The Night Shift. (Johnnie Guilbert x Reader.)

dix-neuf

"No, no," i laughed. "im not going to make you help me." i shook my head, continuing to work on the huge order i had received the previous night for a wedding.

"You're not making me help you. I want to." he slid his hands over the glass case, gripping onto the edge.

"You wholeheartedly want to help me?" i raise my eyebrow at him, "im fine by myself. It's not a big deal."

"Exactly, it's not a big deal. if you teach me how to make drinks and shit we can get this order done 2 times faster." he looked at his phone, "we only have 2 hours to complete it, anyway."

my stomach dropped. "theres only 2 hours left?!" i sighed heavily, "fine. let me go grab an apron from the back."

i grabbed a spare apron and quickly brought it back out to him. i tossed it to him and watched as he quickly put it on.

"Well, get your ass back here." i beckoned him, "dont worry, I'll pay you for helping me."

he immediately shook his head, "dont, im volunteering."

"Whatever," i gave in, knowing I'd end up paying him in the morning. "we need to make a couple of batches of croissants and a shit ton of hot chocolate. dont ask me why someone would want that for their wedding, but i dont judge."

"Easy, so how do i do that?" i rolled my eyes at him.

"Come with me." he followed me back into the kitchen. "Grab the 2 biggest pans over there on the rack." he did as told as i took the bucket of pre-made dough out of the fridge.

i dumped it out onto the counter, taking a rolling pin and beginning to work the dough. i rolled out half of the dough to be flat and cut the other half off.

he set the pans onto the counter next to me. "Now what?"

i handed him a knife, "Cut this dough into triangles like this." i took his hand gently and showed him how to cut the dough.

"Easy enough," he smiled at me before getting to work. concentration washed over his face as he worked hard, trying not to disappoint me.

i began to roll out the other half of the dough, occasionally bumping him with my elbow, causing us both to giggle. "So, come here often?" i say, awkwardly trying to fill the silence.

he looked over and smiled, "occasionally. so, is this some special family secret dough or something?"

"Yeah, actually. my mom likes to add pinches of random seasonings to whatever she makes, and this one kinda stuck. but i'm not telling you the secret." i smirked, nudging his elbow.

he dramatically rolled his eyes, "Fine, i guess." he replied sarcastically.

after all of the triangles had been made, i taught him how to roll them up. "we gotta make this shit quick, we got an hour left, and that's just enough time. we still have to hustle." i dusted off my hands, "i'm going to go prepare the hot chocolate. i trust you to do this, can you?"

he nodded quickly, "Yeah, it's pretty simple."

"Okay," i said cautiously, "i'll be back."

i walked out to the front part of the kitchen, the part that's visible to the public, and began the big batch of hot cocoa. i boiled exactly a gallon of milk and added, per usual, my mothers hot chocolate mix. i always thought my mother was crazy, making everything by hand. but it was her passion, and i dare say it rubbed off on me, too.

i glanced into the kitchen, watching how johnnies hands quickly rolled up each croissant. his eyebrows were slightly furrowed together. i heard him humming to himself softly, and the sight made butterflies erupt in my stomach. i realized Johnnie was the most handsome and kind person i had ever met.

while waiting for the hot chocolate to finish brewing, i stepped back into the kitchen. i approached  johnnie quietly, startling him as my hand patted his back. "You did really well, actually. That was super quick." Feeling as if i was about to throw up from the mix of butterflies and anxiety, i leaned over and kissed his cheek.

his face turned red as he tried to stay focused. "t-thank you." he shot me a soft smile before stepping back and washing off his hands.

i lined them up neatly on the tray, making sure to put just enough spacing so i could fit larger portions on the two trays. everything surprisingly went smoothly, and i slid them in the oven.

i sighed contently, "At least we got all the hard work done. now, we just gotta let everything cook, and then we can pack it. Does that sound okay?" i checked with johnnie.

"Yeah, of course." he took the apron off and hung it back with the others. "That was actually really fun." he admitted.

i scoffed, putting my hand on my hip, "you thought it wouldn't be?"

he rolled his eyes, "im just saying,"

i ran my hand down his arm as i walked past, "i know, johnnie. im messing with you." i pulled a couple of boxes out of the cabinet and set them up. i tossed him a stack of cups. "Would you mind pouring the hot chocolate?"

he caught them and agreed, walking over to the counter and getting straight to work. as he poured all of the drinks, i checked on the croissants and pulled them out of the oven.

i set them aside to cool enough so i could put them in the box. there was roughly 15 minutes before the man was going to pick them up.

with johnnies help, we finished everything with 5 minutes to spare. we stacked the boxes and put at least 50 mugs of hot chocolate in holders. we stood back to admire our work. he sighed heavily, "i think we did it."

i smiled. "You think? i really wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

he turned to me, stepping closer so that we were face to face. "i dont know, i think you would've made it. there's not much you can't do." he encouraged.

i stayed silent, staring into his bright blue eyes as i smiled. he pulled me in for a hug, his hand smoothing out my hair, holding my face closer to his chest. "Thank you so much for your help."

"Anytime. can i help again sometime?"

"Only if i can pay you." i caved.

"i dont- y/n," he pulled away, "i dont need the money. i actually like helping, i dont wanna be paid for that."

i hesitated, "If you insist." A man walked in dressed in a tux. "Hello! are you here to pick up the wedding order?"

"Hey, beautiful. yes, i am. are you the same woman i spoke to over the phone?" his voice was soft, almost forcibly soft as he spoke.

i glanced to johnnie, notcing how jealousy was written all over his face. "Yeah, i am." i nodded towards the stack of items. "heres your order."

"You're much prettier than i imagined. do you think i could get your number?" he smirked, pulling out his phone.

i glanced to johnnie, silently asking him to help. i was scared to reject the man. "i-"

johnnie spoke up. "She's taken, sorry."