Robbers

They drove for a long while through the Scottish countryside. None of them had any idea of where they could go. If only they had known what the police knew... Well, they knew Norah was involved, but they probably didn't know much about her. Or did they? She studied in a Scottish university, after all, and even though she worked illegally in that pub, she'd registered for her courses with her name and personal information. If the police wanted to know everything about her, they could. That meant from then on, Louis and her were on the run. For real.

“We should go to England. Or Wales.”
“Yes.”
“But not now.”
“No.”
“We need more sleep.”

After a few more miles, they came across a lonely, gloomy hotel. It didn't look particularly reassuring, but they couldn't be picky. Norah parked the car in front of the building and turned to Louis.

“Do you think they know what we look like?”
“They probably know what you look like.”
“But do you think we need to be careful with people? Not let them see our faces, so they won't be able to recognize us?”
“I think we've both watched too much Criminal Minds to be reasonable, here.”
“You're right. Then again, we can never be too careful...”
“I guess.”
“Alright then. You'll have to follow my lead. Lesson number one: Always listen to Black Widow. Public displays of affection make people uncomfortable. If you play along, we'll be alright. You just book a room, and follow my lead.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“You'll see.”

She reached inside one of her bags, pulled out a cap that she screwed on his head, then a cow boy hat that she wore herself.

“CCTV.” she simply said when he looked at her questioningly.

They hopped out of the car and walked into the hotel. There was an old man half asleep at the reception desk. As soon as they'd walked through the door, Norah burst with laughter, and grabbed Louis' arm, looking up at him with stars in her eyes. So that was her plan. They hadn't even reached the reception counter that she was already all over him, acting like she was drunk, laughing and talking nonsense. She did that very well. As soon as he stood in front of the man, Louis very seriously asked for a room for the rest of the night. It was the early morning already, but they were both so tired that they could barely stand. Norah had buried her face in the crook of his neck and was very ostensibly kissing his skin while whispering unintelligible words. When the man asked for a name, she stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear...

“Oh, my Tommy... You have no idea what I'm going to do to you. You just wait and see, my Thomas, just wait and see...”

Louis' ears turned bright red, but he got the clue and said his name was Thomas Kent. That seemed made up. It definitely seemed made up, and for half a second Louis panicked. The man was going to realize what was going on, he was going to call the police, they were screwed, utterly and completely, and they were going to spend the rest of their lives behind bars! He was far too young to go rot in a Scottish prison already! But the man barely even looked at him, gave him a key and grumbled:

“124, upstairs and to the right.”

They'd made it. They had the room and the man didn't even seem suspicious of anything at all. Louis could have danced through the hall with joy! He was still a free man! Norah was right. Her plan was a little embarrassing, but it worked. It worked and they weren't going to be in trouble! As soon as they'd turned around the corner, Norah let go of Louis and took a step away from him. He didn't let anything show, but he was sorry she'd stopped holding him so soon. Human contact was reassuring. They climbed up the stairs, opened the door and crashed on the bed, but they couldn't sleep just yet. There was still too much adrenaline flowing through their bodies.

“You know, I think we'd make a great team.”
“What?”
“You and me. Spanning years and continents, lives ruined, bloodshed... no. I'm just kidding. I mean we could do this.”
“Do what?!”
“Be... Robbers.”
“Ok, you're definitely mad.”
“Dude, you've started this. Now we have to go on! Don't you feel amazing right now?! That was unbelievable! For the first time in my life, I feel... alive!”

He smiled. She was right. There was a thrill that he had just loved about this night. It was an adventure, it was pure, raw life, and it was retribution. He deserved it. He deserved to live by his own laws, he deserved to take what this shit hole of a society had refused to give him for so long, he deserved to decide. He was angry, so deeply and sadly angry. His jaw and fists clenched and for a split second, he almost looked scary. But Norah was already asleep, so he silently hid his face under the covers, and after a few minutes, a deep slumber came over him.

Notes