Break of Dawn

06 | ambition is a curse

RORY NEVER thought she would ever resort to stealing.

The only time in her life she had come close to it had been when she was eight and took a pack of Twizzlers from her brother's Halloween bag. Even then, she didn't thought that could be considered stealing, seeing as Alex had taken all the chocolate bars from her own bag saying that he deserved it for being the one who took her trick-or-treating. Needless to say, taking one pack of Strawberry Twizzlers had been nothing but a payback and wouldn't qualify as a proper theft.

Unfortunately, Rory couldn't use the same rationalization for her latest stealing act — there was no logic explanation behind taking a guy's shirt after having sex with him, especially if you had no intimacy with said guy.

Unless, of course, after the sex the guy had passed out, there was no light in the room and her brand new off-shoulder blouse was nowhere to be found. Add extreme exhaustion and a peck of desperation and she finally understood why people said opportunity made the thief.

Stealing the guy's shirt hadn't been her proudest moment, she would admit, but it was either that or doing the walk of shame in lingerie — and it didn't matter how high her morals were, her dignity would always speak louder.

She liked to think that she hadn't actually stolen from him, it was more like borrowing without the intention of returning. Certainly not the most honest rationalization, but it was the only way to make her feel less guilty for not paying attention to where the guy lived so she could give his shirt back.

In the end she could only hope he wouldn't mind his missing piece of clothing — although she certainly missed hers.

The "theft" had been the most exciting part of her weekend, seeing as she spent the rest of the days binge watching Netflix and stuffing her face with popcorn. When she emerged from her room Sunday night, the apartment was dimly lit, the only light in the open-plan living area was coming from the TV where some renovation show was playing.

Madison was sitting on the gray sectional, a jumbo bag of peanut M&Ms on her hands while her eyes were glued on the TV screen "Look who finally decided to show up," she said when Rory took a seat next to her.

"I got a little caught up with Gilmore Girls."

"I still can't believe you've never watched that before," Madison divulged. Admittedly it was a little too late for her to be watching the series, but after years of listening to everyone talk about how the main characters was her nickname-twin, she had finally decided to give it a go.

"Better late than never," She shrugged as they both watched the Property Brothers show an ugly house to a middle-aged couple.

Madison was obsessed with house renovation shows, and although Rory prided herself on having a more refined taste on TV, she could never escape the allure of watching people taking down walls and building a whole new ambience from stretch; hence it had been hard to leave the couch once she started paying attention.

Thirty minutes later, as the credits rolled in, Rory's stomach rumbled and she remembered the real reason why she had left the comfort of her bed.

"Wanna order Thai?"

"Have you ever seen me decline food?" Madison joked and Rory shook her head chuckling.