Shorts

Diamond in the Rough

I cautiously dropped from a skylight in front of the famous El Corazón del Diamante. I peered into the case, and it was gone! In its place was a perfect blue jay feather. I stifled a curse and turned to look around the room. On the far wall, my rival Jay Collins casually leaned against a pillar. His green eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

"Where's the diamond, Jay?" I ground out between clenched teeth.

"No hello for an old friend?" Jay asked pushing off the pillar and walking toward me. I repeated my question. He leaned down to whisper in my ear. "Don't worry, it's safe. You, however, are not. the police will be here any minute, so I suggest you follow me. Jay grabbed my hand, pulled me out the door, and down the street.

"Where are we going?" I asked straining against his pull.

He turned, replying wryly, "We're gonna go party-crashing at the Hawthorne Mansion!"

"The Hawthorne Mansion? Is this the same mansion that has state-of-the-art security and its own personal police force?" I asked somewhat panicky.

"The very same." We ran toward the mansion, taking a slight detour to a public bathroom. Jay reached under a bench and pulled out a black duffle bag. "Here," he said tossing some black fabric at me. "Go change into this. And hurry!"

I sighed and went into the bathroom to change. I came out in a black, sequined, knee-length dress. He gaped at me as I walked toward him.

"What?!" I asked self-consciously. He kept staring. Finally, I grabbed his arm and drug him toward the party. "Come on. Let's go see what this is all about."

He must have come to his senses because he led me to the back side of the mansion. "I have a friend that owed me a favor; he left a window open."

We climbed in the window and followed the sounds of the party to the ballroom. Lights pulsed and flashed. Music blasted from the speakers. People danced, people sang, and some became good friends with the buffet in the corner.

Jay grabbed my hand. "Care to dance?" Before I had a chance to respond, he pulled me onto the dance floor. We danced for a while before he started talking. "You look wonderful. I thought you should know. Actually, you always look wonderful." He smiled down at me, his emerald eyes glinting. "You know, apart we're both pretty good thieves, but if we were together, we would be even better. So what do you say, will you team up with me?"

"Quiet," I hissed. "Do you want to get caught?" I glanced around the room to see if anyone overheard. Thankfully we were safe.

"We aren't going to get caught. The cops won't figure out that we're here and no one is even paying attention to us," he said reassuringly. I looked around the room again and sure enough every other couple was too engaged in themselves to notice us.

Jay squeezed my hand. "Now back to our previous discussion. What d'you say?"

"Team up with you? I don't think so. You would have to come up with a very good argument to convince me."

"Well I gave you one reason already," he remarked, spinning me out and back in. "As for reason two..." He leaned in and brushed his lips across mine.

"Are those the only reasons you can come up with? Because if so-" He cut me off by kissing me again. This time he pulled me closer, his hand cupping my cheek, kissing me deeper. I stood there frozen, my eyes shut as he pulled away. I waited a minute unsure of how to respond. When I finally opened my eyes, he was gone. And in my hand, there was the very diamond I had come to steal.