June 6, 2010
Andrew glanced at his phone again, although he knew he shouldn't while driving. It was a weird that it was almost six and Logan still hadn't contacted him to get a ride back home. Even without the call he was going to get the teen.
It unsurprising that Joe Orwell was still sitting at the counter watching a small television, which was how the two had first met the man. Of course earlier Joe had given them both a piece of his mind over the issue, but seemed to have calmed down significantly since then.
In all fairness, the group of boys had done a number on the place. He wasn't even sure how they managed to get paint to reach that high up on the building to draw a giant dick. So Logan was still in the wrong.
The shop itself was small and full of the most random of items. It looked much more like a garbage dump than a store. There was hardly enough room to walk around all the old, moldy stuff. Somehow Andrew held some doubts that a fresh coat a paint would help this man's business at all. He didn't understand why the grouchy old man keep it open even.
"The punk is out back," Joe said jabbing a finger, not bothering to look up at Andrew even.
"Oh, still?" Andrew didn't think it would really take that long. There was a lot to clean and paint, but it had been hours.
"Yeah, he went and ran off about one and didn't come back for a few hours." Joe explained taking a drag from his cigar. "Swore he would still finish it today."
"Hm," Andrew had only one idea where the boy would go. He didn't think Logan was stupid enough to go there with all the trouble he was already in. However, given his actions lately anything was possible.
The elder headed outside, looping towards the back of the building. Only to find Logan teetering at the top of the ladder struggling to reach the top corner. While the child could've easily climbed down and moved said ladder so not to put himself in such a position, laziness won out.
Just before Logan could fall from his perch up, Andrew steadied it below him. Thankfully the only casualty was a bit of paint being lost to the ground. "Whoa there."
"Um thanks," the teen mumbled, his face red both from the work and from his embarrassment. Logan steadied himself with his brush hand the wall, trying not to groan at the soreness in his back.
"Here, I'll do the rest." Andrew offered, holding his hand out to take the brush. His brother looked to have done enough work for the day, with weariness in his blue eyes. The last section was only a small bit anyways, maybe another five minutes' worth. Then they could both head on home.
"Thanks." Logan mumbled, climbing down the ladder to slump on the ground. He scooted his butt closer to his water bottle. Drained and thirsty he let the remaining water fall into his open mouth, not caring if it drippled.
Within a few minutes, the final bit was painted to match the rest. This was just the first coat though, so Logan would have to come back to finish it completely. Together the two cleaned up for the day in silence. Andrew wanted to integrate the boy about his wanderings earlier, but didn't know how to go about it. The teen had gotten the bruised eye from somewhere. Logan was simply too wiped out to bother keeping up a conversation along with work, he was working at a slugs pace.
"Go sit in the car," Andrew said, offering the keys to the child before heading inside to confront the man once more.
As expected Joe was sitting behind the counter still with his face glued to the screen of his old television. Andrew was beginning to wonder if the little shop ever had seen customers to begin with.
