It was Logan’s second night back at the restaurant and things weren’t going very well. He’d been slow the previous night, but luckily so had the restaurant. He’d been able to get by on half speed, taking his time delivering orders and getting the others to help him out a bit. It had cost him a share of his tips, but it was worth it to keep his job.

Tonight, however, it looked like he might lose his job after all if he didn’t pick up the pace. There was no way that he’d be able to perform as well as he usually did. His shoulder still hurt and he didn’t want to take too much of the medication the doctor had given him. He’d already taken a lot during the day to get through his cleaning routines. This was his third summer working for the same company, so they knew him and were willing to go easy on him for a few days, but this was also peak season. If he couldn’t keep up, that would be a second job he couldn’t afford to lose.

Maybe he should have taken up Hideki on his offer to work at the boat house, he thought as he looked at the growing line of people in front of the greeter’s stand waiting to be seated. But he couldn’t just sit around all day behind a counter, checking boats in and out. He had to move. It felt wrong to just sit around. It was yet one more reason he knew New York would be right for him. The city that never sleeps. The energy was palpable even in photographs and lit a fire in him just thinking about it.

Besides, the more experience he got as a waiter, the better, since that’s probably what he’d end up doing while he was there. It was all totally manageable: classes during the day, then working nights and weekends. He was getting so excited about leaving he could hardly sleep at night.

Which was also not helping his performance at work. His manager, Tony, caught him staring off into space and made a jerking motion with his head. Logan’s stomach sank and with a quick glance at his tables—how had he gotten two more already?—he slinked into the kitchen behind Tony.

The kitchen was noisy, hot and busy, filled to the brim with people and smells. It was overpowering and stimulated all five senses at once.

Logan loved it.

He did not love how Tony was glaring at him.

“What is going on tonight?” Tony crossed his arms over his chest. “Is your arm still bothering you?”

“A bit,” Logan admitted, trying not to reach up to touch it. He was supposed to be wearing his sling but there was no way he could do that here. He just kept it close to his body and tried not to bump into anyone or anything.

“Well how long is it going to be that way? We’re getting into the busy season. I need all hands on deck.”

“I know, it’ll be fine in a few days, I promise.” Logan knew it would be more like a few weeks, but he’d always been a fast healer. His mom wouldn’t have even known about half the things he’d done with Hideki if his aunt hadn’t filled her in. The bruises and scars had always faded by the time he’d returned home at the end of summer.

“Well, it better be,” Tony said with a cold stare, and then waved him away.

Tail between his legs, Logan turned to head back out, grabbing a plate from the counter as he went, trying to be as useful as possible.

So, of course, he ran straight into someone else in his rush to leave the kitchen.

The clatter of plates and yells drew the stares of all the patrons in the vicinity. Looking around, Logan saw that three of the curious stares were Cassie, Spencer, and a curly haired girl Logan thought was named either Melissa or Marissa.

And they were sitting in his section.

Perfect. Like this night could get any worse.

After apologizing profusely to his coworker, who was covered in sauce and glaring at him, Logan hurried over to Cassie’s table.

She was looking very hard at her menu. Her long hair was swept up in a complicated knot on her head with a few strands falling out to frame her face. Logan took a deep breath and tried to ignore the temptation to brush one behind her ear. He barely knew her. She hadn’t even replied to his request for information on New York; she’d just bugged him again about his shoulder stuff. She obviously saw him as some charity case, which was fine with him. He didn’t need this alumni match thing anyway. He spent enough time with annoying rich people at this job; he didn’t need to spend any more time with her.

Then she looked up he found himself lost in the intense green forest of her eyes.

“Hi,” he drawled slowly, his face splitting into a grin. He’d completely forgotten whatever he was about to say. Cassie looked down quickly, her face cool and blank.

Logan cleared his throat, looking at Marissa instead. “Welcome to Chez Pierre. I’m Logan, I’ll be taking care of you tonight.” Marissa’s eyes widened slightly, and a small smile appeared on her face. “Can I start you all off with some drinks?”

“Yeah, I’ll have a margarita, please,” said Spencer. Logan let out a short laugh, but Spencer’s face was stony.

“You’re not serious? Spencer, we’ve been in the same school for four years. I know you’re not twenty-one.”

Spencer’s face clouded over, and he stared at Logan, who stared right back. Yes the Huntingtons were important, and if Spencer had been with his dad, Logan might not have said anything. He let plenty of things slide at the restaurant for the VIP customers, as per Tony’s orders. But this was just ballsy and stupid and Logan was on the verge of losing his job as it was. Serving underage customers would mean he wouldn’t be working in restaurants for a long time.

“Spencer, stop being an asshole,” Cassie said, not looking up from her menu. She’d been studying it closely, as if to commit the entire thing to memory. “Just a round of Diet Cokes, please.”

Her tone was dismissive but in the last second before he turned to go, she looked up at him, and rolled her eyes in Spencer’s direction. Relief washed over Logan.

“I’ll be right back with that for you.”

“And some bread!” Spencer called as he walked away.

The rest of the evening was uneventful with no more secret looks from Cassie. He might have even imagined it. Maybe she’d been rolling her eyes at Marissa. Maybe she’d been rolling her eyes about him, not Spencer. As the evening wore on, he became more and more frustrated with himself. All he needed from her was information on New York, nothing else. Why should he care that her boyfriend was a jerk? Or what color her eyes were? Or how she shivered slightly in her tank top every few minutes with no sign from Spencer that he was about to give her his jacket?

Finally, Logan was delivering the last tray of plates to his last table. Cassie’s table had been taking forever to finish up. He’d also been going by less often than he usually did, but he already knew not to expect much, if any, tip from Spencer. It wasn’t worth his time to check in on them.

As he was walking back to the kitchen with the empty tray, he glanced over his shoulder at their table, and ran straight into someone coming out from the kitchen. For the second time that night, the explosion of plates crashing drew the stares of tables around them. Unfortunately, this time it also drew Tony over.

“Logan, I’m sorry, that’s it.” He said, his voice just loud enough for people to hear. “This isn’t working out. I’m sorry. You can come by for your last paycheck tomorrow morning.”

Cold shock ripped through him like he’d just jumped into the lake in January. Hot on its heels was a burning shame that he hoped would burn through the floor so he could fall down the hole it would make.

Even from where he was sitting on the floor, Logan could hear Spencer laughing. Marissa let out a chuckle. Logan didn’t look to see if Cassie smiled. It didn’t matter, he told himself as he stood up and brushed himself off. She didn’t have to accept him. None of them did. Columbia already had.

But when took a final look at her table, there was a small smile on her lips that ripped his heart into shreds.