Chapter's song: kiss me by Olly Murs

Tom arrived after lunch. He acted as innocent as ever, but to be honest, I thought it was mean and unprofessional to leave Bryan, in the first day of school, no less. Bryan had been crabby all morning. To me. He was being extra nice and patient to everyone else.

However, I couldn't complain. Even bad-humored, he wasn't as bad as Nadia ─though I had feeling that no one was as mean as her.

Today was sort of boring. We didn't jump in the kitchen as almost everyone expected. Bryan and Tom gave us the basic notions of culinary history. Two hours before school finished, we were asked to pair up because we were going to start with one of the basic dishes: poached salmon. I looked around, and everyone had found their partner. Nobody wanted to pair up with me.

Surreptitiously, I glanced at Monica. She noticed that I was glancing at her because she shook her head with an apologetic smile on her face. She gestured to the girl next to her, I guessed she asked her first.

Awesome. I sighed. I was the odd one.

My stomach rolled as I doodled around on my folder over the counter.

"Simmons! Wake up!" I looked up and everyone was staring at me. A pair of turquoise eyes glared my way. "Could you pay attention? I told you to come here!" Bryan acted out as being annoyed at my lack of attention but as I approached him, a flicker of understanding flashed through his eyes. Like really quick. Nobody noticed it and I was pretty sure that I shouldn't have noticed either. But I did.

I could have hugged the guy. Bryan was super bossy, but he was kind, in his cold and obtuse way.

He gave me directions to poach the salmon. Everyone observed what I did. Bryan didn't miss a chance to correct every little detail he could. But then again, I was thankful for his intervention and complied as best as I could.

The class went on and everyone got to work. Two teams made a mess ─I had no idea how they managed to make a mess poaching salmon─ but Bryan was really patient. Thankfully, he made them clean afterwards. Tom walked around giving a comment or two but when his girlfriend arrived ─ignoring everyone─ he left the class.

Some of the girls were disappointed that he wasn't directing the course but Bryan was great. Much better than Tom. He seemed grave but he was also patient.

When the class finished, every team cleaned up their station. Since I had no team, I had to clean up everything by myself and ended up being the last one to finish. As I was drying the last pot I used, a loud bang on the counter made me yelp.

Andrew was the culprit. His right hand was still made into a fist. "I called your name twice."

"Sorry, I am sort of a day dreamer. My brother complains about it endlessly."

He shook his head with a small smile playing on his lips. I stared at the ring on his lip and wondered if it hurt. It seemed like it did.

"I just wanted to tell you that if the chef lets you, we can partner up tomorrow."

I blinked at him. His proposition surprised me.

"Aren't you afraid to be seen with a girl like me?" I raised an eyebrow throwing back the same words he said earlier.

His smile widened as he leaned both arms on the counter. "I like dangerous situations."

I cracked up at that. "I can tell." I placed the pot in its place. "Thank you," I said in a soft tone with a small smile on my face.

He nodded once before pushing away. "See you around."

Monica was right. He was a nice guy disguised as a bad boy.

Bryan walked out of his office carrying a large box in his arms when I finished putting everything back in its place. He set the box over the counter. "We need to get rid of these books." He'd lost the chef coat and I had to admit that he looked even more handsome in simple blue jeans and grey t-shirt.

"Sure." I wiped my hands on a kitchen towel and peeked inside the box. There were at least ten cookbooks. Some were Tom's and some other from other chefs. I grabbed the first one. It was from James Olander, the guy I cooked for the other day. I opened the cover and it was signed. He couldn't throw them away just like that.

"They're signed." I glanced up and Bryan was gazing at me with an unreadable expression on his face. He leaned over the counter and crossed his arms.

He shrugged. "So?"

"Okay, first, you never throw away cookbooks. And second, you never even use the ones signed."

A flicker of a smile crossed his face. "I don't have space for them."

My brows creased. I brushed my palm across the cover. It was soft and shiny. "Still. You can't throw them away," I said as I glanced up at him.

"Fine." He uncrossed his arms and pushed himself forward. "Take them, if you will. I just don't want to see the box in my office again."

I bit my lip. He probably had more books than these. "Thank you. I will." Juno will love them as much as I.

He shrugged. "Yeah. Whatever."

The box was heavy. Each book had over 300 pages. I wasn't complaining, though. I could take home one book at a time. Truth be told, I had never been able to afford cookbooks as pretty as these, and they were signed. It was every foodie's dreams come true.

"I'm taking one book per day, if that's okay with you."

His gaze was serious before he shook his head. "I can't stand to see that box anymore. I'm trying to get rid of it." He lifted it without serious effort. "I can drop you off on my way home."

"But─"

"Come on, Jessica. Let's go."

I sighed. "Thanks," I said as I followed behind him.

His car was a deep red jeep renegade SUV. I knew because I loved the jeep brand and Seth liked to play Forza Horizon on his Xbox where they have this awesome feature where you can see a bunch of cars from different brands.

Bryan dropped the box on the back seat as I climbed on, trying to appear unfazed, but loving the raw leather scent of the interiors.

"I'm on Valley boulevard, over─"

"I know." He didn't look at me as the car roared to life. "I read your application." Of course he did. Stupid Jessie.

The drive home wasn't long. Thank God. I didn't know what to say or where to place my hands. Bryan parked in front of my house. He stepped off to get the box as I waited for him at the bottom of the front stairs.

As he carried the box, I unlocked the door praying to God that Seth behaved. Or gone. That would be much better. The door creaked as I pushed it open and the smell of roast reached my nostrils. Juno stepped out of the kitchen looking as hippie as ever with her dyed apron and a wooden spatula on her right hand.

She stared at us in surprise for a second before a wide smile played on her face. "Good evening!" she set the spatula on her apron's pocket and wiped her hands down before moving closer. "Seth!" She screamed towards the stairs, "Put on a shirt and come down!" I cringed. Oh dear God. Please kill me now.

"Good evening," Bryan greeted her respectfully, "where can I leave this?"

"Oh my goodness! Please leave it here!" she gestured to the bottom of the stairs. While he placed it there, she turned to me and wriggled her eyebrows. I widened my eyes trying to say please behave, but her grin amplified.

I suddenly wished that the floor cracked so I could hide in there. My cheeks were on fire when Bryan turned to me.

"Thank you," I croaked in a high-pitched tone before clearing my throat and saying it again, "Thank you." So lame.

"Aren't you going to introduce me, Jessica?" Juno said in her sing-song voice and I so wanted to close my eyes and just make everyone disappear.

I smiled apologetically at Bryan who was rubbing his hands against his jeans. "This is chef Bryan, my boss. He kindly dropped me home since the box was kind of heavy. And this is Juno, my grandmother."

"Why do I have to? It's hot!" Seth appeared on the top of the stairs. Without a shirt. For fuck's sake. He froze as we all stared at him. Raising a palm, he turned around and disappeared once more.

Sighing, I glanced at Bryan. "That would my brother, Seth." I had never been this embarrassed in my whole life.

Bryan gaze was amused as he reached out his hand to Juno. "Nice to meet you, ma'am." I grimaced at that, too. Juno hated when people treated her as an old person.

To her credit, she ignored it. "Can we invite you for dinner?" she tilted her head and smiled angelically at him.

"No!" I burst out. "I'm sure Bryan has more interesting things to do, right?" I turned to him. He raised an eyebrow at my little outburst. Please say no. Please say no!

"I'd love to," he smiled at Juno.

Seth walked down the stairs ─with a t-shirt on, thank God─ and high fived Bryan as a way of greeting. "What's up, dude?"

OH. MY. GOD.

Second time around that I post this because I couldn't see it. UGHHHHHHH.