poppy has a "borrowing" problem (lostandbrave) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2010-12-05 19:27:00 |
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Entry tags: | face, nibs |
Who: Tim P and Poppy C
What: Poppy retaliates by shutting of the phone, Tim is not pleased
Where: A bar
When: Saturday night, after this
Warnings: None in sight!
- - -
Poppy had not been pleased that this guy, Tim, thought that he could just show up, pocket-block her and then tell her what to do. Not to mention the whole deal with the cellphone; just because he’d given her a cellphone, didn’t mean that he could tell her she sucked at what she did and then hang up on her without any more information. Poppy had turned off the phone out of pure childish stubbornness, at first, but then she’d just honestly forgot that it was off. She had never in her life owned a cellphone, so it wasn’t like it was hard work to forget that she had one at all.
Now it was Saturday night, and she was out and about on her usual Saturday night activities. This entailed sitting alone, at the bar, scoping out the crowd for solitary boys who weren’t too careful with their wallets. From where she was sitting tonight, she could tell that the boy across the bar was alone and probably working through his issues by drinking. He smiled at her and raised his beer. Poppy smiled back and raised her own glass. The boy made his way over to her side of the bar. He would do. Now all she had to do was flirt with him a little and get him drunk. He might figure out that she was the one who stole his wallet, in the morning, but by then there wouldn’t be anything he could do about it. It wasn’t the smoothest plan but it was certainly easier than anything else she could think of tonight.
- - -
Tim had tried calling Poppy four times after their first phone conversation. It was starting to get on his nerves that she wouldn’t answer, though he figured out on the second phone call that she had probably turned it off. It had gone straight to voicemail after all. Annoyed and unable to let it go, Tim decided to find Poppy. It was Saturday that he found her in a bar where a lot of the local college boys hung out. Sure enough, he noticed her on one side of the bar, while she was noticing a rather sullen looking guy.
As the guy made his way over to Poppy, Tim bumped into him, with his back to Poppy. He expertly reached into the boy’s pocket and lifted his wallet, before replacing it with another wallet, this one filled with Monopoly money. He apologized to the kid and went to take his place at the far end of the bar, surreptitiously watching Poppy’s interaction with him. He opened the boy’s wallet and took out all the spare cash, handing it to the bartender and indicating that the money would cover the boy’s and Poppy’s tab. He planned to put the kid’s wallet back after Poppy lifted the replacement one.
- - -
Poppy hadn’t noticed the small interaction between the shadowy man and the boy making his way over to her, but if she had, she would have realized that it was Tim. But as it was, she just continued her little game, going on as she normally would. She let the boy buy her a drink, a Mojito, she liked drinking through a straw. They talked for a while, she told him she attended UW and was a psych major. He was on his third beer when he excused himself to use the bathroom, Poppy took the opportunity to discreetly remove his wallet from his back pocket. She’d be gone before he returned. Making her way to the door, she opened the wallet to find it filled with Monopoly money. What. The. Fuck.
This was a game. Somebody was playing a game with her and it sure as hell wasn’t the boy she’d lifted the wallet from. It didn’t even have any ID in it. Glancing around the bar skeptically, she once again failed to notice the man from the other night, at the bar. Instead, she left the wallet on a bar stool and headed to the coat check in a hurry. It was time to go somewhere else. Somewhere where there wasn’t someone potentially watching her every move. The thought that it was Tim, didn’t even cross her mind.
- - -
Tim watched as the boy excused himself, and saw her sloppy lift. He shook his head, unsure of why he was even bothering with her. But then, he reminded himself that every good thief had a mentor. George had been his mentor, and now he would mentor this girl, whether she liked it or not. She needed to learn sometime. He waited until she was heading out the door before he got up, but stopped when she returned to put the wallet back on the bar stool. He watched her hurry to the door, and Tim took the opportunity to switch the fake wallet for the real one, just in time for the guy to return from the bathroom.
He caught up to her at the door and followed her out of the bar. He let her get a few feet ahead of him before calling out, “Poppy! You forget something?” He held up the fake wallet for her to see, with a smirk on his face. Boy was this fun.
- - -
She turned around, shocked by the voice. She hadn’t used her real name with the boy, she rarely used her real name, but that wasn’t his voice anyways. Her confusion only lasted until she turned around and recognized the face, and then it was replaced with understanding and annoyance. She huffed indignantly before promptly turning on her heel and walking away from the infuriating man. As she continued to walk, she couldn’t hear his footsteps following which annoyed her even more so she stopped and turned around once again.
“Is this fun for you?” She bit out coldly, a clear tone of displeasure in her voice. She could dish out the mischief better than most of the people she had ever met, but she sure as hell couldn’t take the same treatment without being a pouty princess about it.
- - -
Tim’s smirk grew wider as she recognized him. Her reaction amused him, and he knew her curiosity would win out if he didn’t follow her, so he stayed where he was. Sure enough, she turned around a moment later. Her question seemed filled with annoyance, but he didn’t particularly mind. He shrugged in response and took a few steps closer to her.
“It is rather enjoyable,” he replied calmly, putting the wallet back in his coat pocket. “If you hadn’t turned off your phone, I wouldn’t have had to resort to showing you up.”
- - -
Crossing her arms, Poppy stood her ground as Tim inched closer. If he was trying to intimidate her, she’d been in much worse situations and gotten out alive. But when the cellphone was mentioned, her hand dropped instinctively to the jacket pocket that it was in. She’d never bothered to check the damned thing because Tim was the only person who knew the number and she hadn’t even remembered that it was off. Pulling it out, she switched it on and read the message that popped up: four missed calls. Oops. Well then, everything made much more sense now that she had context.
“Well if you hadn’t pissed me off, I wouldn’t have had to turn it off in the first place!” Sticking our her hand so that her palm was facing upwards, she placed her other hand on her hip, “Well? Where’s the cash?” Just cause Tim had gotten to the wallet first, didn’t mean that she couldn’t cash in on the reward.
- - -
Tim watched her as she pulled out the cellphone and turned it on. He arched an eyebrow as she retorted, putting his hands in the front pockets of his slacks. “Perhaps you should consider that if you act like a child, you’ll be treated like a child,” Tim replied with a look. She put her hand out for the cash and he gave her a look that clearly told her she was barking up the wrong tree.
“You don’t deserve it,” he replied simply. “Want to try again?”
- - -
“If I remember correctly, and I do, you hung up on me!” The emphasis was clear and she still couldn’t see how this was her fault at all.
The look on his face made it clear that she wasn’t going to get whatever cash had been in the boy’s wallet, but she wasn’t about to back down. “Only if by ‘try again’ you mean ask again and not go rob someone else,” Poppy had a sinking suspicion that if she agreed to try again, and it wasn’t to Tim’s liking, she still wasn’t going to get the money. Stealing without the reward just didn’t sit well with her. That was just like taking things for the sake of taking things and Poppy only took things because she needed to.
- - -
Tim could see he was getting no where with her. Maybe it was time for a different approach. One that required a bit more finesse than he originally intended. He closed the distance between them, as they had been getting a few looks from the various people still waiting to get into the bar. He lowered his voice so their conversation would only be heard between the two of them.
“Call it an act of good faith,” he said, sliding the wad of cash into her pocket effortlessly. She wouldn’t have been able to feel it, but she was able to see him. Perhaps showing off his skill would get her more interested in learning from him. “Frat guys don’t carry much cash though. Only eighty bucks,” he noted.
- - -
She hadn’t been able to feel his hand slide into her pocket, even though she’d seen it happen. As stubborn as she was, Poppy couldn’t deny that Tim was an amazing pick-pocket. The wad of cash was nearly weightless but she could feel it there anyways, though only because she knew that it was there. Maybe this guy wasn’t so bad, and like he said, she didn’t want to end up in jail whether it be sooner or later.
Cracking a small smile, as a sign of acceptance, Poppy grinned, mostly to herself, as she turned around so that they were walking side by side. “Well I could have told you that!” She joked. It was true, but Poppy didn’t need that much cash. As a rule, she only made enough to get by on a day to day basis and owned only what could fit in her backpack. Still, maybe a little extra cash here and there couldn’t hurt, especially if she was planning on actually living somewhere that wasn’t on the streets. Yeah, maybe a mentor wasn’t such a bad idea afterall.