This is fabulous. It is? You're in the dark period. Before light and wisdom come to you. You must forge through it, and once on the other side, you will be grateful to this moment, but you must keep going. I see.
“So, when will you finally admit that you like her?”
Jasper looked up from the book he was reading to see his brother taking a seat by his side at the table.
“Don’t know what you mean.”
“Estella. You like her.” Horace states like its the most obvious thing in the world, the last bits of apple pie disappearing into his mouth.
“Seriously mate, don’t know what you’re talking about. Of course I like her just like I like you and you like me and her, and she likes us. We all like each other.”
“That’s not what I meant. What I mean is you enjoy a bit too much playing all Mister and Mistess.” Currently, Jasper was spotting a fake moustache and extremely chic clothes waiting for Estella to finish up her own disguise that would be part of their latest grift.
“Its an act. It’s part of the act to come around posh people and their shops and wallets.” It’s been a rather successful act they invented only a few years earlier.
“Right. I still think there is an angle to this.”
“There’s no angle.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve been your brother my whole life and I can tell you’re bloody lying. Even Wink and Buddy can smell it. Because dogs have a sixth sense, you know.” Horace said, knowingly tipping his nose, leaving Jasper for a moment with nothing to reply. Many people would probably call Horace a bit dense, but Jasper knew his little brother better than anyone else, yet this moment of critical analysis surprised even him. Not that there was anything to analyse.
“Ready boys? Mrs. Levinton desperately needs some new jewels.” Not a moment too soon Estella, now with blond wig, emerged out of what they started to call the “Cave of Wonders”, that is, the little room that served as a storage for all their costumes and stolen goods, Jasper all glad for a change of topic.
“Always ready. Let’s go.” He replies joining her quickly in the elevator while ignoring the look Horace send him. Horace was wrong. There was no angle.
Except there was.
There always has been.
It was there when he taught her the art of pick-pocketing, in her excitement upon slowly mastering it. It was there when she scavenged knitting utensils, in the itchy shawl for Horace and the far too small mittens for him. The time in their second winter when they all got sick and he decided they need a plate to cook hot meals, the three of them cuddled together on her mattress, coughing and sneezing through the night, yet feeling secure and safe. Each time she would think of a new scheme, her brows narrowing until they nearly met. In the first guitar he got with the strap embroidered by her. The silly games they would play on Christmas, paper crowns on their heads and her laugh clearer than the bells. All the times he snuck with her into a theatre so she could marvel the costumes. Each time he would bring her a cup of tea and the smiles she would give him.
The day they first met, still nothing more than pre-teen children, her sleeping alone by the fountain in the park, he knew they shouldn’t leave her there. She had no one. Then she followed them to their hideout and things were set. The duo became a trio. Her emerald green eyes suspicious in the beginning, eyeing him and Horace (and even Wink) from underneath red dyed bangs, prepared for fight if needed, never resting, sore from the tears that had eventually stoped rolling. He kew how she was feeling. Hadn’t he and Horace lost their mother too, mere months ago? She shouldn’t feel alone. Unwanted.
Slowly, they all became accustomed to each other, became friends. Inseparable. And she started to smile, started to laugh. She started to share her ideas, started to sew, started to plan, to dream. And he liked that about her, that sheer never ending flow of inspiration, of creativity.
He wants her to be happy. To feel safe, to feel loved.
That is why he slips into the disguises she makes for them, why he gladly takes up kitchen duty, rolls with her bad moods and consoles her when ghosts of the past don’t let her rest. That is why he sneaked into that office to secure her a job at the most prestige fashion store in town, for she deserves her dreams to come true.
Who knows what tomorrow may bring, but he hopes for her its something good.