A Little Bit Of Joy | ✔

Chapter Thirty Two : The Girl Who Made Him Smile

Third person's POV [Logan]

Logan tucked his chin under his collar and stared at the juicy burger in front of him. From under his eyebrows, he saw his uncle looking at him in contempt as he took a long sip of his coffee. The breakfast consisting of a large burger, salted fries and creamy coffee looked appetizing, but Logan didn't want to eat it. Although he was really hungry that he could gobble up a week's worth of food, his pride was still intact. He refused to eat anything bought by his uncle's money.

The practical voice in his brain was nagging him to eat every bit of food offered because knowing his uncle, he wouldn't care. He would do his duty of providing him with food as long as they were here so the child services wouldn't be suspicious. Once they would arrive at Scotland, he would torture Logan and make him work ten times harder for every penny he spent on buying food for him.

"Anything else?" A care-free voice broke his reverie and Logan looked up. It was Jamal, Joy's Jamie. "A refill for your coffee?"

How could he forget that Jamal worked at Pat's, the most affordable and family friendly restaurant in the entire town. Jamal was wearing the red polo t-shirt and blue trousers uniform. Logan thought he looked more stupid than he already was and dodged his piteous glances efficiently.

"The four year old child of my neighbour can make better coffee," Logan's uncle said loftily. It was typical of him to degrade anything which wasn't from a five star restaurant. If his uncle wasn't already in knee deep crap with this town because of his illegal properties and Logan, he would have given a 'piece of his mind' to the manager.

"Yo we should hire that kid then," Jamal remarked while looking at Logan, partly firing back at Logan's uncle. Logan inwardly scoffed, his uncle was someone to be not taken lightly. Definitely not.

"Excuse me," his uncle's voice was on the verge of thundering as his menacing glare intensified.

"Joking, chill out," Jamal muttered under his breath and the uncle simply nodded as if he had mistaken Jamal's words for an apology. Again, typical of him. He would hear only what he wanted to. "So nothing else?"

"This nephew of mine hasn't taken a bite of your greasy food. Hence . . . No." The malicious glint in his uncle's eyes suggested that if Logan didn't eat, he would create drama about how the food was disgusting that he refused to take a bite. The blame would all come on Logan. So Logan forcefully took the burger, the sauces inside it making a squishing noise as he sinked his teeth in. His uncle's lips curled up approvingly. "Bring the bill waiter."

He hadn't even bothered to read Jamal's nametag, but it didn't matter anymore. Jamal whirled around in a sassy way, pretended to flip his non-existent long hair and strutted towards the counter. Logan's uncle ignored him and went back to sip his coffee. Logan knew that he was watching him, he could feel his judgemental gaze fixed on him. He stuffed the burger in his mouth and swallowed hard. The contents in his stomach started churning, threatening to spill out. He quickly got up, excused himself to which his uncle nodded slightly and hurried towards the bathroom.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.

He leaned in front of the sink and tried to puke, but he only gagged. His face paled and tears pricked the corner of his eyes. He shifted away from the sink and started banging his back against the wall.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry.

He had become such a crybaby after his grandma's death. When his family passed away, he didn't cry the way he cried- no wailed at his grandma's funeral. That was when he had truly felt alone. He didn't have any family and he had lost contact with all his friends. In fact, he still didn't have a family and only a handful of friends- if he could include a dying girl, her entire family, a prostitute, an ex co-worker who he couldn't stand because she talked too much and some distant relatives. He was still alone.