Souffles at Sunrise: Just Desserts Book One

by M. J. O'Shea

  * * *

  Diego sauntered in front of the chefs like he had every day that week. “Hello, everyone.”

  “Hi, Diego,” they echoed back.

  “This has been a chilly but exciting week here at the Burned kitchen. I’ve seen some exciting things in my tour of the kitchen. Fantastic international flavors and perfect creamy ice creams. Our judges have a lot of tasting to do, so let’s let them get to it.”

  Everyone shifted around and waited for him to keep talking. Diego was rarely finished that quickly.

  “Since Chase is the king of ice cream back home, they’d like to see him first.” Diego winked. “He’d better bring it. His shop’s reputation is on the line.”

  Chase strode up to the podium, more of that confident energy radiating off him. Kai swallowed hard.

  Chase had made an avocado and peanut ice cream that was the most amazing delicate creamy green. It was served simply in a black dish with finely chopped peanuts on top, and Kai cast his eye over his own creation, wondering if he’d gone too far. This was, after all, Chase’s area of expertise.

  “Is this vegan?” Basil asked Chase and, shockingly, dipped his spoon back into the bowl for another taste. He was famous for rarely, if ever, going back for seconds.

  “No,” Chase said. “I used cream to sweeten and thicken it, though you could easily substitute the cream for coconut milk, which would taste delicious and make it vegan.”

  “It’s delicious,” Nicolette said. “I was worried this would be like guacamole ice cream, which would have been… not good. But the avocado flavor is delicate, and the peanuts give it a crunchy little edge. Not overly sweet. Good Job, Chase.”

  Emilio’s comments were similarly gushing, not that Kai was surprised. It was almost like Chase had been set up to win this round, though that was unfair. There were episodes where everyone had been given their chance to shine, and ice creams and sorbets were a fairly standard dessert offering.

  The others had gone from as safe as watermelon sorbet, which Kai thought might land Louis in trouble (apparently it just tasted like water, though it looked pretty) to as wild as Polly’s Indian kulfi, which was flavored with rose and saffron. From her position at the middle of the pack, Polly was really starting to push her way to the front.

  When his name was finally called, Kai took his dish up to the judging table and set it down. By this point it was little more than a puddle in a bowl.

  “Well, Kai, this can barely be called an ice cream, more like a chilled dairy soup. It shouldn’t have melted so quickly. Were you having problems with consistency?” Basil asked.

  “Yes. When I got it out of the ice cream maker the first time, it was very runny. I had to freeze it again. It must’ve melted very quickly.”

  The judges nodded and took another taste.

  “Your spice mix is divine, though,” Nicolette said. “I’m really enjoying the spice cookie with the flavors and dates in the cream. It would’ve been lovely if your ice cream had set.”

  Kai nodded. He knew he’d had problems. It didn’t make it sting any less.

  “Thank you, Kai,” Diego said. He was dismissed.

  Kai, bitter taste in his mouth, went back to the rest of the chefs and waited for the final few evaluations before his fate was announced. He sure as hell hadn’t won. Maybe his flavors were enough to keep him in the middle of the pack.

  Diego asked the chefs to go to the “private” room while the judges deliberated. They all filed off the set into the room where there were cameras set up. He wasn’t going to have the luxury to lick his wounds in private. After Kai sat down, Chase came bounding into the room and flopped down on the couch across from him. Kai felt like glaring. So he did. Chase played the game and glared back after a short eye at the camera on the wall.

  “Good job today, Chase,” Polly said when she sat next to him. “Sounded like they loved your ice cream.”

  “I hope so!” Chase answered, his voice full of energy. “It’s the only thing I’m always confident in.”

  Kai figured that would be cut. Humility was one thing, insecurity was another.

  “You’ll be fine,” Al said. “It looked great.”

  They only had to wait twenty minutes or so, thank God, before a production assistant called them out of the room and back to the judging floor. Everyone filed out. Chase went to brush against Kai surreptitiously, but Kai stepped away and pretended he hadn’t noticed Chase’s touch.

  “Welcome back, chefs. In today’s frozen challenge, some of you excelled and some didn’t quite make it, but as always we can only have one winner. This week, that winner is no surprise. It’s the king of ice cream himself. For the second week in a row, it’s Chase!”

  Everyone applauded, and Chase smiled gratefully. He hugged Polly on his way off the stage and back to the waiting room.

  “Can I please see Kai and Louis?” Diego said.

  Fuck. Fantastic. Bottom two.

  Kai and Louis stepped forward.

  “Kai, your ice cream had delicious flavors and the potential of a lovely presentation, but the consistency fell apart on you. Louis, your ice cream had a fantastic texture, but the flavors just didn’t do justice to your inspiration country of Japan. The judges didn’t get any hints of any of the Japanese flavors you listed in your ingredients, only a bland sweet vanilla that they weren’t impressed with. Do we go with taste or texture, is the question?” Diego, as always, stretched the damn thing out. He took a deep breath. “The judges have decided to go with taste. Kai you’re safe. That means, Louis, you’re burned.”

  Kai was so relieved he nearly passed out.

  * * *

  Chase was different again after winning. Not his usual self-effacing type or the guy who was so confident he could and would win, take control of everything, but he was more like a kid. Bouncy, happy, full of bubbles, and talking a mile a minute. Kai tried really hard to be happy for him. He’d been happy for him the week before, but there was something different after how Chase had been in the studio. Something raw, like his insides were out there ready for other people to see. It made him feel weird and snappish.

  “You were so good at being a dick in the studio today,” Chase said with a giggle. He flung his arm across Kai’s shoulders. “I almost believed it myself.”

  “I wasn’t joking,” Kai said quietly.

  Chase paused. Kai watched as the smile melted down his face onto the warm L.A. pavement. “What do you mean, you weren’t joking?”

  “You were being arrogant. I didn’t like it. I mean, could you act like any more of a prima donna?”

  Chase stopped walking and let his arm fall from Kai’s shoulders. “Do you really mean that?”

  Somehow, even though quiet, worried Chase was back, that made it worse. Like the contrast heightened everything Kai was feeling. He didn’t even know what he was feeling. Not for sure. So he didn’t answer. How could he answer when he didn’t know what to say?

  Chase just shook his head and walked for the bus. It was late. Filming had taken a really long time that day, and the sun was already set, the sky was purpling and hazy. Kai sunk onto one of the bus seats and stared out the window. Chase took another, nowhere near him like they usually did, and stared right in front of him. Kai knew he shouldn’t have noticed, but it was hard not to watch.

  He didn’t even know why he felt so hurt. He just wanted the whole day to disappear.

  * * *

  By the time they got back to the condo, Kai felt like some sad little fallen merengue. It wasn’t fair to Chase to be like this, a sulky teenager who was having a tantrum because things didn’t go his way, so he excused himself as soon as they got back to the condo and headed off toward the bedrooms.

  “You going to bed?” Breon asked.

  Kai nodded. “Yeah. Tell Louis I said good luck, okay?”

  Breon nodded and let Kai stomp off.

  He was tired as hell. Being in the bottom two sucked, what he’d said to Chase sucked, the show sucked, and mo
st of all, California sucked. He wished he could just get in his bed, somehow fall asleep, and end up back at home in Kaneohe where he belonged. He’d open up some sort of gourmet little hidey-hole and surf every day.

  Escape sounded awfully nice.

  Kai showered off some of the sweat and irritation from the set and crawled into bed. Everyone else was still out somewhere, eating dinner in the main room, up on the roof, or out if they had the energy. Kai wasn’t interested in any of that. He just wanted to sleep off his humiliation and hope it dawned a little nicer in the morning.

  Their room was blissfully silent. It had been amazing ever since Aaron and Carson had gone. Chase and Kai had pushed their singles together to form one big bed they both typically ended up in one square inch of anyway. Kai cuddled up in the corner and closed his eyes.

  His phone buzzed. It was his sister, Leilani, calling. He didn’t hear from her often, but it was the perfect night to hear her voice.

  “Hey, sis. What’s up?” he said as soon as he picked up the phone.

  “You sound like shit.” His sister didn’t hold back, as a rule. Usually he liked it, but he thought this time he might have used a bit of tact from her. Everything felt bruised and exposed.

  “Thanks. I’m just tired. It’s been a really long week.”

  “How come?” she asked.

  “You know I’m not allowed to tell you what’s going on with the show. It’s just been long, that’s all.”

  “That doesn’t sound like tired Kai. That sounds like you might have gotten in a fight with hottie.”

  Kai had let it slip he might just not have a new show. His sister had screamed in his ear and giggled like she was still thirteen and not Chase’s age. He hadn’t told her much else. It wasn’t as though he could tell his sister how Chase had held him down and nearly made him cry from pleasure mixed with just the right amount of pain, and he couldn’t tell her anything about the challenges, so there wasn’t much to say.

  “I was kind of a dick to him today. I think he knows it’s because I was tired.”

  “Let me guess. He won, and you didn’t do well.”

  “Lei, I told you I can’t talk about the show.”

  “I know you, dork. You’re competitive. It’s cool if he does well as long as you do too, but if you didn’t? Well, then he’s going to be the one who pays for it.”

  Shit. She was right. Well, at least partly. It wasn’t all about the winning and his dumb ego, but that was part of it. Kai all of a sudden felt like an asshole. Well, more of one. He’d already been feeling bad since the moment he’d said that stuff back at the parking lot. Chase hadn’t really been doing anything wrong. He’d been excited to show his skills and happy he won—at something he should’ve won too. It was his thing. It wasn’t Kai’s. Kai wanted to put his face into the blanket.

  “Yeah. You’re pretty much right.” At least about part of it. The other part, well, he wasn’t going to get into that with his sister. Ever.

  Leilani chuckled softly. “It’s nice to know that the mainland hasn’t changed you much.”

  “I miss home.”

  “Mrs. Takata from down the street came by today, yah? She was going on and on to Ma ’bout how you’re a big success over on the mainland. She called you a movie star.”

  Okay, she’s going to ignore my pathetic homesickness. Kai laughed softly instead of pushing it. “Yeah, I’m only about a half step away from the Oscars.”

  “Don’t be a dick. People are proud of you.”

  “Don’t say dick.” Sometimes Kai couldn’t believe what came out of his sister’s mouth. He’d revert right back to when they were kids and he babysat her after school.

  “I’m not a teenager anymore.”

  She didn’t listen to him back then either. Kai snorted. “Could’ve fooled me.”

  It was really, really nice to banter with Leilani again. Bitch at each other and pretend nothing was different, that Kai didn’t live an ocean away and that everything was just like it had been when they were kids. But it was different. And even if he dreamed of falling asleep and waking up in his old bed with the louvered window open and the mynah birds singing outside, he knew it wasn’t going to happen. He also knew it shouldn’t.

  “Hey, listen, sis. I’m totally wiped. I need to pass out, ’kay?”

  “Yeah. You can call me too, you know. And Ma. She wants you to meet her coworker’s niece, Melia. She’s hot, man.”

  “Jesus.”

  In case he was wondering if he should stay in California. Kai supposed it would have to be dealt with eventually.

  “Give Ma a break. She just wants you to be happy. I know you’re into, like… guys too. But she doesn’t.”

  “I’m not into guys too. I’m just into guys.” Kai sighed. He couldn’t believe he’d just said that to his sister all casual-like over the phone when he was half-asleep. Of course, he was nowhere near her swatting hands, so it was probably for the best.

  “Kailua Chin, how long have you known that?”

  “Always,” he muttered. And he couldn’t believe it had taken him until thirty-three to tell his sister. Of course, it had taken him until twenty-nine to tell her the first half, so he supposed at least his track record was predictable.

  “Shit, man. Okay. I mean, I totally support you, but you’ve gotta talk to Mom. It’s gonna get embarrassing if she keeps trying to get you married off to an island girl. She’s terrified that you’re going to find some mainland haole and never come back.”

  Kai cringed. At least it wasn’t a haole girl. The rest, well, he wasn’t quite sure there would be anyone after the way he’d acted earlier.

  “Okay?” she prodded. He realized belatedly that nodding wasn’t very effective over the phone.

  “Okay. I’ll talk to her. But I wanna do it in person. I can’t tell her on the phone.”

  Leilani made a squeaky sound. “Maybe you can bring hottie from the TV show out to meet her.”

  Kai rolled his eyes. “I’m not going to do that to him. It would be mean.”

  * * *

  He said goodbye to Leilani, full of promises about a visit home and love for Mom and Grandma. Then he curled up near the corner of their bed and waited for Chase to come in. Even thought he was exhausted, it wasn’t easy to fall asleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he heard himself that afternoon, being a big competitive asshole who wasn’t happy for the guy he liked so, so much. He was annoyed with himself, and he just needed the chance to say it.

  Kai finally fell asleep way later than he’d planned, still squished into the corner of their bed with the covers around him like a burrito. He woke up exactly the same way. Alone. Kai sat up and looked around the room. The other half of their bed was empty, as were the other two singles that hadn’t been used since Aaron and Carson had abandoned them. Chase hadn’t come in at all the night before.

  Kai felt like the biggest dick in the whole world.

  Chapter 10

  Unconventional — the Invention Challenge

  Welcome to Burned, where we find fresh new cooking talent… and a few culinary disasters! Last week Louis’s bland ice cream couldn’t pass the test, and he pirouetted back to Paris while farm boy Chase got his second win of the season with his Avocado ice cream, putting him into serious contender status. We’ll be excited to see what he comes up with this week in one of our most challenging tests yet.

  The judges want to see things they’ve never seen, using foods that aren’t typically used in desserts. Their final products have to be at least half nontypical dessert foods. And what could be the easiest part… or the hardest? They have to work in pairs.

  Our grand prize winner gets a year of pastry training in Paris, a whole kitchen’s worth of top-of-the-line commercial tools and appliances, and a hundred thousand dollars for his or her own business.

  With stakes this big, we ask the one question on everyone’s mind: Do these chefs have what it takes to rise to the top? Or will they get Burned?

  “Chase,
for this challenge… you’ll be working with….” Diego drew a name from the bag. “Kai.”

  Of fucking course. It had to be random—they couldn’t have told Diego to blindly draw Kai’s name—but after the way they’d acted with each other last week and all of this week, the producers must’ve been having a collective orgasm. Chase, well, he wasn’t. He didn’t want to deal with how much Kai’d hurt him.

  After his win in the ice cream challenge, and Kai’s resulting tantrum, things had been awkward as hell between the two of them for days. Kai hadn’t offered an apology, and Chase wasn’t feeling generous enough to forgive him without one. The fact that they were competitors first, and anything else second, had been slapped in both their faces.

  At the condo, they ignored each other. It was surprisingly easy. Chase often went to bed first and was asleep by the time Kai came into the bedroom. In the mornings, Chase’s alarm went off first, and by the time he was showered and dressed, Kai was gone. They avoided each other in the shuttle and at the studio, and everyone else danced around the fact that the two of them weren’t talking.

  It was awkward for Chase just to look at him and know that as long as Kai thought he was the better chef, he and Chase were just fine, but as soon as Kai felt a little shaky about his superiority, well, then Chase was thrown to the curb. Yeah, that wouldn’t really feel good for anyone. Chase included. And he was going to have to deal with it all day. Hopefully they didn’t end up at each other’s throats. That wasn’t what he wanted to do in front of a bunch of cameras, even though that was exactly what the cameras wanted from him.

  Chase nodded at Diego and retreated to his workstation, Kai following. He didn’t look back to check the expression on Kai’s face. He didn’t want to see it. Chase wanted nothing to do with the challenge or with working near Kai.

  “So, unconventional materials,” Kai said. “What do you want to do?” His voice was tentative. Even a little sweet. Chase didn’t fucking care. He’d made it pretty damn clear how he felt about Chase getting anything he wanted.