Darien sat across the table from Jessy, outside of a malt shop, on the corner of a street. Jessy fidgeted with her straw, twirling it around with her fingers, while looking at Darien. She wasn't really sure what to make of the man sitting in front of her, but something seemed comforting about him.
"So," started Darien. "How did someone at your age…umm…get into the military?"
"I don't really want to talk about my past right now," Jessy said trying to be as polite as possible.
"That's all right, I guess I respect that."
"Why are you working for the Departmentof Fish and Game, if that is what you really call your agency." Jessy asked grabbing her patty melt and taking a huge bite out of it.
"What do you mean?" Darien asked letting his eyes linger on the huge glob of ketchup on the side of Jessy's cheek.
Wiping the ketchup from her face with a napkin she replied, "Well it just seems like you really don't want to be there, and you did say you use to be a thief. How do you go from cat burglar to what you are now?"
"I send the question back to you. How does a girl like you…" Jessy belched, then Darien continued, "go from thief to ending up in the military?"
"You can't do that."
"What?"
"I asked you the question first, so you have to answer!"
"No I don't."
"Yes, you do!"
"Ok, ok. Well I found myself in a situation that I couldn't pull myself out of. Well then, I ended up with 2 choices, neither of which I liked, so I chose the best one, and here I am today, talking to you. Your turn."
"Alright. Well the only reason I got into the military was because they saw a girl who knew some martial arts and had a thieving talent. But it was a way to survive and it kept me off the streets and out of trouble. I guess."
Darien nodded then looked at Jessy. He really never took the time to notice her features until now. She was medium height, rather slim, (without her motorcross uniform on); she had brown eyes and long brown hair. Darien thought of her more of a boyish girl, with a rougher exterior, but she seemed to have a natural beauty to her, (a softer side).
"What?" Jessy asked noticing that Darien was staring at her.
"Nothing." Darien replied smiling.
"Then what are you looking at?"
"Nothing, you just remind me of someone I use to know."Darien paused for a moment then said, "Don't mean to change the subject but did you want to catch a movie? Unless you want to spend the rest of the day here."
"Movie sounds good." Jessy said standing up. "Thanks for buying lunch."
Jessy and Darien were walking down the sidewalk, after the movie, laughing and talking like they had known each other for years. They stopped in front of a large apartment building.
"Is this your place?" asked Jessy.
"Yeah. Well my place is up stairs." Darien replied. "Hey why don't you come up?"
"So you do this with all the girls on the first date?" Jessy said jokingly.
Darien laughed then said, "I'm afraid you're a bit too young for me."
"Yes but I never did tell you my age."
"Are you going to?"
"No," Jessy said entering the building. "But I am under 18 so I guess I really am too young for you. But you're not my type and you're old."
"Hey, hey now that hurts."
The two of them walked up the stairs to Darien's apartment. He unlocked the door and showed Jessy inside. She looked around the room and set her helmet down on the couch. "Nice place you've got here."
"It's home," Darien said setting down his coat. "You want anything to drink?"
"No that's ok, thanks though."
Darien hesitated before asking, "Why don't you stay here for the night. I've got plenty of space." Jessy looked at him like she didn't know what to do. On one hand, she didn't have anywhere to go, but on the other hand, she didn't want to be a burden.
"Alright. Are you sure you don't mind?"
"Yeah. It'sfine,we'll have one big slumber party." Darien said smiling at her. Jessy returned it for the fist time.
Darien went to the closet and came back with two blankets. He lade them out on the couch while Jessy was striating out her motorcross suit. "Sorry it's not first class…"
"No that's ok, the couch is great!" Jessy said jumping onto the couch.
"Well, I'm going to hit the sack, so, if you need anything my room is just right over there." Darien said pointing to a door on the other side of the room. "Night."
"Night. Oh, Darien!"
"Yeah?" Darien said turning back around.
"Thanks…for everything. I mean for taking me in like this."
"It's nothing. Us thieves got to stick together. " Darien smiled at her one last time before entering his bedroom. Jessy lay on the couch with her eyes open. For the first time, in several years, she didn't feel so alone.