23 Sitting in a Tree

For some reason, when Jade returned to the kitchen, her face was bright red, and she was awfully flustered. Her chest heaved up and down as she rushed to fetch herself a glass of water.

"Ha ha ha." Bernie, of course, took the opportunity to laugh at Jade. He had been embarrassed by his conversation with her earlier, and this was his chance for revenge. "You look like a confused tomato!"

After a silent glare, Jade ignored Bernie.

But he was not done.

"I saw him come in, and I assumed it would be like usual—he would gawk at you, and you would act oblivious—but you slipped up! I have to say, I'm impressed that the lad managed to make you flustered. I don't think I've ever seen you like that…"

Bernie continued with his gloating as Jade scurried around the kitchen, looking for something to do.

"…It made me laugh that you gave him your life story. I thought you'd recovered from your mistake and embarrassment, but then you went had told him a frankly boring story about the cafe's name. As if he cares about that!"

By this point, Jade had begun to grate cheese. 'We always need grated cheese. You can never have too much grated cheese.'

"Ouch!"

Subjected to Bernie's mockery, Jade was still quite flustered. As her mind wandered, she accidentally grated a finger. It cut through the disposable gloves, and blood dripped into the cheese.

Instantly, Bernie stopped his taunting and rushed to her side. "Are you alright? You fool, you should have been paying attention."

With a sense of urgency that touched Jade, Bernie dragged her over to the sink, removed her glove, and shoved her hand under the running water. "Wait here a minute."

He came back carrying a first aid box, out of which he took a band-aid. With some blue roll, he dried her hand and then applied the band-aid. "You should remember, were professionals. Just because you're a little embarrassed, you ran in here. You should be doing your job out there. While we've been doing this, the bell has chimed twice. Either we've lost our two remaining customers, or two people are waiting to be served."

Jade lowered her head and mumbled an apology while she berated herself internally. 'Yeah… what was I thinking? I'm acting like a schoolgirl. It's not like I said anything particularly embarrassing; I simply exposed that I once overheard him speaking on the phone…'

"Now get back out there," Bernie said as he patted her on the back with a reassuring smile.

With a light smile back on her face, Jade stood up straight. "Yes, I'm sorry for my silliness. I don't know what came over me. I'll go check out front now."

After saying that, Jade turned around and headed toward the door.

"Oh, Jade," Bernie called out, a wicked grin on his face.

Jade stopped and turned toward him. "What?"

"Ahem…" After clearing his throat, Bernie sang, "Jade and Liam, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n—"

"I hate you." With a completely deadpan expression, Jade turned away from him and left the kitchen.