Hell's Smitten (Gordon Ramsay x Reader)

Chapter 93- Elimination

||A/N: Happy Valentines day my loves!||

Wednesday, July 17th, 2013

Upstairs, we settle into the sitting area. Taylor and Abel sit on either side of me on the couch while Bella and Red sit across from us in the armchairs.

We are silent for some time before Red lets out a deep sigh. "Alright guys, I'll spare you all from deciding and go ahead and volunteer myself to go up there."

"You shouldn't volunteer yourself, Red," Bella interjects. "If Gordon hears that he might think you don't want to be here."

"Well," I counter. "I volunteered myself early on, and Gordon still knew I wanted to be here."

Bella rolls her eyes. "Fine, ignore me. What do I know? I'm only in the final five!"

"We're all in the final five," Taylor quips, drawing a glare from Bella.

"Whatever. I don't care who is voted to go home as long as it's not me." Bella crosses her arms.

"Who do you think should go home, Abel?" Red tilts her head.

"Still thinking. It might help if we go over what happened tonight. Who missed one or both of their tests?" Abel looks around the group.

"The next hearing test I take I'm gonna fail because of Bella's air horn screeching." Taylor grimaces.

"I was trying to be assertive!" Bella defensively shouts.

"Your voice is shrieky enough as is– no need to make it worse," Taylor retorts.

Bella glares, looking like she's about to hop from her armchair and tear at Taylor's curly hair when Abel speaks.

"Bella, Taylor, let's be civil. I get that tensions are high but-"

"Easy for you to say, Mr. Perfect." Bella sneers. "You've never been upped, have you?"

Abel sits up in his seat and locks eyes with her, yet says nothing.

"See? You have no idea what it's like to be on the receiving end of criticism!" Bella responds haughtily.

"I certainly do." Abel's expression hardens.

"What, widdle Abel forgot seasoning once?" She huffs.

"I've been studying the culinary arts since I was fifteen, Bella. I had no friends and my family was on a different continent. When I failed, I had no one but myself to blame and no one to help comfort me." He sets his hands in his lap and pointedly glowers at her.

"I wasn't automatically good at what I do. It took hard work and determination and many sleepless nights as I went over my failures and struggled to perfect my flaws. So, yes, I've had few errors since coming to Hell's Kitchen, but don't you dare tell me I have no idea what it is like to receive criticism. You could fill a book with the amount of critique I've received," he says harshly.

Bella gapes before averting her eyes and responding much quieter, "Fine, gees..."

"Uh, back on the subject of the sabotage..." Taylor tries to ease the tension in the room. "I caught that Christina made the wrong sauce, but I didn't catch the pan of incorrect garnish."

I glance at Taylor, then at Bella who is studying the phone beside her chair rather than meeting anyone's eyes. "As for me, I almost missed Gordon putting out the wrong plates but caught them at the last second. Not sure if that counts, but I thought I'd mention it anyway," I gulp. "But I did catch the wrong type of fish being used."