17. Burn Fingers

God did Maisie love his car - well his dad's car.

Logan was going completely over the speed limit but seeing as he knew there were no speeding cameras down that way or any of Maisie's cop friends, he was just fine. And from the grin on Maisie's face as he went like a lunatic down the street, he knew it was probably a bit worth it.

"So where are we going?" Maisie asked.

"You probably won't be that impressed," Logan admitted. "This whole thing was pretty damn impulsive so I kind of just went with it."

"That's okay," Maisie said. "I like impulsive, it has charm and spontaneity, which is something everyone in this place lacks."

"Now you're talking my language. You hungry?" Logan asked. "Because, well, I was gonna do that first."

Maisie smiled. "As long as you don't take me to a bakery, we'll be just fine."

"I guessed that you wouldn't want to be near a bakery," Logan laughed. "Do you even like cakes at all anymore? Because over the couple months I've been here, I can't stand any kind of cake."

Maisie shrugged. "I mean I like cake but I suppose it's the same as if you work in a fast food place, having the smell of burgers around you all day must eventually make you not like them for chunks of time. At least that's what happens with me. Some days I can't stand eating cake."

Logan grunted in agreement. "I'm sick of fucking strudels. The amount Nick has forced on me should be illegal," Maisie laughed. "I'm serious! He's so damn proud of them that he makes half of us eat them before they finally go out to be bought."

Maisie shook her head in amusement. "I mean at least he's enthusiastic."

"Oh yeah," Logan scoffed. "Real damn enthusiastic."

"At least he's taking to community service positively," Maisie said.

Logan let out a long breath. "To be honest I kind of forgot we were doing community service. Just feels like a normal job, that we aren't getting paid for of course."

"Of course," Maisie smiled. "I kind of forgot you guys weren't permanent," she admitted. "I keep having to remind myself that your service will be over soon and then you'll go."

Logan goes quiet and then indicates to pull into a park. "Well let's just make the most of what time we've got."

Maisie looked out the window and was surprised when she came to face a park. The place was huge with a couple cars parked up in the off-road parking lot that was a mess of little stones. Trees surrounded the park, keeping it shadowed and a little hidden from the highway that was right beside the entrance gates.

"We're eating here?" Maisie frowned. "Are we foraging for berries?"

Logan laughed and got out the car, going round and holding the door as Maisie fell out with zero grace.

"It'll make sense in a minute," he said and held his hand out towards her.

Maisie looked down at it for a moment before a small smile lit up her face and her hand fell into his. The two of them walked through the park for a few moments, the sun glaring down at them and having no want to go dark anytime soon.

"Okay at this point I'm painfully curious," Maisie said.

"Okay Miss Impatient, here," Logan said as he led Maisie through a path that went through a row of hedges.

Maisie could hear people talking and then the smell of barbecued food hit her and on cue her mouth was practically watering. Logan moved to the side to reveal a bright pink food truck that had 'Pigpen' written in white messy letters across the side. A large window was pulled down and a was plastered to the side of the truck. Two men were inside the truck, taking orders and passing trays of loaded food over to the people. Another was walking around the few barstool tables that were surrounding the truck and holding a trash can as well as bringing food to some people.

Maisie looked around in awe and her stomach went into worshipping mode when a girl walked past her with a cardboard tray filled to the brim with ribs coated in a thick barbecue sauce and a healthy handful of fries sitting beneath them.

"Oh my god this smells amazing," Maisie mumbled and Logan chuckled, squeezing her hand that she hadn't noticed she was still holding.

"Come on," he said and walked over to the truck to where there was now no line. Logan stopped at the window with Maisie at his side and knocked on the side of the truck. A man popped his head up and a face with a little sweat glimmering off it and a scalp filled with crazy, brown curls looked at Logan. The mans face cut into a grin through his stubble and he held a hand out to Logan who clasped it.

"Logan!" the man cheered and his friend who was cooking behind him turned around and greeted Logan with the same enthusiasm.

"Hey Jimmy," Logan greeted the first man and nodded at the second, "Walt."

"What are you doing here, man?" Walt asked. "Haven't seen you in ages."

Maisie took in how the two men looked very similar and assumed that they were probably at least brothers. Logan tilted his body to the side so Maisie could be more soon and she smiled at the man who was now known as Jimmy.

"This is Maisie," Logan said. "This is Jimmy and his brother Walt at the back," the latter lifted his spatula in greeting, "and the third brother Lennox is walking around somewhere."

"Idiot always slacks off," Jimmy muttered. "Nice to meet you Maisie."

"You too," she smiled and flexed her fingers which were still against Logan's.

"Maisie runs a bakery," Logan said.

"Aye," Jimmy grinned. "Woman after my own heart, you understand the pain of running a place then, yeah?"

Maisie nodded. "More pain than anything else."

Walt chuckled from the back and Jimmy nodded his agreement. "Second that. Family business?"

"Sort of," Maisie said, "but none of the family work there anymore."

"Smart move. I'm seconds from killing these two most of the time," Jimmy winked and Walt smacked him round the back of the head. "What are you two having then?" Jimmy asked and leaned over, smacking the palm of his hand against the menu stuck to the side of the truck.

Logan glanced down at Maisie who was practically chewing on her lip and she decided what to eat. Slowly she lifted her hand and pointed it down on the picture of the burger and Logan chuckled before nodding.

"Okay," Logan spoke to Jimmy, "we'll have two double bacon cheeseburgers with...fries?" he directed that to Maisie who nodded, "and some wings."

Jimmy gave Logan a price as Walt began on the burgers, waiting for Jimmy to be done so he could get the wings and fries. Logan wiped his forehead and sighed.

"Man, it's hot," he grumbled.

"Yeah, this week has been pretty bad so far," Maisie said. "Usually it's cooled off a little around now but I guess not this year."

"I'm forewarning you, I may sweat buckets through this damn shirt so I hope you don't have a phobia of perspiration."

Maisie laughed. "No phobia, just might be a bit grossed out."

"Does that mean no second date?" Logan grinned.

"If you sweat all over me then I'm not even gonna talk to you let alone go out with you," Maisie teased and Logan scoffed.

"Order up!" Jimmy called out and Logan grabbed the cardboard tray where his burger happily say inside and the second tray of wings. Maisie grabbed her burger and the two fries and the two of them wandered over to a tall table where they carefully put the hot food down.

When they were sat comfortably and each had their respective food, a curly brunet walked up behind Logan with a giant grin on his face. He looked similar to the two men in the truck so Maisie assumed by the apron as well that this was the third brother. He held a finger to his lips when he caught Maisie's eye and crept up behind Logan. He raised his arms up to bring his fingers down on Logan's shoulders when the latter spun around and jabbed his fingers into the man's middle making him hunch over and stumble away with a cry.

"Shit, Logan!" he cursed, clutching his stomach. "You're such an asshole."

"I'm the asshole?" Logan asked. "You're the idiot that keeps trying to creep up on me even when you never succeed."

"One day I will," the man breathes out as he straightens up and places a hand on their table to keep him balanced. He gives Maisie a smile. "Hi, I'm Lennox. Middle brother, often forgotten, victim to abuse such as the display you just witnessed and according to my parents will-amount-to-nothing-because-he's-such-a-dumb-shit."

Maisie blinked at him and Logan rolled his eyes, popping a fry in his mouth. "He's joking; sort of."

Maisie chuckled a bit. "I'm Maisie," she told him.

"Lovely to meet you," Lennox said. "You guys want any drinks?"

"Coke," Logan said.

"We've only got Pepsi," Lennox commented.

Logan shrugged. "I don't know the fucking difference."

"No one does," Lennox mumbled and turned to Maisie. "And for you?"

"I'll just have the same," she smiled. "Thank you."

Lennox nodded and swept away across the grass to the pink truck where he went through the open back doors and smacked both his brothers on the back of the head.

Maisie brought her burger out and her eyes widened at the height of the thing. She was going to have to dislocate her jaw just to get the fucker in. She looked over at Logan who had his hands tightly wrapped around the burger, trying to press it down. Logan saw her looking and smirked.

"Not sure how to eat it?" he asked.

"No damn idea," Maisie said.

"Yeah me neither, just go for it," he said. "I won't judge you if get food all over your mouth."

Maisie rolled her eyes and picked up the giant burger, trying to press it down like Logan had done - it just bounced right back. She eventually just went fuck it and tried to take a huge bite from the burger and ended up with juice dripping from her mouth and running down her chin. Her fingers had left dents in the bread and the whole piece of bacon came out of the burger when she pulled away. Plucking the bacon away from her, she looked over at Logan who was staring at her amusedly.

She swallowed and gave him a pointed look. "Like you can do it better."

Logan's answer was just to take a large, messy bite.

Lennox came back with two Pepsi's in his hands and placed them on the table. Logan reached for his wallet but Len shook his head and waved him off and walked away to another customer.

Maisie took a long sip of her Pepsi and grabbed a wing when Logan did, realizing that she was going to end up messy as hell and really she didn't care that much.

"So, I realized that I don't really know anything about you, apart from a couple basics," Maisie said and Logan looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Okay," he said. "What do you want to know."

"Anything," Maisie shrugged.

"Alright," Logan sighed and grabbed a couple fries, "I'm twenty-two, didn't go to college, speak French-Canadian from when I lived in Quebec, my birthdays on Christmas Eve and my favourite colour is Indigo."

"You lived in Quebec?" Maisie asked.

"When I was nine my mom had to work at a company there for a couple years, I got the language quickly though now I'm a bit rusty. We moved here when I was thirteen. Your turn."

"Okay, I'm nineteen, will be twenty on Halloween," she smiled at the quirk of Logan's eyebrow. "Looks like we're both big event birthdays. I only speak English, I went to college and then I didn't, my parents split when I was ten and my mom re-married nine months later. My dad lives in Florida."

"Nine months," Logan whistled. "That's not long."

"That's what I said. Didn't matter too much though. The bakery is Tony's mom's but she was like a grandma to me," Maisie said. "And then she left and things fell apart."

"But they're coming together now," Logan pointed out and Maisie smiled.

"Yeah, things aren't too bad anymore," she said.

Maisie grabbed another wing and nearly died from happiness at the taste. She licked her fingers before wiping them on a napkin.

"How's the food, then?" Logan asked.

"Really damn good," she said and Logan laughed. "So how do you know those three?"

"The Tucker brothers? We went to high school together," Logan explained. "We spent the whole of high school joined at the hip along with Nick. The five of us were always close. Now they wander around, they aren't too good with their parents so they've stayed away for a while. I don't see them too much, Nick and I stuck together after school though and became roommates straight away."

"How did you...I don't mean to be forward and you don't have to answer it but...how did you end up doing the vandalism? I know it wasn't the first time you'd done something like it, this was just the time you got caught."

Logan smiled tightly and took a drink of his Pepsi. "We all have our reasons. Mine aren't really as abstract as you probably think."

Maisie took that and continued to eat messily at the food which most ended up on her cheeks or fingers. She sighed in defeat when she was full and looked down at all the dirtied napkins she'd used.

"I feel like I need a bath," Maisie said and Logan nodded in agreement.

"It's not the easiest," he said and waved his hand when he saw Lennox wander around.

The man headed over. "You guys need anything?"

"Do you have any of those wipes?" Logan asked.

Lennox thought for a moment then nodded and scurried away, coming back a few moments later with two packets which he placed on the table. He patted Logan on the back and ruffled his hair.

"Good to see you again, Logan," he said.

Logan smiled. "You too, Lennox. Talk to me more, tell your stupid brothers that too."

Lennox gave a nod with a warm smile which was directed to Maisie then walked away.

Inside the packet was a wet wipe which Maisie used on her sticky hands and her mouth. When she was done, she packed away the cardboard trays and the Pepsi and threw them in the garbage beside them. Logan followed suit and hopped off his stool.

"You ready?" he asked.

"Yeah," Maisie said as she got off her seat. "We're going somewhere else?"

It was getting dark and the streetlights had already come on. Logan rubbed the back of his neck and subconsciously took Maisie's hand again. "Yeah, come on."

They headed back to the car with a last wave to the Tucker brothers and were back on the road before they knew it. The sun fell down behind the mountains quickly and before she knew it, the moon was glowing over Maisie as they pulled into another parking lot, this one much more different. There was a line and Logan spoke to a man, grabbing his wallet and then passing two large soda cups to Maisie which she put in the drink holders and then a giant tub of popcorn and a bag of assorted candy.

Logan drove on and pulled the car into park. Maisie looked over the edge of the popcorn bucket and giddily smiled immediately.

Drive-in movie.

"This is perfect," she told Logan. "I've always wanted to do one of these."

"Gets better," Logan told her warmly. "Grab the candy and popcorn."

Logan took the drinks and got out the car, moving to the trunk. Maisie followed and with difficulty, Logan finally got the trunk open. Maisie took one of the drinks and he grabbed a couple blankets and pillows. A few minutes later, the two of them lay on the bonnet of the car, a pillow behind their heads and a mass of blankets covering them as they shared the bucket of popcorn and bag of candy.

Maisie took a sip of the soda just to realize that it was actually a milkshake and happily fell back against the pillow as the movie started ahead of them.

During it, Maisie's head slipped down her pillow and ended up on the end of Logan's shoulder. He shifted and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, rubbing her arm to keep the chill off.

"Thank you for today," Maisie said. "I've had a really good time."

Logan smiled against the top of her head. "I've had a really good time too."

- Ellie x