The Sweet Crazy Life

Chapter 5 (part 2): Afternoons

CHAPTER 5 (part 2): Afternoons

Ariana

It didn't take long until Ro became the talk around campus and the classes we go to. During the morning classes, Ro was the center of attention to girls and boys alike.

"What's the big deal about Ro anyway?" I ask Lannie as we entered Culinary Fundamentals class. Giggling freshmen were already gossiping about my roommate once again. "Everyone seems to be talking about him."

"Don't you know?" Lannie asks, surprised as if I just missed something that was completely obvious.

"Know what?"

"Rowan is the heir to the Acqua Panna restaurant company!" Lannie exclaims dreamily. "Not only that, he is also Anthony Bourdain's only nephew! I bet Rowan got a lot of training from him."

I was speechless... Ro? Heir to Acqua Panna, the best restaurant in North America?! It has a rank of top 5 in the best restaurants in the world. Plus, Anthony Bourdain, one of the most successful chefs to ever graduate from CIA, an uncle?! Anthony Bourdain is my idol, he started out as a dishwasher and he worked his way up to the top. Twenty long years of hard work, just to become a successful chef! He is a modest guy and that was what I liked about him. Some of the other high-class chefs prefer those luxurious French restaurants found in Europe but Anthony prefered this old Mexican place behind his home.

"Oh, Ari, he's like the perfect guy!" Lannie continues. "Nice hair, emerald green eyes, a muscled body and he knows how to cook!"

"Lannie, you marry a guy from CIA, he'll be able to whip you up a five-star meal." I say. "It doesn't really have to be Ro. What's so great about him anyways?"

"Ari, he's not just some rich chef guy." Lannie reasons, her voice becoming softer and more passionate. "It was never his ability to cook or that his background can leave my parents mouths hanging but it's Rowan himself. The way he helped me take out my cake during the first day we met. When he smiled and acted like a complete gentleman... and his eyes, when they met mine, I knew he was the kind of guy I would be willing to sacrifice anything."

I couldn't believe it. Lannie is in love. And it was not a shallow type of love where you would look at someone and find him attractive then you gave a crush on him, no. Lannie is true to her heart with her feelings for Ro. But Ro is such a dense guy. Him and Lannie? It won't work out. Lannie is too sweet and Ro, too cold.

"Speak of the devil." I say as Ro enters the room. A flurry of whispers and conversations erupted as he came in, positioning himself against the wall on the furthest end of the room with a few guys he must have met. He was wearing his chef's hat now, just like the rest of us. His eyes met mine and I once saw the forest green wonder in them but he turned away.

"Alright people, welcome to Culinary Fundamentals!" came a loud voice that drew everyone's attention. In the center of the room was a lady who was probably in her forties wearing a chef suit with a special embroidered name tag. "I am professor Elizabeth Briggs and I will be teaching you throughout the basics for first semester."

Mrs. Briggs was a petite lady with a sturdy figure, wearing half-rimmed glasses and a pixie hair cut.

"Now, I would like to know who among you thirty-two fresmen I'm teaching are double-course students?" Mrs. Briggs asks and seven of us raised our hands including me, Lannie and Ro. "Which among you is Ariana Starr?"

The room fell silent and the six double-course students looked at me tentatively. I raised one shaky hand in the air.

Mrs. Briggs approached me, her eyes trained on mine. "I'm expecting big things from you, Ms. Starr." I nodded in return. PRESSURE.