Hell's Smitten (Gordon Ramsay x Reader)

Chapter 92- The Thirteenth Dinner Service Part 3/3

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

Gordon watches me expectantly as I approach the pass. Breathe. I can do this. I've done it before... except this time, Gordon will be trying to slip me up. The pressure is intense. Coupled with the fact that there will be an elimination tonight, my fingertips tingle as adrenaline courses through me.

When I reach Gordon's side, he takes my shoulders in his hands and his eyes lock onto mine.

"Concentrate, stay relaxed, keep your chin up, yeah?" He squeezes my shoulders. "You'll do great."

"Yes, Chef." I take a deep breath and steady myself, drawing strength from his touch.

JP leans over the pass holding out the next ticket. I savor the last seconds of Gordon's hands on me before he releases me and I turn to the pass and take the ticket from JP.

I read it over first to be sure JP hasn't tried to give me a test already, but it all looks alright.

"Everyone, table thirty-one's ticket is in! One salmon, one Wellie and two strips, how fast can I get that?" I shout to the kitchen.

"Give me fifteen minutes, Chef!" Bella shuffles her pans around.

"Alright, be sure to let Christina know when to drop her fish!" I remind her.

"Gotcha." Bella nods.

I busy myself with prepping the plates for the table. Gordon stands close to my side, watching my hands as they move about the pass. I'm on high alert– the test is most likely to come from Christina, but after seeing Abel get a different purée at the pass, I'm wary of everything.

Oh well, at least it gives me a good reason to keep my eyes on Gordon.

I notice Christina begin to cook her fish and squint as I attempt to tell if she's put on the right sort of fish, but I can't tell from this distance.

"How are we doing, guys? How much longer?" I ask.

"Maybe three minutes," Tay responds, stirring her pan of garnish. Red has moved from helping Tay to helping out fish instead.

Bella pulls out the meat and sets it to rest while Abel prepares a few steaks on the grill for the next tickets. When he notices me watching him, he gives a half-smile and glances down at his steaks then back up at me.

"Garnish ready to go, milady!" Taylor breaks my attention from Abel as she bows exaggeratedly when she sets the garnish for the steaks, fish, and Wellington down all at once. I do a quick check over them to make sure nothing is under or overcooked. When I determine everything to be perfect, I grin at her.

"Nice work, Tay! Keep it up," I shout.

"Fo' sho', boss!" She nods at me and returns the grin.

A minute later, Bella brings up the strips and Wellington while Red trails behind with Christina's salmon.

I check the salmon and find it to be a tad bit under-cooked.

"Christina, two minutes more on this fish?" I ask, holding the fish out to Red. Red approaches the pass and takes the fish.

Once the fish makes it back to her station, Christina responds, "No problem, Chef."

Once she brings it back up properly cooked, I go over the food.

Out of extreme carefulness, I check the purée before I set it on the plates. Gordon's eyes twinkle mischievously as he watches me check over everything.

Once I'm done setting everything on its plates, he nods towards the food.

"Happy with that?" he asks. He asks this to everyone nearly every time the plates are about to be sent, but I want to be absolutely sure that I am happy before I tell him yes.