"So...?" Kace prompted as he stood behind the counter of the diner.
"What?" I asked, confused, typing the apron behind my back.
"Tell me all about it!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, and even if I did, I wouldn't discuss it with you in public, Mister Kenshaw," I told him with a pointed look as I grabbed a notepad and pen.
Now anyone walking by or eavesdropping on our conversation would immediately think that we were talking about sex. I can assure that we were not. In fact, I knew exactly what my best friend was talking about, and I was not about to tell him, despite that. He wanted to know about the job last night. And I knew for a fact that Mister Simerly had cameras with audio. I was not getting caught because my best friend couldn't contain himself.
"Come on, Rowe, please?" He begged and I shook my head, flicking my eyes up in the direction of the camera to explain to him why I wouldn't do as he asked. His lips turned down in a pout and I laughed, turning my head towards the door as the bell sounded and saw two of my favourite patrons.
It was a pair of teenagers, a girl and a boy, and maybe it was my intuition or maybe it was the fact they were holding hands, but I was pretty sure they were a couple. The girl has been coming here for two years, at least. It's only been the past, say, three months or so she's been coming in with the boy and a few others I don't recognize. She used to come in with a redhead named Hannah, but the must have had a falling out or something because I haven't seen her in, well, three months.
The girl's name was Onyx. The boy's name was Peter. Onyx was a stunning girl for someone so young, with pin straight black hair, emerald eyes that used to be cold, dark and detached but now, with the help of Peter, have been introduced to emotions. With sharp cheekbones and fair skin, she reminded me almost of a porcelain doll. Peter was, well, a typical teenager. Messy brown hair, kind, emotional eyes, a lanky, awkward body and a wit that was sharp enough to cut you, I wasn't sure quite what had brought the two together. But I guess I was glad Onyx had someone like Peter.
"What can I get you kiddos?" I asked as I approached the booth they had chosen. They were sitting across from each other, so I assumed it was just them today.
"The usual, Rowe," Onyx told me, handing me her menu.
"Yeah, the usual over here, too." Peter gave Onyx a smile and handed me his menu.
"On it, I'll be right back with those milkshakes."
Once I was back behind the counter, I gave the order to the cook, Simon. I avoided looking at Kace because I knew he was looking at me and giving me that look with his eyes, begging me to tell him what happened on the job.
"I'm not telling you," I said, still not looking at him.
"Please?" he begged, "I'm your best friend, Rowe, you gotta tell me!"
"I don't 'gotta' do anything," I responded, grabbing the milkshakes and walking them back over to Onyx and Peter. Kace watched me the whole way, and when I turned back, he was staring at me with those big pleading eyes. I glared as I passed him, then started ignoring him once again.
"Come on, Rowie!"
"No-o-o! Not if you call me that." I looked over at him, and he was pouting at me with big eyes. I rolled my eyes, not falling for the puppy-dog eyes after all the time we'd been friends.
I glanced over at him again, and he was still pouting. It was honestly starting to become really annoying. When his bottom lip began to tremble I growled to myself.
"Fine!" I conceded. "Fine, fine, fine, I'll tell you. But not here."
"Ben and Jerry's, Criminal Minds and a sleepover?" he asked.
"Yes. Be at my apartment at six and we'll order a pizza or something." I really hated my lack of self-control sometimes. "But if you're one minute late, I'm not telling."
"You've got yourself a deal, bestie. You are the bestest best friend in the entire world!" he told me, wrapping me in a hug from the side. I pushed him off, annoyed.
"I hate you," I muttered.
"Love you, too."
Aside from Kace's morning pestering and the visit from Onyx and Peter - who I chatted with for a good while after they'd finished their food - the rest of the day went by pretty slowly. We only had a few other customers. I was ten minutes from leaving when something on the news caught my attention.
Mister Simerly had an old and small television mounted on either side of the bar so that everyone could see it. Our last customers had been an elderly couple of ladies, and they'd wanted the news on as they ate their dinner. We hadn't had any customers since they left, so the channel had remained unchanged.
The picture was pretty good, despite being grainy. CCTV footage never was that great. It showed a girl, hunched over near some bushes, in a sleeveless blue catsuit, black leather gloves that didn't go all the way up her wrists but had a gold band instead, and a black mask covering her eyes. Her dark hair - you couldn't really tell what colour it was, only that it was dark - pulled up into a high ponytail. The picture wasn't clear enough that you could determine how old the girl was, so there wasn't much you could determine about the girl.
"Kace," I called out, reaching out my hand for him, not taking my eyes off the screen.
"What?" he asked. I gestured him to come closer and pointed to the screen. "Oh, god."
"This photo was taken last night at the house of billionaire CEO Winston Billings. It is believed this is the same girl who was spotted outside the houses of Murray van Allen, Elijah Richmond and Cormac Orion, among others.
"Winston Billings is the CEO of multi-million dollar company, Billings Insurance. He was publicly crucified three months ago after he failed to indemnify hundreds of people after the earthquake that shook San Francisco, four months ago. Because of loopholes, vague terms and conditions, and more, Billings Insurance was able to get away with not compensating families to help them fix the damage done to their homes, their cars, and their families by the earthquake.
"While Billings has not admitted that they have been stolen from, hundreds of people who were not given their money by his company, have suddenly come into more than enough money to fix what they need. And not only that, it seems that some of their debts have even been paid off with the money they received anonymously.
"These people took to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to send their thanks to this girl. One Twitter user, @MadKitty, even named the girl. The hashtag, #thankyouBlueRobin has been trending number one worldwide all day today. MadKitty explained that she has named her thus because she's like Robin Hood, stealing from the rich and greedy and giving to the poor and needy, except she wears blue. So, she decided that Blue Robin was the only logical name for her.
"Without admitting that he was stolen from, there is nothing that Billings can do to get back his money. Police are working on tracking down the burglar, but given that her face has never been seen clearly on camera, and she's never left a fingerprint or any evidence, and that those she has stolen from won't admit they were stolen from, it seems that the police have nowhere to go. Maybe Blue Robin will never be caught, maybe Blue Robin doesn't even exist."
For a long while, Kace and I just stared at the screen dumbfounded. Nothing like that had even made it to the news before, never a big station. And a name! The people had come up with a name. And it was such a fantastic name...
"Rowe-" Kace began.
"I know."
"Do you, though? Do you know?" he muttered to himself.
We looked at each other, wide-eyed. We were both dumbfounded.
"We're gonna have a lot to talk about, tonight," Kace told me.