The Two Lucky Ones

Brooklyn's POV

I clutched the metal railing and leaned over the side, gazing down onto the first floor of Huntington Beach Mall.

My friend Mary stood next to me, her dark hair was put up into a neat bun, her bangs still sit in front, while I, not being a fan of buns, had my hair in a tight ponytail, only two strands of hair in front of my face were let loose. Hard-working, kind, loyal –those were only a few of the reasons why I adore her, and why she’s my best friend. We've been together through thick and thin, until I couldn't even nail down a time without her.

Every now and then, some people on the first floor would stop in their tracks, tilt back their heads and stare up at the two female security guards, like they've never seen one before. I would curse loudly down at them and they’d run away.

A few teenagers began sauntering across the floor, they were a little further along than where I normally kept an eye out for shoplifters, but by all the noise they were making, my eyes were immediately drawn to them. They were all obviously friends with each other, laughing and joking as they made their way across the floor. They looked innocent enough, with enough money to buy things rather than to steal them. My eyes trailed away from them and onto a shady looking guy sitting on one of the benches.

After a few moments of staring at the guy, I began to listen to the usual sounds of the mall. The soft humming of the air conditioning, the automatic doors sliding open and shut, open and shut…

I stilled, there was one thing I wasn't hearing. The laughter of a certain group of teenagers on the mall floor. My eyes fell downwards to where I last saw them, there they stood, staring at us. Then they started laughing and pointing at us not-so-discreetly.

“What?” I barked down at them, “You wanna go? I’ll go down there and kick your ass, chicken shit, I’ll give you a fucking taste of beef motherfucker!” Their eyes bulged and they scuttled away as fast as possible, terrified by me.

Next to me, laughter exploded out of Mary’s throat. It was the never ending cycle of this job; people would never stop gawking at us, so I would never stop getting all up in their faces about it. Sometimes Mary would just shake it off, just continue whatever she was doing and ignore it completely. But if I really didn't like something, I had no problem expressing what I felt. 

Mary’s phone went off and her laughter died down, she cleared her throat and dug the phone out of her pocket.

Turning back, looking down at the first floor, I kept an eye out for anyone else looking at us, and tried to pretend I wasn't eavesdropping on Mary's conversation. In truth, I got about half of it, something about a music store and shoplifters.

I sighed in exasperation and glanced over at her. She wrapped up the conversation and said, “A couple of guys got caught stealing at the music place.”

We ran over to the music store, feet pounding in the same rhythm. It wasn't that far before we had the store in our sights. It wasn't until I saw two guys around their 20's– presumably the ones Mary got the call about – dart out of the door did I pick up the pace to a full-out sprint.

It became evident that we wouldn't catch up to them, with them having a head start and us not being the greatest fans of running, we needed another plan.

Unexpectedly, Mary grabbed my arm and whispered urgently, “You go through Victoria’s Secret and try to cut them off.”

I nodded and compiled as Mary released my arm and bolted in the direction of the shoplifters.

Rushing through Victoria’s Secret, I elbowed my way through crowds. Apparently no one understood the words, "Get the fuck out of my way." Sadly we weren't allowed to hold guns, but if we could, this would be so much easier. Mary’s plan worked like a charm. I caught up to the two easily and stood in front of them, feet planted firmly on the ground and my body tensed to spring if they decided to run again.