Into the Black ~ a Duff Mckagan Fanfiction

Chapter 2 - Assistant

It's Wednesday.

My car's headlights illuminated front of the shop as I pulled into the parking lot. I blinked, why are the building lights already on? 

I had a brief moment of panic before remembering that Daniel hired some new boy over the weekend to help me out in the kitchen, and today was his first day.

I opened up the door and head inside, I am glad to have the help, but it's way too early to talk to other people.

He gave me a grin and a hello as soon as I walked in the door. I try to smile but it's hard, it's so early and the lights are so bright. On top of that, I haven't gone to bed yet. It's another all-nighter. There was a show at the Whisky I wanted to go to, so I headed straight here from the bar. 

I can sleep when I'm dead. 

"I'm Harlow," I say simply, and shake his hand.

"I'm Duff, apparently I'm here to help you out. What should I do?"

"Um, let me think." I bite my lip, I hadn't given any thought to what he was supposed to do and my brain was foggy from staying up all night. What do I even need help with?

It would be nice if someone helped defrost all the pastries and cakes while I just had to focus on making muffins for the day. I guess he could do that. And it would be simple, he wouldn't fuck it up.

"It would be great if you could help defrost all the frozen goods for me, I really need help with that so I can just focus on baking."

I lead him over to the freezer, twisting my hair into a bun as I walk. He followed me diligently like a puppy, eager to help. At least he seemed cool.

I showed Duff the pastries and told him the number of each we need defrosted before we open at eight.

"Do you think you could write that down for me? I'll never remember." He admitted nervously, scratching his head.

"Sure. It's a lot to remember." I grabbed a pen from the counter and wrote down the numbers on a sticky note for him.

Once Duff was set to work, I started in on my muffin baking. As always, I started with the blueberry, then the chocolate chip.

It was nice to only have to worry about my muffins, not about defrosting or anything else.

I wondered briefly if he knew what he was doing and I was going to show him how to do it, but he seemed to be a pro. There was no hesitation in his actions at all. Maybe he had worked at a restaurant or coffee shop like this before.

After mixing up a huge batch of muffin batter, I portioned it out into pans and shoved the first one into the oven.

We worked peacefully side by side in the small space well, it didn't seem to be too bad and I was much less stressed. Maybe this was a good idea.

Right before we opened, Daniel came into the kitchen. It was definitely a little cramped, with Duff's at least 6 foot frame already in there.

"How's it going?" Daniel hovered near the entrance, realizing there was no room for him in the tiny kitchen area.

"It's good." I continued taking muffins out of the pan and setting them on a cooling rack to cool.

"I see she hasn't killed you yet Duff, this is a good sign."

The new guy chuckled in response. 

"Well I'm glad you two are getting along." Daniel stole a muffin from the cooling rack and then walked back to the front.

Duff sidled up next to me at the counter. "So where are you from?"

He seemed to like to talk. Normally I'd have a little more patience to do small talk but I had been up for god knows how many hours and I did not want to have a conversation.

"I'm from Illinois." If he asks me one more question I swear to god-

"That's cool, I'm from Seattle, just moved here."

"Look dude, it's a little too early to talk."

"I'm just being friendly. Figure I should try to get to know you if we are going to work together." He frowned, but continued working alongside me nonetheless.

After a few hours of silence I grabbed my sweater and keys to clock out at 12 like normal.

"Sorry." I muttered on my way out. "I'm not very friendly in the mornings."

"It's okay." Duff gave me a smile as he put on his trench coat.

I briefly wondered what his deal was. Who the fuck wears a trench coat in LA anyway? He seemed like a nice guy but he was admittedly kind of strange. I quickly looked away after realizing I was staring at him for a bit too long. He had long blonde hair and big, innocent looking hazel eyes- okay, stop.

"I hope you're settling into LA okay." I gave him a curt nod and closed the door behind me. Why does he seem so familiar? I feel like I recognize him but there is no way I've ever seen him if he just moved here.

Whatever, I'm exhausted and I want to go home. I'm sure that at this point the lack of sleep is catching up to me and I'm just delirious. Should I be driving? Probably not. Oh well. 

I started up my car and drove back to my apartment, parked in my space and yanked the keys out of the ignition. After getting through my apartment door, I nestled into my blankets for a nap. Maybe I'd go out tonight after this, I kind of wanted to go to another show tonight because I was still buzzing from that Motley Crue show I'd seen hours ago. 

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Google is going to think I'm nuts. I just searched up industrial freezers and several articles about running your own coffee shop. Also this fic is not following the plan at all and I do not know what is happening. We will keep going. Hopefully you guys like it!