It's A Crime

Cliff didn’t ever think he would rob a store in his life. Yet, here he was, standing outside on Hallie’s balcony while he waited for Syl to come out and let him inside.

The day had started out normally. He’d woken up and felt particularly angry at his mother for no specific reason. So out of spite he’d snuck out his window (a habit he’d began to acquire when he stayed at home) and left a note stating he’d be spending the weekend in the woods. He left and went out, instead, to meet with Syl.

The guy was cool. Cliff had taken to going by Rhett when around him, forging an identity with Syl’s friends that was completely isolated from Cliff who attended Metric High. Cliff knew Syl suspected an alias but he didn’t care – as long as Syl didn’t call him out in front of the strangers he didn’t know, he didn’t care. Cliff really didn’t want rumors to spread about him being involved with the illicit crowd – his mother would never let him leave the house.

Somehow they went for a walk to go and get some drinks and in the process, found an abandoned gun behind a dumpster. The sight of a gun scared Cliff, but he tried to act cool and nonchalant about it. He succeeded until Syl said he had a plan. Donning gloves, all black apparel, and ski masks, they wound up robbing a store.

In Cliff’s defense, he thought Syl was joking until he thrust the gun at him and burst into the convenience store.

When in the store Cliff didn’t know what he was doing. He was told by his father, years ago, how to hold a gun. He aimed it ahead of him, his arm straight and his finger on the trigger, as he aimed at the old man. Cliff felt awful aiming the gun at a human being. He hunted animals for sport, but people? This man had done nothing to him. He was acting like the very criminal that his father used to hunt and put behind bars. As Syl made his demands and obtained everything, Cliff shook his head when asked if he wanted something. He stayed tough and didn’t fall back until Syl did – and then, when they were running from the place, he ditched the weapon in the very place they had found it.

Cliff followed suit and removed his mask, removing his clothes as well so that he could change into a plain red tee shirt and jeans. He heard sirens in the distance and felt like they were onto their location. Cliff followed Syl until they wound up sneaking to Hallie’s balcony – fortunately Cliff was very physically active and likely would have beat Syl to the balcony if he knew where it was – and then he leaned against the wall. Syl told him that he’d meet get him in a second.

And that was where Cliff was.

The sounds of police sirens were echoing in the night – loud and taunting. Cliff slowly sat down on the balcony floor. His hands were still shaking. He had done a lot of crap over the past few months that was bad. Running away with Cleo, making out with her in a hotel room, planning to lose his virginity, fighting back when that guy attacked them in the woods... but nothing was like this. He had deliberately held up a store, held a gun in his hands, and then left. He tried to reason it was fine because he hadn’t planned to shoot anyone. No matter what, he wouldn’t have.

If his father were still alive, would he have come after them? Cliff almost snorted. If his father was alive he wouldn’t be here. He would be happy in Maine, attending school there and going on hiking trips. Stupid Johnathan wouldn’t be a part of his life, and he’d be happy.

For the first time, he felt something other than blind adoration for his father – resentment. Why did he have to die? He surely could have overpowered anyone with a gun. Why did he have to die and leave Cliff to deal with Johnathan and his mother moving on completely?

He felt a numbness in his chest as he listened to the police sirens in the distance, praying they never traced him or Syl to the crime. The bags sat beside him, and Cliff hoped Syl opened the door soon.

Hallie’s Robe // Her Pajamas

-x-

Inside of her apartment, Hallie was making a little snack to herself. She was just finishing putting the whipped cream on her pudding when she heard the door. She knew that Lola was out, having a long shift at work and then a boy’s place to go over to, so she was supposed to be alone. Hallie only knew one person who would sneak into her apartment this late ad she glanced towards the doorway. She saw Syl’s back as he began his search for her and she smirked to herself, continuing on to make her pudding.

When she felt arms around her she giggled and turned around, placing her hands on his chest. She rose her brows at his question.

”Oh Syl, what did you go and do?” She asked, rolling her eyes. She then reached up and grabbed him by the collar to aggressively whisper ”am I going to have to whip you again, you little delinquent?”

Hallie didn’t seem convinced by Syl’s words. Whenever he said something wasn’t serious, it usually was more serious than he implied! She hummed in response, reaching up to boop the guy on the nose. ”Why do I not believe you,” she said. When he said he had a companion her brow arched up. What kind of guy? ”If any of you buys try to get near Lola’s room I’ll flay you like a fish,” she assured, but otherwise, seemed willing to take them in. When he said he didn’t guarantee himself she smirked and pressed her body against his. ”In that case, you bad boy, I’ll have to punish you myself.”

She pulled away from Syl then – almost teasingly, and sashayed her way towards the living room, outside of which sat Cliff. She put her hands on her hips and opened the door, expecting to see some sleazy looking guy. She was surprised to see a boy who looked no older than 18, lying slumped on the wall. She turned to Syl with a hand on her hip as Cliff looked her up and down, obviously distracted by her figure. Hallie didn’t seem to notice or care. ”Syl, what kind of heat did you get into that you’d involve a high school kid in? oh, get in –“ She ignored Cliff’s noise of protest at her guessing his age and tugged him inside. She saw the bags in his hands and glared over at Syl. ”What exactly did you do?”

Hallie looked at Rhett as he entered the apartment, looking scared as a sheet still. She turned to look at Syl as he assured her the boy was of age and everything was fine. Somehow that made Hallie doubt Syl even more.

”Yeah. I’m 18,” Cliff said, looking at Hallie. She felt a little better at that, knowing he hadn’t gotten some minor involved in this shitstorm. She heard the sirens in the distance, and now that she knew the perpetrators were in her apartment, her eyes narrowed.

When Syl admitted they held up a guy she whirled around to look at him. He flopped on the couch and she approached him, looming over him and paying no mind to the fact this gave him a good view of her cleavage. In the background, Cliff entered the apartment and looked around at the décor.

”You held a man up at gunpoint! Syl! You could have killed somebody.” She huffed and sat herself down on Syl’s lap, reaching her hand up to squish his cheeks together. ”I don’t want to house a murderer Syl, so you better get your tight little ass in gear before I whip it.” Though the squishing of his face was silly, and her voice was sing-songish, there was a serious fierceness to her expression.

Behind the two Cliff finally glanced over at them, pursing his lips and unsure how to proceed. They were in an... intimate post right then. Cliff put the food onto the coffee table and grabbed one of the snack bars Syl had grabbed, munching on it.

Hallie didn’t believe Syl when he said he hadn’t done anything. As he spoke she continued to tug at his cheeks and lips, until he leaned over to kiss her. The feeling of his lips on hers was nice and she reciprocated, but she bit his lip extra hard as though to show her point via aggressiveness. She pulled away and her eyes her half-lidded, her brows raised. ”You’re damn right I’ll have to,” she said, as though no one else wasn’t in the room. She adjusted herself on his lap slightly as she felt his arm around her. She pressed her nail into the skin of his cheek and slowly began to trail it down his neck, not hard enough to puncture skin but hard enough to be felt.

When he addressed Rhett, Cliff blinked into attention and looked at Syl. Well... he was being told to sit down beside Syl. It was kind of awkward given that Hallie had yet to remove herself from Syl’s lap, but he tried to ignore it and put the bag of goods on the table, the snack bar in his mouth.

”Well we got all this crap,” He said. Hallie turned and rolled off of Syl’s lap, occupying the space beside him on the couch that Rhett hadn’t taken. She glared over at Syl.

”I can’t believe you held up a store.” She said, ”Did you at least get something nice for me? If you didn’t, I’ll throw your ass onto the streets!” She said. While she was joking, Cliff didn’t know and he stiffened uncomfortably.

Hallie knew that Syl wanted to continue to touch and fondle her – so in a way her rolling off of him stubbornly was another way to punish him. She glanced over at Rhett, then, looking the kid over. Despite the fact that his hair was pulled back and he had broad shoulders, height, and a good jawline, there was something baby-ish about him. It might have been his demeanor. He just listened to Syl blindly, as though he didn’t know what he was doing. And he probably didn’t. Hallie glared over at Syl again – what had he gotten this poor guy into? Was he corrupting this guy? He couldn’t be anything older than a fresh graduate – even if he was over 18.

Hallie glanced at the contents of the bag as Syl began to rummage through the goods. When he offered her pantyhose and condoms she snorted. ”These totally aren’t my skin color,” she flicked the box of pantyhose at his forehead. She looked at the condoms and pouted. ”And these are so the cheapest kind of condoms. If you’re going to steal at least make it worth something, you delinquent.” she made a ‘tut tut’ noise as she looked at him. However, when she saw the money, Hallie paused and examined it.

Cliff glanced at the cash, his eyes wide and practically budging out of his sockets. So much money! He reached over greedily and grabbed it, his face lit up like a Christmas tree as he wafted through a hundred dollar bill and several twenties. When Syl told him to count he obliged, going over it twice to double check. ”780.” He said, after he put the money down. 456 dollars? That was a lot of money. He could buy so much with that! The police sirens on Main Street dulled to a background sound in the back of his mind.

”780 dollars.” Hallie repeated. She reached over – ignoring the flinch from Rhett as he tried to grab the money again but stopped himself from hogging it all at the last second. She counted it herself and verified it was, in fact, 780 dollars. ”Didn’t anyone tell either of you boys stealing from business is wrong?” she looked from Syl to Rhett, then back to Syl. ”But you’re giving me half of that for covering your asses and giving you an alibi if you need one. But I digress.” She counted out 390 dollars and put the rest on the table. ”Any objections?”

”Hey – “ Cliff looked from Syl to Hallie, but the ice in her stare made him freeze and glance over at Syl, feeling a sense of dread that she’d turn them in. Hallie glanced at Syl with the icy look still on her face as she fanned herself with the money she claimed for herself.

If Cliff felt somewhat excluded before, he definitely did now. Instead of being angry or frustrated with Hallie’s high price, Syl seemed intrigued and even happy to oblige her. He opened his mouth as though to speak again but saw Syl move to feel Hallie up and, again, he was pretty sure there was some relationship here he wasn’t seeing. Was Hallie his girlfriend? Friend-with-benefits? Or some other kind of relationship? Cliff didn’t know and, observing the way Syl’s hands were wandering up her thigh and the way his lisp nipped at her neck, he didn’t want to know.

”Oh you know that this place isn’t like that, Syl.” Hallie said, though her voice was firm she allowed him to kiss her neck and touch her leg, even wanting him to slide his hand up farther. She seemed to pay little mind to the younger boy in the room who was now curiously watching them. ”Oh, if you want the special treatment you’re going to have to make me want to give it to you first.”

Cliff grabbed the money he was given by Syl, momentarily distracted by that. He leafed through the bills. More where that came from? He thought of how long he had to work to earn this much money at the ice cream shop. He thought of what his father said of criminals: awful people, who needed to be stopped, people who put the hard working folks like their family to shame. People who needed to be stopped.

But his father wasn’t going t be stopping anything. He didn’t stop his wife from marrying some arrogant jerk, didn’t stop her from making a new family, didn’t stop her from erasing him from her life.

And he wouldn’t stop Cliff now. He was dead. Dead people couldn’t stop anything.

A hollowness shrouded Cliff’s features. ”Sounds good, man.” he said, feeling as though he was standing outside of himself. Hallie didn’t acknowledge him or sense anything was off. Cliff looked at them, finally, giving them a small smirk. ”Well I’ll uh – just – I’ll be over here if you need me.”

He got up and maneuvered away from the couple – or whatever they were – heading towards Hallie’s little kitchen. It was clean and nice, and he wondered if she had anything good here. He glanced in the cabinet and saw some liquor. He licked his lips and recognized something – a brand of wine. He grabbed it off the shelf and looked it over. He smiled when he thought of Cleo and the time they’d drank this in the hotel room. God, that felt like so long ago.

He replaced the wine and lifted his phone, taking a silent picture of it. It came out realitively clear.

Look what I found at my friend's place. Thirsty? P: he texted Cleo, along with the message. He leaned against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. He could hear Hallie’s giggling from here. Though he felt ignored, he also felt a sense of peace in the solitude.

Hallie hummed at his question and shifted as he squeezed her thigh, maneuvering herself to look at him. She slid one of her hands down from his shoulder down the expanse of his chest. ”Let’s put it this way – until you buy me a mansion, you’ll be punished,” she said. Rhett dismissed himself and Hallie watched him as he left, hearing him go into the kitchen. He was probably going to get a drink.

Hallie barely had time to say anything before Syl was over her, pressing himself against her. She groaned at the feeling, suddenly noting that her hands were pinned up over her head. Well, that was no fun! She tried to move her wrists but Syl’s strength restrained her. She kissed him back, and since he was over her, she leaned forward. She leaned forward so much that she knocked the two of them to the floor – narrowly missing the coffee table with Syl’s head. It made Hallie giggle, and she finally got her hands free. Now he was lying on the floor on his back with Hallie straddling him, a dark look entering her eyes as she regained control.

”And also,” she reached down to grab Syl by the chin and forced him to look at her, ”That kid better not steal any of my shit or your dick is mine,” she knew that wasn’t threatening itself so she moved her other hand to the fly of his pants. ”And by that I mean I’ll cut it off,” she unzipped his fly and slid her hand inside of it – smirking, still forcing him to look at her with her other hand. She squeezed him gently with the hand in his pants, leaning down so her face was inches from his. She bat her eyelashes. ”You sure you can trust him with your manhood on the line, Syl?”

-x-

Cliff suddenly heard a crash from the other room and turned around, heart racing. Shit. Was Hallie actually hostile? Was she actually going to hurt them or – no, Syl wouldn’t hurt Hallie, would he? Cliff wondered if in the few seconds he’d been gone something went wrong. Maybe they had an argument and he had to shut up Hallie before she blabbed. Cliff grabbed a knife off the counter and looked into the living room – and wished he’d just let it be.

From what he could see, Hallie was on top of Syl, her hand in his pants, her breathing heavy. Her lingerie strap was half off her shoulder and from this angle, Cliff could see the curve of her ass as she sat on Syl’s thighs, barely covered by the material of the lingerie. He swiftly looked around the corner and stared at the wall, his eyes wide. Oops. His cheek was burning red as he tried to erase the image out of his mind – the way that both their expressions looked and the way her hand stuck into Syl’s pants still implanted in his mind. He tried to shake it off and decided, in order to do so, he’d need a drink. As his phone vibrated, Cliff grabbed the bottle ad filled the glass. He saw it was a text from Cleo and grinned. Her name was set as ‘Daisy’ in his phone now – so that his mom didn’t think he was still texting her – but he knew it was her. He grabbed the wine glass he’d poured for himself, sat at Hallie’s table, and took a long sip. He opened the text message and grinned at the response.

Do you? Wtf are you drinking then? I bet you’re chugging a pint of beer rn. Don’t lie. And I’d share it what u but this place is really off campus. He wondered if she could hear the sirens from wherever she was. ’well they r busy I think im just sitting in the kitchen drinking this stuff I found it in her fridge. If u wanna call me ill pick up im so bored too. Lmao same. Im lucky my phones the only way my mom can talk to me otherwise I wouldn’t even have one anymore p: