It was a customer.

"You two take care of it back here. I'll take care of the customer." Molly said. Julie was about to protest that Molly didn't have to do her job, but the older girl had already left.

"I didn't even realize we were open yet. Why didn't you guys start baking sooner? Or at least give yourselves some extra time to prepare." Julie stated.

Romeo blushed and scratched the back of his head. "We, uh, didn't really think about that."

Julie rolled her eyes. "Just like you didn't think that it's important to set the timer when baking muffins?"

"That was half your fault. You forgot too!" Romeo pointed out.

"Fair point." Julie giggled. "Is it weird that we've got so much in common?"

"Like what? We're both awesome at baking except we forget about setting timers?" Romeo questioned.

"Not exactly what I meant. I mean we both like Shakespeare, we both like cooking, we both like Harry Potter and Star Wars, we both have some family issues," Julie listed.

"We're the two coolest people at Locking Grove High," Romeo joked.

"Coolest? I don't know about that, Cameron. I'm pretty sure cool people don't have parts of Hamlet memorized. And cool people are probably awesome at Mario Kart." Julie teased.

Romeo dramatically placed a hand on his heart as if Julie's words had hurt him.

"And here I thought it was those things that made me cool." Romeo cried, being a huge drama queen.

"I'm sorry, did I bruise your ego?"

"Nah, my ego is fine. But you're right. We do have a lot in common. No wonder we get along so well."

"Yeah... No wonder." Julie smiled at Romeo. He grinned back.

"You know," He began as he put the last of the pastries in the oven. "You have a great smile. I guess you're braces are to thank for that, aren't they?"

Julie blushed. "I guess they are. That's one thing good about them."

"When did you get them taken off?" Romeo asked curiously.

"Uh, end of Freshman year, I think. It was definitely Freshman year because I just had stopped seeing Dr. Havette. Yeah it was Freshman year." Julie mumbled.

"Dr. Havette?" Who's that?"

"My old therapist." Julie said honestly.

"I didn't know you used to go to therapy." Romeo muttered.

"Whatever, its not like it's a big deal. Plenty of people see therapists." Julie mumbled.

The bell sounded for what felt like the thirteenth time that day.

"Molly, what are you doing out here?" The voice of Nicolas Cameron sounded. Romeo laughed. The two teens listened in, as the the owner talked to his employee. "Don't tell me that you left the two of them alone to flirt in the kitchen!" Nick sounded more surprised rather than upset.

Romeo was nearly crying with laughed and Julie's face was bright red.

"Maybe we should get back to work."