Dead Apples

18- Angry Thieves

The next time that I'm at work, I stand behind the counter drawing Dex again. I can't stop thinking about how he called me beautiful the day before. I draw him the moment that he was saying those words to me, so that I won't ever forget that moment. He really called me beautiful. I know that he didn't mean it romantically because he's dating Amber and in love with Gabby but it still felt nice to hear.

I don't even believe it myself but it still lit me on fire to hear him say that to me.

Now that I've had a full day to recover from drawing the mural outline on Sunday, my hand is totally able to quickly sketch out the moment in the park where Dex called me beautiful. Maybe I should have complimented him in return to make things even but anybody who has ever met him can tell that he already knows how good looking he is. There is not an ounce of physical insecurity in his eyes.

Granted, I'm suspecting that he has insecurity in other ways. Sure, he knows that he's drop dead gorgeous but from what I've heard Sage say about him, he tries really hard to keep up a specific image with his friends. I don't know if that means that he's insecure about his real personality and that's why he creates this fearless persona. It could also be that he just wants that reputation and it doesn't have to do with an insecurity issue at all.

I'm sketching out his nose when the bell dings on top of the door as somebody comes into the store area, so I shut the sketch pad and look up. It's a group of three guys that immediately go toward the fridge that's freshly stocked with energy drinks. When there are people in the store, I like to look busy even though I'm really not. I grab a cleaning rag from under the counter and start absently wiping down the counter that I already cleaned about half an hour ago.

When those three guys come back up to the front, they're each carrying a can of Monster Energy Drink.

"Do you need a bag?" I ask in my most well-rehearsed customer service voice, which is about an octave higher than my normal voice. The tall guy in the front shakes his head as I start scanning the three cans.

"You're Robby the Robber's sister, aren't you?" He asks me as I'm ringing up the last of the three cans. I immediately frown, not appreciating how this guy starts a conversation.

"No," I eventually lie. I hate that I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm related to Robby but I am. I love him to death but I really don't want to be associated with him.

"He owes us a lot of money," Another one of the three guys adds, giving me a pointed look. The way that they're looking at me, I find it overwhelmingly obvious that they aren't here just for the energy drinks. I don't like where this situation is headed.

Obviously, they don't believe that I'm not his sister, so I give up on that. "Well, he doesn't have any money and he's in jail so I guess that you're fucked."

I try to memorize what they look like just in case they try to cause any trouble. We have security cameras in here but they're crappy and it's almost impossible to identify anybody on them. The first one has dark hair and a freckle on his neck. Blue eyes, a round face.

The second one has curly auburn hair, gray eyes, forehead acne, square jaw, high cheek bones.

"Well, since he's not here and you're his sister, we think that you owe us that money now," The dark haired one informs me slowly as he leans against the counter on his elbows. "We heard that he got two grand from that old fucker in Grandview, so that's 500 each. You owe us 1500 dollars."

It suddenly becomes clear that these guys are the guys that were with Robby when he robbed that antiques shop. They are the reason that my brother is in jail—other than my brother himself. This situation just got much worse, and ten times more tense.