The Hellion (collateralshot) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2018-05-21 11:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, dan smith, olivia moore |
Who: Dan and Liv
What: Dan takes the blame for Liv shoplifting
When: May 11th
Where: Local jewelry store
Rating/Warnings Lowish
Status: Complete!
Liv and Dan were enjoying a day out. They had gone for a walk on the beach, had a nice lunch and now they were exploring some shops. Not that Dan was really the shopping type, but Liv had promised to make it worth his time.
“You know,” Liv said her hand intertwined with Dan’s as she led him into a jewelry store. “We should really have days like this more often.”
Dan wasn’t much of a shopper, but he didn’t mind meandering along the sidewalk with Liv, occasionally ducking into the shops just to see what they had for sale. Liv had promised she would make the afternoon worth it, but honestly, just getting the chance to spend time together was enough for Dan. True, some of the shops struck him as a little dull, but he enjoyed watching Liv enjoy herself.
“Aye,” he said and nodded. “I think we ought to. Haven’t been window shoppin’ in a long while.” He squeezed her hand as they entered the jewelry store. “It’s been nice.” His eyes moved about the shop. Everything seemed to gleam and catch the best kind of light.
“But you have been window shopping before?” Liv teased with a gleam in her eye and a smirk on her face. She really couldn’t picture her boyfriend spending much time shopping in general. Let alone taking the time to just window shop. It was highly amusing.
Once they were inside the store she dropped her hand from Dan’s so they could explore separately. Liv made her way over to the ring selection. Of course the engagement rings caught her eye but she didn’t spend too much time looking at them. Her and Dan were nowhere near getting engaged. Though they had already been through a lot, their relationship was still new.
She moved on to more of the costume jewelry. Or what Liv would describe as costume jewelry. The rings didn’t look cheap per say, but they were all over the top. Too over the top to be made of real stones. Before she could stop herself she picked up a flower ring slipping it in her pocket.
To be fair, Dan really wasn’t the shopping sort. His idea of “shopping” was to go into a store, find the item he wanted, select said item and pay for it. He did very little price comparing, or wondering what color or size he actually wanted. He rarely tried on clothes. He knew what fit him and he knew what looked good. If he could get away with ordering what he needed online he tended to do that anyway.
But that wasn’t to say he never walked down the street and idly looked into the shop windows, curious about what they may have for sale. There were times in which something in a store window caught his attention and he couldn’t help but to duck inside to get a better look.
“Aye, Darlin’.” He returned her grin with one of his own. “Everyone’s been window shoppin’. Be part of human nature. ‘Sides, any chance to hang out with you is good.”
Liv let go of his hand and Dan watched her as she made her way through the store. Dan wasn’t big on jewelry himself. What he knew was limited to a few jobs he’d done involving lost diamond rings, stolen family heirlooms, things of that nature. When it came to what constituted as pretty or beautiful diamonds or settings, Dan was utterly lost. He smiled faintly as Liv looked at the rings. Maybe he’d get a couple of ideas while they were in here. Birthday, Christmas...just because. It was true they were nowhere near the point of engagement, but that didn’t mean that Dan couldn’t buy her something nice, right?
He almost missed her palming one of the rings off the counter as she walked by and pocketing it. That...that didn’t seem normal. It took Dan a moment to realize that a new brain was most likely at work here. Liv wasn’t ordinarily the type to shoplift. In fact, Dan was fairly sure she hadn’t even realized that she’d done it.
Dan decided to spare her the embarrassment of getting caught. He came up next to her, gently putting his arm around her as he peered over her shoulder at whatever it was she was looking at. Carefully he snuck his hand into her pocket to grab the ring. “That’s pretty, darlin’,” he said casually as he pulled his hand free and palmed the ring. Then carefully he stepped back with the intention of placing the ring back.
Just as he turned to put the ring back, one of the clerks caught him.
Dan was right. Liv didn’t even realize what she had done. That was until Dan took the ring out of her hand. Crap what had she just done? And of course Dan was trying to act all casual about it. Like he hadn’t just caught Liv committing a crime. Once again he was proving just what an amazing guy he was. And yes for like the millionth time Liv felt lucky. That was until he was caught by the clerk.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The clerk snapped at Dan.
If it was possible for Liv’s face to get any more pale it did. She quickly tried to cover for him. “I um, I dropped it.” The um probably wasn’t helping her story. “He was just trying to put it back for me.”
The clerk glanced at Liv, a brow raised suspiciously. “I didn’t see you drop anything,” she said coldly. “I did see it suddenly appear in your hand.” Her piercing eyes looked back at Dan. “I know how these cons usually work.”
“Con?” Dan repeated. “No, it’s not like that.” But what was he going to say? That his girlfriend had eaten a brain that made her -- for some reason -- pick up and pocket something that didn’t belong to her?
“Is it not?” The clerk asked. “It certainly looks that way.” The way she was looking at Dan, he could tell what she was thinking. During his time as a detroit cop he’d seen many, many cases in which couples made their living as tag-team shop lifters. One was always the distraction while another took the goods. There were occasions in which one member of the couple was the thief and the other was just the innocent looking patsy who would cry and protest innocence to to the point that any well-meaning shopkeeper would let the pair go with a simple warning.
This particular clerk seemed to think that was what was happening here with Dan being the ill-intentioned ne’er do well using his poor girlfriend for cover. “Sweetheart.” she was looking at Liv now with considerable sympathy. She pointed to the ring still in Dan’s hand. “Did you know he put that ring in your pocket?”
Liv’s first instinct was to lie. To say she had no idea that Dan had put the ring in her pocket. Put all the blame on him. But that was the brain talking. Not Liv. It was a good thing that she actually thought before responding. If only she had thought before picking up the ring.
“He didn’t,” Liv replied honestly. “I did it. I put the ring in my pocket.” Unfortunately for Dan, the clerk didn’t seem to believe Liv.
“Look, this is all just a misunderstanding,” Dan said in an effort to hopefully defuse the situation before it got any further out of control. He held the ring out towards the clerk. “Here,” he said. “Take it back an’ we’ll just go. No harm no foul.”
The clerk looked at the ring as though just being in Dan’s hand had somehow contaminated it. Carefully she reached out to take it, pinching the band between her thumb and index finger. She held it out at arm’s length before placing it down on the top of the glass case next to her.
By now everyone in the store was staring at them all. Dan glanced warily around at Orange County’s rich and well-to-do, all of whom were looking at them with mixed looks of disgust and perverse interest. His blood started to run hot under his skin. He reached out for Liv’s arm to usher her from the store. “C’mone, Darlin’,” he said. “Let’s go, then.”
The clerk stopped them before they’d even taken a step towards the door. “Oh, she’s free to go, but you’re staying right there.” She announced.
“Beg pardon?”
“That ring is worth over $500,” the clerk said. She pointed at the gaudy bauble on top of the case.
“It is?” Dan looked at the ring. In his opinion it was rather ugly, but considering the prices in the store, he shouldn’t have been surprised. It was probably considered cheap compared to some of the other items locked under glass.
“I’m making a citizen’s arrest!” The clerk announced.
“What?!”
The clerk turned and pointed at one of her colleagues. “William, call the police.”
William, a small mousey man who had paused in showing another couple a set of wedding bands in order to stare along with his customers, nodded quickly and disappeared into the back room.
“This is ridiculous,” Dan said. He put his arm around Liv’s back and started towards the door with her. Two men stepped in front of their door blocking their paths. Both were shop patrons and seemed absolutely gleeful to get in on the action and play hero. “Ye can’t be serious.” One of the men looked at Dan as if daring him to try something funny and provide the excuse to punch him.
“I called the police, Nancy,” William said as he emerged from the back room. “They’re on their way now.”
Liv watched the scene unfold in horror. “No,” she protested. “I did it. If you’re going to call the police on anyone it should be me.”
“Don’t you take the fall for him, sweetheart,” Nancy told Liv. Sure the girl may have looked a little on the goth side, but Nancy certainly didn’t think she was a criminal. Now her boyfriend? He looked like someone more than capable of stealing a ring.
“I’m not!” Liv protested again. Why wouldn’t anyone believe her? This was her fault. Not Dan’s. He was just trying to help her. How could this be happening? How could she do this to him? But before she could protest anymore the police showed up and began reading Dan his rights.
“Stop!” Liv cried out. “It wasn’t him. It was me! I tried to steal the ring.”
Dan had a decision to make and not a very pleasant one at that. He could continue to deny that the ring had been stolen and try to talk both his and Liv’s way out of the situation, but it was clear that no one was willing to listen to him. He had been caught with the ring palmed in his hand and had he been in the police’s position he probably wouldn’t have believed the story either.
He had noticed that the shop had cameras at opposite ends of the store which likely had caught the entire thing. He could have told them to view the footage as proof of his innocence. But there was a problem with that: the camera would surely show how Liv had stuck the ring in her pocket. Then the cuffs would be Liv’s wrists instead of his. Dan remembered very clearly the night that Liv had turned full-zombie and killed their would-be attacker. How, after the fact, she had been so guilt ridden and scared. Jail, or worse prison meant she wouldn’t be able to get any brains and that would turn her into a monster. The thought nearly killed him.
So Dan made a decision and he made it quickly: he had to take the blame himself and in doing so put as much distance between himself as Liv as possible so she wouldn’t be charged as his accomplice. “Give it a rest, wouldja?!” He snapped at the poor zombie. He forced the presence of his Detroit-Irish lilt to add to the whole conman act. “Jesus, yer pathetic! I can’t listen t’ ya.” His heart twisted at the sneer in his own voice, but he had to sell this. Hopefully Liv would understand. If -- if -- he managed to find a way out of this mess, he would make it up to her tenfold. He turned his attention to the officer in front of him. “Christ, women are stupid, ain’t they? She thinks I love’er…”
That seemed to be enough for the officer, who scowled at him in disgust. “Get him outta here,” he said to his partner with a growl.
Liv swallowed at Dan’s words. Deep down she knew he didn’t mean it. That he was just saying it all to protect her. She was the one that had tried to steal the ring after all. She knew he was lying. But still, hearing him say that? It hurt.
She watched wide-eyed as he was taken away. One of the clerks came over to her. Nancy or whatever the fuck her name was. She tried to comfort Liv. But Liv wasn’t having it. She hurriedly left the store, just as the police car drove Dan away.