Thieves

Chapter 4 (Gloria's Chapter)

Gloria smiled as she watched the party wrap up and Gray eat his cake, away from Dez’s grabbing hands. It was nice to see her family happy for once with almost no worries. She felt like the mother to this family, being the oldest female and the second oldest in the whole house.

Scar turned to see Gloria watching the group. He motioned for her to come over to him. He may have been the oldest but he liked asking Gloria for help or her opinion.

She went over to him, curious. “What’s happening?” she asked quietly, raising an eyebrow as she watched the kids playing. The problem of a new place to stay was in everyone’s mind lately and she was sure this was what he wanted to talk about.

Scar bit his lip. “I want you to check a place out with me tonight. I’m not sure if it will work for us but it might. We don’t want the police coming around here again,” he murmured, saddened at having to leave yet another place that had started to become home for each of them.

It happened every time they started to get settled. They had to move. Nath grumbled about it but went along with it, Gloria tried to be optimistic, Dez was a bubble of sun shine, Scar kept food on the metaphoric table, and Gray was helpful but quiet. It was a circle they traveled in and an annoying one at that.

Gloria nodded slightly. “Of course. You don’t have to ask,” she said, grinning. She would never admit it but she had a crush on Scar. He was always calm and in charge. That, and he was handsome with his scar on his face and disheveled black hair. She inwardly shook herself, getting rid of the thoughts. If she wanted to be with someone, she could think of that when she was older.

Scar rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I do. And you know it. If you don’t remember, when I found you, you were awfully snappy with me. You almost bit my head off,” he said, shaking his head.

Gloria grinned at him as they both remembered when they had met.

Ten years ago, he had found her when he was seven and she was five. It had been rainy and Scar, who had no scar at the time, had been running for his little shed that he stayed in when he bumped into the red head. He had grimaced and ignored her until she followed him. He had turned around and glared down at the girl. Being seven, he thought he was the toughest and best person in world since he was a pick pocket who managed to take care of himself.

Gloria, not that she really had a name at the time, had looked up at him. “Don’t you know it isn’t nice to ignore a girl!” she had snapped in her five year old anger. It was impressive she would stand up to someone bigger than her.

“Don’t you know it is nice to respect your elders?” he had shot back angrily. The rain had started pouring harder by then. He needed to get inside or he was going to be drenched for a long time.

Gloria glared at him. “You can’t be much older! So it doesn’t count!” she had retorted. She had pushed him in the chest, not making him budge much but ticking him off all the more. That one move had probably saved her a lot of problems with him later on in life.

Scar had grimaced. “Fine. Be that way,” he snapped. He saw her start to shiver and sighed, breaking down from his tough guy act a little at the sign of a girl in distress. “Come with me. We can warm up in my shed.”

Through her shivers, she marked it as a win in her head. “That sounds delightful,” she said, taking on a Miss Manners act since he had also broken down. Besides, delightful had sounded so grown up.

The two had ran all the way to his little shed where he had let her share a blanket with him since it was so cold. After a while, they had gotten used to each other. They hadn’t always stayed together until a year or so later when they had managed to be around each other and not be childish about it.

They both brought themselves back into the present, smiling slightly. “Yeah, I do remember it. But you did deserve how I talked to you,” she said, teasing him gently.

Scar smirked. “Maybe I did,” he said and paused for a long moment. “So are we going to check out the place tonight? I don’t want to wait too long.”

When she nodded, he knew that he couldn’t have had more luck when they had run into each other ten years ago.