Chef Charming

by Ellerbe, Lyn

  As the classmates sat around the classroom later enjoying the fruits of their labor, Marcus watched the group of four that usually drew his attention. John was wiping whipped cream from Rori’s nose and she was playfully patting his cheek with her powdered sugar covered hand. His previously light mood darkened. He wanted to do the young man bodily harm.

  As class was wrapping up, Marcus reminded the four groups that were presenting tomorrow night to check with him before they left. This was Jess’s job since Rori was doing the shopping.

  “I’ll see you eight here bright and early to get your dishes started. One of each group needs to come see me before you leave to make sure everything will be ready for you.” He was relieved to see Jess walking towards him and not Aurora. Coward, he said to himself. Luckily for John, Calvin was the spokesman for their group.

  -------------------------

  Unable to resist what had become an addiction, Marcus opened his email program and typed:

  Dear Aurora: Are you nervous about your presentation? Do you have everything you need? Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help. ~Marcus

  Aurora had just logged on to check for a message from her parents. They were making final plans for the weekend and she wanted to double-check their arrival time. Clicking on the message box, she responded out of habit.

  Dear Marcus: I think we are good. I’m doing the shopping early in the morning and then meeting Jessica at nine. Class was delicious tonight. ~Aurora.

  Dear Aurora: Well, you and John Liu seemed to certainly be enjoying it. ~Marcus

  Wondering if his jealousy was evident or if he should change the font color to green, he hesitated, but sent the message anyway.

  Rori was slightly confused. He sounded almost jealous, but convinced herself that they must have just gotten a little too loud for Chef’s liking.

  Marcus: Sorry to be disruptive…again! John is so head over heels for Jessica it’s hilarious. I’ve threatened him on numerous occasions. If he doesn’t ask her out by Saturday, I’m going to bop him on the head. Apparently, he did not take my powdered sugar threats tonight seriously, since she is still moping around here hoping for a phone call. Why are guys so dense? ~Aurora

  The relief that washed over Marcus was overwhelming. He wanted to reach through the computer and kiss this young woman until she giggled for release. She thinks John has it bad. If she only knew.

  Aurora: I apologize on behalf of all us men-types. I agree. We are dense and clueless most of the time when it comes to understanding women. You should all feel sorry for us. ~Marcus.

  Oh, I do! Aurora replied, smiling at his confession. I have to go. My dad is calling. See you tomorrow. ~Aurora.

  Goodnight, Aurora. ~Marcus

  To Europe or Not to Europe?

  Thursday’s gloomy rain-swept morning matched Rori’s mood. The call from her dad had brought bittersweet news. Gwen had received a prestigious job offer to teach at a new school in their district. She was thrilled, but it meant cancelling their European trip. There was no one to take Gwen’s place on such short notice.

  Thankfully, they had purchased trip insurance from the travel agent so the majority of the money would be refunded. Her dad had encouraged her to wait at least a week before officially cancelling her trip. They would try to find someone else to go with her, and besides they had until forty-eight hours before the first flight to cancel.

  Shopping for the ingredients was a breeze since Jess had provided a detailed list. Even the sights and smells of the market did not cheer Rori.

  Marcus was so attuned to her by now that he immediately knew something was wrong when she walked through the door. He pulled Jessica aside.

  “Is everything okay?” he asked. At this point, he did not care if Miss Johnston thought his inquiry was unusual. He did not know that she knew about his and Rori’s late night conversations.

  “Yes, it will be fine,” Jessica said, only partially surprised at his concern. “Rori just got a bit of bad news last night.”

  “Nothing serious, I hope,” Marcus continued. “Mom and Dad are okay, right?”

  “Yes, just a bit of a disappointment, nothing earth-shattering.” Jess said, trying not to smile at his barely disguised interest.

  “Okay.” Marcus moved away, not completely reassured by Jessica’s words. He was extremely curious about what was troubling Aurora, but resisted the urge to push the issue further. “I’ll be in my office if there’s anything anyone needs. I’m sure you’ll be able to handle any emergencies, Miss Johnston.”

  The groups worked on the dishes steadily and the aromas filled the classroom. Rori was very quiet. The two weeks were taking their toll. Her art display was almost complete. She had stopped by the studio on her way back from the grocery store to check on her last oil painting. It needed to be dry so she could move it and her last two large pieces to the gallery in the morning. After breakfast with Marcus and Jake.

  “Oh, I forgot about breakfast,” Rori groaned. Jess looked at her in concern. She just shook her head quickly, adding, “It’s nothing, I’m okay.” The roommate wisely let the matter drop.

  The presentations that evening went well. Even she and Jess did well, despite her distraction and disappointment. Rori had heard again from her father and he reiterated his suggestion that she not panic.

  He reminded her in his calm, professor voice, “God is in control, even of silly young girls who panic over silly European trips and silly logistical problems.” Her dad cracked her up sometimes with his lame attempts at humor. Still it had served her well. She admitted that in light of world events, and the universe, not being able to go to Europe in four weeks was a minor deal. Not that she was any happier about it, but she was in a calmer state tonight.

  “Marvelous, class,” Marcus saluted the four groups at the end of the evening. “We have had a wonderful world tour. Our trip tonight took us to lovely Italy,” nodding to Jessica and Rori, “through Asia and the Pacific islands, “indicating the two young moms who had chosen Chinese food, and John and Calvin’s Hawaiian fare, “and my personal favorite, hearty food from the United Kingdom. Thank you all. I look forward to tomorrow night.” Several people in class that had noted Chef’s use of the word ‘lovely’ in reference to Jessica and Rori’s presentation.

  As they cleaned up and shuffled out of the room, he reminded them to pick up the study guide for their final exam, which would be on Saturday morning. “I promise it’ll be the easiest exam you’ll ever have.”

  “See you in the morning, Princess?” Marcus asked her as she picked up the two-page handout.

  “Yes, Chef,” Rori answered. She was so exhausted that she didn’t see his desolate look as she seemed to brush off his inquiry. “Goodnight.”

  -------------------------

  He decided that it was now or never. Jake was hounding him ruthlessly over taking a step forward before it was too late.

  “She’s moving home on Tuesday, remember?” His friend kept reminding him.

  Dear Princess Aurora: I hope everything is okay. You seemed sad tonight. I will be praying for you. I look forward to breakfast tomorrow. Yours, Marcus.

  He backspaced and changed ‘Yours’ to ‘Sincerely’ and back again before hitting send, doubtful she would even notice.

  Rori fell into bed in an exhausted sleep immediately after class, without checking her email.

  The Breakfast Calamity

  A good night’s sleep having gone a long way to restoring her optimism, Rori was already enjoying her second cup of coffee as Jake and Marcus joined her at the corner table she had chosen. They had laden their trays with an array of hearty breakfast foods.

  “How can you eat that much in the morning?” she asked them, laughing as they jostled each other for table space. She held her sketchbook over her head in mock protection. “Watch out you two, or you’ll ruin my masterpieces.”

  Finally clearing space by combining some of their side dishes onto a bigger plate, and stacking the extra em
pties on a neighboring table, they settled in.

  “Are you not eating anything?” Marcus asked. “Didn’t you learn your lesson earlier this week?”

  Jake raised an eyebrow in response to his friend’s pointed attention to Rori’s eating habits, and smiled to himself. This was so much fun, he thought. About time, Mr. McLoner got his comeuppance.

  “I’ll go get some toast in a minute. Here are the sketches that you saw earlier, Marcus,” Rori blushed slightly at using his name in front of his friend. She had long ceased referring to him by anything else in her mind.

  As the two chefs tackled their feasts, she pointed out her favorites from the forty or fifty quick sketches she had done. They argued back and forth good-naturedly about their preferences, each insisting they had the better artistic eye.

  “Art is a personal thing, gentlemen,” Rori inserted into their mock disagreement. “Besides, we aren't talking about the Sistine Chapel here. It’s just a student cookbook, right?”

  “Speaking of the Sistine Chapel,” Marcus reached for a folder in his backpack. “Here are my suggestions for your trip.” He watched as her face fell. “What’s wrong?”

  “My sister was unexpectedly offered a job and won’t be able to go. Looks like I’m going to have to postpone my adventure.” The disappointed lady explained, “Jess doesn’t have an up-to-date passport, and my mom can’t take off that much time from work.”

  “Well, maybe you can find someone else to go with you,” Jake said, nudging his best friend with his foot under the table. He received a shark kick in response. “Ouch!” he cried. “I mean, that’s a bummer!”

  “I’m going to go refill my coffee,” Rori said as she rose from the table. “I could bring you both something to round out your meager meal,” she offered dryly, eyeing their numerous empty plates. Before walking away, she turned back to Marcus. “And yes, Lord Marcus, I will get something to eat.”

  “Lord Marcus?” Jake asked after Rori made her way to the now long food line.

  “Inside joke,” Marcus mumbled, now thumbing through Rori’s spiral bound sketchbook.

  “Do you think you should be doing that without permission?” Jake asked, noticing that the food pictures were just a small portion of the work in the book.

  Suddenly, Marcus froze. As he reached the end of the book, the image of his face on the last page seemed to mock him. It was an absurd caricature, complete with devil’s horns and a lopsided halo.

  “Marcus, I don’t think this is a good idea,” his friend’s voice held a warning. “That is obviously not something she intended for you to see.”

  Marcus was beyond reason as he noticed a set of twelve boxes, entitled “Countdown to the End of My Misery” representing each of the ten classes. All but Friday and Saturday’s boxes were checked off. The words ‘You can do this’ were written and underlined in the margin.

  Below the timeline was the beautiful passage of scripture from Corinthians. Beside each line, the Princess had added commentary, pointedly directed at him and his character.

  “Wow,” he said as he read the first few lines. “I had no idea she hated me so much. She should have majored in theater where her tremendous acting skills would be put to better use.”

  He was furious. He grabbed a pen and checked off Friday and Saturday’s boxes.

  “And to think I thought I was falling in love with this woman.” His words conveyed his fury and despair. “Princess? More like Prima Dona.”

  “Wait, Marcus,” Jake tried to calm down his friend. “Don’t do anything foolish. Give her a chance to explain.”

  As she returned to the table, Rori knew something was very wrong. Marcus had risen and was angrily stuffing the list for her trip into his backpack and zipping with furious motions. She glanced at the table and saw her sketchbook open to the picture of Marcus.

  “Oh no!” Her words were barely audible as her knees buckled and she slumped into the chair Jake had pulled back out for her. Marcus stood fuming, his green eyes boring accusingly at hers, which were filling with tears.

  “You weren’t supposed to see that.”

  “Too late,” Marcus stated. Too late for everything, he said to himself, bitter and disheartened. “You will notice that I have released you from the onerous duty of coming to class tomorrow morning,” pointing to the check marks he had added. “I will adjust your grade accordingly. You are officially exempt from the final exam. Good day, Miss Sinclair.”

  Jake stood and attempted to stop his friend.

  “Don’t be a fool, Marcus,” he repeated his plea. “Let her explain.”

  “I’m done being a fool, Jake,” Marcus spat out. “Thanks for your concern.”

  As he stormed off, Rori wiped quiet tears. She did not want to admit to herself that the tears were from anything more than exhaustion.

  “I’m sorry, Rori,” Jake tried to comfort her. “He’s a bit of an idiot sometime. I think he will come around. You just seem to push all his buttons.” In more ways than you can imagine, Jake thought.

  “I know he hates me,” Rori said quietly, “but I thought we had begun a sort of friendship. The last few days were so much better. I was even going to invite him the art show.” She refused to add the real motive behind her proposed invitation.

  “Hate is definitely not what he feels for you,” Jake muttered mysteriously. “Don’t give up hope, okay?”

  “Well, it’s not my first experience with rejection,” she said dejectedly. “I guess I was foolish to think this time would be any different.”

  Jake was slightly confused, but knew this was his opportunity to get to the truth from at least one of the two involved in this fiasco.

  “What do you mean? Why do you think his reaction was rejection?”

  She shrugged and ate her toast. It tasted like cardboard, but she didn’t want to give Chef Charming any more fuel for his fire. The last thing she needed was to faint at the preview tonight and have word get back to him. She knew he would immediately assume she had purposely not eaten to spite him.

  “It doesn’t really matter now.” Rori started to slip the offending sketchbook into her shoulder bag.

  “Wait,” Jake stopped her. “Can I see the picture again?”

  “You can have it for all I care,” she said morosely, tearing it out of her sketchbook and handing it to him. “I don’t care to ever see it again.” Jake set the picture aside and gave her a quick hug before she left.

  “I’m praying for you two, also,” he added.

  “Thanks,” Rori said, adding with a half-hearted grin, “I think.” Jake laughed.

  “I’ll be okay, I promise, Jake. I’m just exhausted. If I can get through tonight, tomorrow night should be fun and then I get to graduate and get out of here!” Somehow, her unenthusiastic tone did not make her words believable.

  After she left, Jake sat in stunned silence as he read her words at the bottom of the sketchbook page.

  ‘I am finally truly in love and yet ‘Happily Ever After’ seems just as far away as ever.

  Jake realized that Marcus, in his typical hotheaded fashion, had not read past the first few lines on the page.

  “I can’t wait to tell Carla that she was right!”

  Across campus, Rori collapsed on her bed in dejected despair. Jessica sat on the floor, begging her roommate to tell her what happened.

  “I can’t fix this unless you tell me what he said,” Jess pleaded.

  “This can’t be fixed,” Rori muttered. “The page made my feelings perfectly clear and he just stormed out. Obviously, he has no interest in me at all. What you think you saw was completely wrong.”

  “Where is the sketch?” Jessica asked. She had seen the masterpiece, and knew that it had been done in frustration. She also knew that Rori’s last addition to it probably revealed more of her true feelings. Jess suspected Marcus had not read the whole page.

  “I gave it to Jake. Hopefully he will burn it,” Rori said. “Please, can we just drop this? I want to forget
about the whole torrid mess. I wish I had never taken the class and never met Chef Marcus MacRae.”

  “You know that’s the farthest thing from the truth,” Jessica said as she prepared to go to work. “But I’ll let you wallow in your sorrow. I have to go to work. Try to get some rest.”

  Minutes later, Jessica sat across from Jake in his office. She in fact did not have to be at work for a couple of hours.

  “What are we going to do about this?” she asked Chef MacRae’s best friend. “I am so angry with Chef Charming I can hardly see straight.”

  “Chef Charming?” Jake laughed. “Is that what she calls him? That’s priceless.”

  “Well, he teased her the first night over her name, calling her Princess Aurora,” Jess answered Jake’s questioning look. “You know, Sleeping Beauty.”

  “That’s hilarious! I may have to use that one some time,” Jake laughed. Turning the conversation back to their dilemma, Jake continued. “And as far as being furious with Marcus, join the club!”

  “If he had taken the time to look at the whole page, her feelings would have become quite clear,” Jess explained. “The whole reason she did the sketch in the first place was because she was battling her attraction for him from day one.”

  “I’m sure he didn’t read more than the first couple of lines, if anything,” Jake said. “I think he was mainly reacting to the picture and her countdown to the end of the class, treating it like a prison sentence she was enduring.”

  “Unfortunately, she thinks he read the whole thing and knows that she has feelings for him,” Jess explained. “She thinks he’s rejecting her.”

  “This is just getting worse and worse,” Jake said. “I will tell you this, though. He’s going to be devastated when he finds out how he blew it.”

  “Good,” Jessica said. “Maybe that will get him to act before it’s too late. Before this morning, I would have bet my last dollar that she was irrevocably and totally in love with him, but now she is so sure he wants nothing to do with her that it will take some major convincing skills to get her to accept the truth.”