"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

~Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Kelsey handed a ramekin of crème brulee to Ethan, who was leaning against the stainless steel counter.

He was wearing a wrinkled blue t-shirt and his brown hair looked like it had been perfectly coiffed at some point during the day, but was ruffled on one side now.

"Thanks for knocking this time," Kelsey said, cracking the torched layer above the brulee with her spoon. "So did you forget your script again, or...?"

Ethan shrugged. "Nope."

"Then why are you here?"

"Because I assume you never leave this kitchen, so how else was I supposed to see you?"

Kelsey raised her eyebrows. "Wow. That's sweet of you. But I shall have you know that I do get out of this kitchen. Quite often, actually."

Ethan snickered. "And do what? Pet cats and read cookbooks?"

Kelsey playfully slapped his shoulder. "Rude! I don't even like cats."

"Dog person?"

"Yup."

She swirled her spoon around in the cream before popping it into her mouth. "So, I saw you on TV the other night."

Ethan squinted up at the ceiling. "You mean on Saturday?"

"Yeah."

"I haven't done one of those in a year. What'd you think?" He asked through a mouthful of brulee.

"I thought Becca Lynn was quite the character."

Ethan grinned. "Yeah, she is. We practically grew up together."

"Who's Mack?"

Ethan spluttered and looked at her as if she was crazy. "Jordan Mack? The rapper?"

Kelsey gave a guilty shrug.

Ethan shook his head and laughed. "He's really famous."

"I assumed."

"Doesn't deserve it in my opinion," Ethan muttered. "All he raps about drags women through the mud and he swears so much in between that you can't even decipher what he's talking about. Not that you'd want to, anyway."

"And he's married to Becca?"

"They tied the knot last year," he said, shaking his head again. "That's why I try to stick close to them, you know? I don't trust Mack with her, but she's too blind to leave him. I guess I kind of feel like it's my responsibility to watch out for her."

"I know the feeling," Kelsey nodded, and couldn't help but think of Alex and Sandy, though she had to admit Ethan was kinder than she was. She'd been avoiding Alex since she'd arrived in California and never thought to intervene in order to protect Sandy.

Kelsey set her ramekin aside and rested her elbow against the counter. "I couldn't help but notice that you seemed... different."

"Really? Well, people are different when they have twenty cameras pointing at them. You never really get used to it."

Kelsey tilted her head towards him. "You know what I mean."

He shrugged. "We've all got our family issues."

"Come on, movie star, tell me."

Ethan looked up at her and sighed. "My mom's not doing so good."

"Is she sick?"

"Yeah. She got cancer less than a year ago. Before the interview last night, my dad called and said she was having a bad reaction to the chemo treatment they gave her for some reason," he sighed heavily again. "I've done everything I can to keep it out of the media."

"Really?"

"I guess I should've made you promise not to tell."

"No, never," Kelsey said quickly. "I'm really sorry. Are you able to see her often?"

"Nah," Ethan said, shaking his head, "my family lives in Illinois."

Kelsey licked her lips and said, "Is that where you were coming from when I met you on the plane?"

"Yeah, it was."

Kelsey rested her palm on the counter and turned to him. "Why would you trust me? I mean, of all the people you've met, why are you standing in a kitchen, at twelve o'clock at night, eating crème brulee with a nobody from Kansas who you've only seen twice?"

Ethan lifted a spoon. "Because you're okay with being a nobody and that's sort of amazing. Everybody's trying to be somebody here, Kelsey, and you're not."

Kelsey searched his face curiously. It was innocent. Practical. As if he were just stating a simple fact. She looked down at her hands and smiled. "Well, that's really sweet, but I think you're just here because you think I'll cook for you."

"And you do, without fail," he winked.

Kelsey scowled and tossed her dishes into the sink. She turned on the hot water and began rinsing off the utensils she'd used. "You know, you're the only person outside of this kitchen that I've met in L.A."

"Are you serious?" Ethan asked, picking up a sponge and wiping off the cream that had splattered across the countertops.

"Uh-huh."

"You are a sad, sad human being," he laughed.

"Oh, shut up! Some of us don't have millions of adoring fans to talk to on a daily basis. Some of us actually have to work and clean and eat somewhere between it all. I'm sure the most arduous thing you do all day is photobomb Instagram pictures."

"Is that how it is?"

"Absolutely."

Ethan leaned against the sink and pointed his sponge at her. "Why don't you try getting up at 4am, sitting in a makeup trailer for two hours, getting poked and prodded into a costume you could've changed into by yourself, having to repeat the same sentence in front of a camera fifteen times, getting yelled at by the director while still trying to stay in character, and have to conjure up emotion whenever the writer feels like you need to cry?"

"Oh you poor thing," Kelsey sighed, "And then, to think—you have to come in here and be served a lunch fit for a king, roll in more money than you know what to do with just because you have a dreamy smile, drink coffee from your balcony overlooking the beach, and send out invitations to other famous people for a Saturday Bar-B-Q."

Ethan laughed. "You really think I have a dreamy smile?"

Kelsey gave an exasperated sigh. "Are you kidding me? You're impossible!"

"Yeah, the people I work with say the same thing."

Kelsey opened her mouth to reply, but a blast of water suddenly shot onto her legs.

She screamed and reeled backwards, slipping on the now-wet floor.

"Oh my—oh no," she gasped, getting to her knees.

A fountain of water shot from the pipes beneath the sink, flooding the floor with suds and old food.

Ethan rushed forward, trying to cup his hands over the crack, but failing miserably.

"Go get a towel or something!" He cried.

"That won't do anything!"

"Then some—some electrical tape! Do you have that?"

Kelsey scrambled to her feet, already soaked through, and began flinging things to the side in search of something that would stop the leak.

"Hurry!" Ethan called. "Holy crap—"

"What?"

"It's spewing—lettuce or something!"

"No, no, no," Kelsey muttered, thrusting open every drawer she could find.

Finally she found half a roll of electrical tape in the utility drawer. She yanked it out and raced towards the sink, but slipped and fell onto her side.

"Are you okay?" Ethan spluttered, wiping water away from his face.

"Yeah, here." She handed him the tape.

He unraveled it with his teeth and began wrapping it around the pipe. It took several loops around, but soon the fountain dwindled to a trickle.

Silence filled the kitchen, minus the excessive dripping and slosh of water against the cabinets.

Kelsey blinked and swallowed hard, sitting helplessly on the floor as pieces of lettuce floated around her and beads of water trailed down her hair.

She looked up to see Ethan, soaking wet, with green leaves stuck to his face and hair.

She almost laughed, but then realized the weight of what had happened.

"I... I'm screwed," she whispered.

Ethan slid closer to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault."

"I'm going to get fired, I—I—"

"Hey, stop," Ethan chided gently. "It's gonna be okay."

Kelsey shook her head and looked up at him desperately. "Do you even know Chef Romano? She's going to kill me."

Ethan pressed his lips together and nodded his understanding. "I'll go get the towels."

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Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!