The bright lights of the arcade reflected in his hazel eyes. There was the distant smell of garlic and tomatoes from the pizza place across the street. The OPEN sign in the window of a corner shop flickered until it went black. Above, the moon was full, and sparkling stars were sprinkled all around it. Even with the summer's humidity plastering his brown hair to his forehead, he smiled.
Samuel Morgan, Sam for short. Countless times had he snuck out of that horrid orphanage, escaping to the rooftops. But only so often did he go all the way over the fence, all the way out, and tonight was one of those rare nights. Alexandria Carter, Alex as he called her. She was his best friend. They would never leave unless they were together. They could lie each other out of trouble. They made the perfect pair, behind the orphanage's bars and on the streets.
The two teenagers stood in the middle of the road, slowly strolling by, hands in pockets, gazing at all the streetside shops and vendors. It was only so often they'd see things like this. That headmaster kept a firm fist wrapped around them and he always would. At least until they were eighteen. Out there, they felt free. They felt like they were part of the real world for once. And he, for one, loved it.
"So," Alex broke the silence, drowning out the light chatter of padestrians and faint city sounds. "We've got," she paused to look at the watch wrapped around her wrist, "eight hours until The Sisters will be around ringing the breakfast bell. We have all night out here."
Sam grinned. "Music to my ears," he chuckled. "The longer I'm away from that place, the better."
His companion nodded in agreement, leading him around a corner and down another road, their path illuminated by only streetlamps. "So what do you want to do? There's time to kill."
He shrugged. "I was hoping you had something in mind." One of them usually came up with something eventually, so he wasn't too worried. "Pickpocketing the drunks outside the O'Regan's again?"
"Nah. I don't have my thief on tonight," she sighed. "Besides, we should be doing something fun, like... um... I don't know. What do normal kids do?"
"Go to school," Sam scoffed jokingly.
Alex rolled her eyes, shoving her hands back in her pockets as she opened her mouth to respond, but then stopped. "Well would ya look at that," she grinning as she pulled a small, red patterned box out so that he could see. It was a standard box of cards, some rips at the seams and a few scratches on the cover, but still. "Want to play?"
He looked at her and arched an eyebrow. "Play what, crazy eights?"
"Crazy eights? No, no, no. Poker," she smiled, lightly tapping the top of his head with the cards before nodding to the picnic tables that rimmed around the park at the corner. "You down?"
