Short & Sweet | ✓

Thief

I open my front door with a sigh.

"I'm going to kill you."

"That's nice but could you maybe come back later? Now's not a good time." I reply, yawning.

"You- That's- Did you hear me correctly?" The boy in front of me stutters.

"Yes, and I'm saying now's not a good time, come back later."

"You do realise I literally have a knife in my hand and my plan was to rob you."

"Well why didn't you just say so? Come in." I open the door wider and gesture for the stranger to come in. "Take what you want."

He takes a tentative step through the doorway, pocketing his knife and looking around my apartment. I simply sit back down on my couch and continue watching tv, picking up my ice cream from where I left it next to me.

"I don't understand." He says, stood awkwardly near my door.

I sigh, "Listen buddy, if you're gonna steal something, can you maybe just get it over with? I'm trying to watch tv here."

"It's just I usually don't just get invited in-"

"Do you mind? All I wanna do is watch tv, cry some more, and eat my ice cream. Is that too much to ask?"

"Break up?" He asks me.

"No shit Sherlock. Girls with perfect, happy relationships don't invite random lads into their apartments to steal their shit." I stand and walk over to the table, picking up a watch. "This is his, take it." I hand it to the boy and he raises an eyebrow.

"Thank you?"

"You're welcome."

I expect him to leave but instead he sits down on the couch next to me.

"What are you doing?" I ask turning to look at him.

"Watching tv."

"Do you not own a tv?"

"Yeah but I don't have the company." He replies, smiling.

We just sit in silence watching the tv.

"Are you gonna go or..?"

"Nah, I need to see how this ends." He replies, nodding towards the tv.

"Am I hallucinating? Is it possible to overdose on ice cream?"

He just laughs and sits back, turning to face the tv. I just blink, dumbfounded by the situation. Sure, I let him in, but I expected him to take some stuff then leave, not join me for a some sort of cozy night in.

"So, what happened with the boyfriend?" He asks me, talking a spoonful of ice cream from the tub.

"He cheated on me."

"What?! Why would someone cheat on a girl like you?"

I put my legs up on the couch, turning to face him fully. "I've been asking myself that all night. Surely I'm not that bad, right?"

"You seem perfectly fine to me."

"And now I have to live with him flaunting his new girlfriend all over social media, and rubbing her in my face. I mean, she's a model. A freaking model?! And I'm here sat on my couch dressed like a slob crying into a bowl of ice cream."

"I have an idea."

"What?"

"You just need to make it seem like your life is better without him in it. That you can move on as fast as he can."

"You're kidding, right? I invited you into my home to rob me. Does my life look better without him to you?"

"He doesn't know that. Look, I'll be your fake boyfriend."

"You'll be my what now?"

He stands and runs his hand through his hair. The dark black of his t-shirt and jeans stands out against the white walls of my apartment.

"Your fake boyfriend. Just take a picture with me, write a cheesy caption and put it on social media or something."

"And when my friends ask about you? When they want to meet you."

He shrugs, "Just stall, make up an excuse about me being busy at work and then in a month or two, say we broke up."

"This is insane."

"Just go clean yourself up, this needs to be the best selfie you've ever taken."

"No. This is stupid I'm not just gonna-" He puts a finger to my lips, stopping me and I hear the sound of sirens in the distance.

"Shit."

"What?"

"You're not the first apartment I robbed."

"You cheated on me too?" I say, smirking.

"Yeah, but this time you're the model I'm cheating with."

"Aw, I'm flattered."

"Now's not the time, do you have anywhere I can hide?"

"Why? It's unlikely they'll come to my apartment first. Unless they have loads of officers that have all split up to find yo-"

I'm interrupted by a banging on my door, "Police open up!"

"Under the bed!" I whisper, pointing at the door that leads to my room.

I wait until the bedroom door is closed behind him before opening up my front door. "What's going on?" I ask the officer stood at my door.

"Sorry to disturb you, miss, but have you had a young man at your door? Blond hair, brown eyes, kind of slim, dressed in all black?"

"If I had sir, I probably would have called you myself." I reply with a laugh.

The police officer laughs with me, "Right well, thanks for answering my question, very sorry to disturb you."

"No problem. Good luck finding your guy."

"Much appreciated, miss."

He leaves and I close the door behind him, waiting a few seconds before giving a sigh of relief.

My bedroom door opens shortly afterwards, the boy leaning against the frame. "Nicely done." He says.

I take a mock curtsy. "Why, thank you."

He walks further into the room and I squint, noticing something. "Wait, your eyes are blue."

"So?"

"The police think your eyes are brown."

He shrugs, "Lucky me?"

We stay in silence for a moment when a sudden thought occurs to me. "Do you want to stay here tonight? Seen as the police are obviously out looking for you."

He smiles, "Are you sure?"

"I've already obstructed an investigation, might as well harbour a fugitive as well."

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it."

He claps his hands together, "So. We taking that selfie or what?"

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Me and writing late at night don't mix lol.

The first couple of lines is a sort of prompt I thought of so you'll probably see that again but with a completely different plot after it 😂