worst behavior

em

"What the hell, Em," Cass hissed in my ear.

"What?" I asked emotionlessly. I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Stop flirting with him!"

"I flirt with everyone. Don't be so sensitive."

Cass scowled at me as we trailed behind the group, walking down Broad Street, which was pretty much deserted save for a few mom-types. "Whatever," she said bitterly, clearly annoyed by my passivity. "Just...try not to?"

I hummed noncommittally, thinking of last week's escapades. I decided not to mention it, mostly for Sam's sake. Cass might wish the both of us dead if she found out about that.

The mean look on her face said it all, but I decided not to acknowledge that. "Hey, Allie!" I motioned with my head to one of the few nice clothing stores near Edston and gave her a look. She nodded with a smirk gracing her face, and we walked into the store.

"Why are we in here?" Sam asked. He looked at the slightly-pricey clothes and my worn-in Heineken t-shirt. "It doesn't really look... your style."

Shaking my head with a smile, I strolled past racks as my eyes scoured the racks. I eyeballed a particularly cute tank top, snatched it off the hanger, and stuffed it into my bag under the cover of a jumble of clothes.

"What the- I thought we said no jail time!" Sam whisper-shouted. One glance back at his bugged-out eyes made me want to burst out laughing.

"Can you shut up, Sam Pearson?" I said passively. "Unless you actually do want the jail time. Then, scream about it all you want and I'll tell the cops you made me do it." I turned around and gave him a sugar-sweet smile, dropping a pair of sunglasses into my bag on top of the shirt. "It wouldn't be the first time."

He's at a loss for words, and I don't blame him. I've got cousins in big cities, and girls like that are a lot less open with their stealing habits. Meanwhile, down in Edston, we leave the store to do show and tell.

My friends got the five-finger discount on a bunch more things than I did; Karina, quiet and intense, spread out an impressive haul on the park table where we settled, security tags removed. She'd been a pro for as long as I'd known her, and it was part of her mysterious charm. Clearly, it worked. Sam looked at her with even more obvious wonder than before.

"Your little friend is weird," Karina whispered to me as Cass gushed with Allie and Kennedy over a skirt she'd stolen. "He keeps staring at me."

"He's harmless," I assured her. "He won't make any moves, not without a little liquid courage." I glanced over at Sam, watching with strange admiration as the girls went through their hauls. "Just...be careful of him when he's drunk. He only gets weirder. And... more forward."

Karina chuckled. "Got it. He's cute, I guess. Not my type, though."

"That won't stop him," I replied. Poor kid. He hadn't even a chance. I watched his eyes dart back and forth from the floor, to me, to the haul of stolen clothes on the picnic table, and then to Karina.

"She's bad," Sam commented later, his first joint hanging between his chapped lips as he laid across my bed. He'd removed his shirt in the heat, and there were still drops of sweat defining the lines of his stomach.

I turned over beside him to smirk knowingly. "Thanks, Captain Obvious. We all are. Some, like me and Karina, a bit more than others."

"Yeah, but she, like, I don't know." Sam fumbled for words, gesturing vaguely with his hands. "Just silent and bad. In the best possible way."

Plucking the blunt from his lips and raising it to my own, I chuckled. "Yeah, good luck with her." I eyeballed him to see if he was quite high yet, and his swimming eyes gave me the answer. "You feel like fooling around?" I asked, eyeing his abs.

Sam squinted at me. "I literally just told you I liked your friend."

"Yeah, well, until you actually get with her there's no point in losing my benefits," I countered. I grinned and tweaked his nose, peering at his sweat-frosted face from above. "So what do you say?"

Sam thought over his options, then shrugged. "Okay. So we're friends with benefits." He grabbed me by the back of my neck and kissed me lightly on the lips, smiling. "I can deal with that."