Title: First Meetings
Author:
accidentallymel Summary: Gabe had gotten a good distance down the jogging path when a bright voice came from behind him. “Whatcha doin’?”
He spun around and glared at the same little girl who’d been watching him earlier. “Nothing. Beat it.”
Gabe was 8 years old when he first met Adrienne.
He was lifting wallets in the park - or rather, trying to lift wallets in the park. It was much more difficult to do without a helper to distract the marks, and he could still hear his older brother in his head, hammering the first rule into his head, “Don’t get caught.” So he was being much more cautious than usual when he looked up and saw the dark skinned little girl staring at him with his hand halfway into a soccer mom’s purse.
He jerked, startled, and apologized to the soccer mom, looking up at her through his eyelashes the way his brother had taught him to. “You’ve got the whole blonde haired, blue eyed cherub thing going on, kiddo,” Ryan had said, ruffling his hair and pinching his cheeks. “You might as well work it while you’ve got it.” “Sorry, ma’am, I tripped,” he stammered, putting a little lisp into his voice. As usual, she melted, giving him a soft smile and turning back to the game. When he looked back over, the girl who had been staring at him was gone. Gabe booked it away, anyway - if she’d told any adults what she’d seen they’d be more on guard even if they didn’t believe her. He hadn’t been having any luck, anyway.
He’d gotten a good distance down the jogging path when a bright voice came from behind him. “Whatcha doin’?”
He spun around and glared at the same little girl who’d been watching him earlier. “Nothing. Beat it.”
She just gave him an evaluating glance. “You’re an awful liar when you’re not talking to a grownup,” she observed, and he flushed. Ryan had told him the same thing, cheerfully ragging on him for using his baby angel face to get away with everything and not his actual skills.
“Shut up,” he muttered. “What do you know about it anyway.”
She giggled. “You’re an awful pickpocket,” she observed. “You need a helper, or you’re going to get caught.”
Gabe struggled for a second with his injured pride - he was not a terrible pickpocket, Ryan said so! But he had to admit that he was much better with someone there to distract people. He didn’t get so anxious, and he was faster. So he cocked his head at her. “Want to be my helper?”
She giggled again, then glanced at him shrewdly. “Maybe. For half.”
He looked at her, affronted. “I’d be doing all the work!”
She wasn’t fazed. “You wouldn’t be getting anything, without me. Half.”
Gabe thought it over. Ryan had been gone late at night recently, when he thought Gabe was sleeping, which meant that money was getting tight at home. That was the reason he was out here in the first place - maybe if he could bring in some money Ryan could stop vanishing late at night, and stop wearing that awful pinched look. And she had a point - he’d been doing awful on his own, but Ryan was usually his distraction and he’d been too tired to come out today. Not that Gabe had told him that he was out trying to lift, because he wanted to be able to contribute, and money was money. He’d just have to make sure that he got enough that half was a lot.
“Okay,” he said, finally. “I’m Gabe, by the way. Gabriel Price.”
She grinned at him, bright and sunny. “I’m Adrienne Lovelace. Nice to meet you, Gabe.”