She didn't like that little up and down look, her eyes narrowing at him just a touch before rolling her eyes. " Please my parents would have probably told me to get lost too, but I left first." What a load of bullshit. Bella had been blessed with the best family, one that cared more than most, who put her on a pedestal she probably didn't really deserve, clingy, and honestly, she loved it. She was their world and her two brothers were nothing but clowns in her kingdom as they should be. " Shut up.", she couldn't even continue playing like they wouldn't be showing her off to every single person in that room if she hadn't escaped.
"You just watch me! I'll get them and I won't get caught.",Princess. HA. Warrior princess maybe! She was more than prepared to show him what this princess was capable of! Bella stepped into the room with the best little smile on her face, moving through the crowd careful not to bump into anyone as to not draw any extra attention her way. She scanned the room to spot her parents not too far off but her mother didn't have her purse. Bella bit her lip and looked around once again, her eyes landing on the bag sitting on a seat along with her father's jacket. Jackpot! Within seconds she was sitting next to the bag but with so many people standing around her, it would seem awkward to dig through it to find the keys so she did the next best thing, took the entire thing and bolted.
Did this make her a thief? A master thief even? That felt right.
Bella was such a good girl all the time that even the smallest step out of line felt so exhilarating. It was hard being perfect constantly, staying within the boundaries put in place by her parents, being watched by her brothers, stealing her mother's purse was what freedom felt like. " It was a lot quicker just to grab the entire thing.", she said before looking back over her shoulder one final time and then digging down into the purse to find the keys. It took a few seconds of digging before she pulled them out, tossing them to Ettie with a smile on her face and doing a perfect curtsy soon after. "Shall we go now, my little peasant?" She was sure there would be hell to pay later when her mother discovered her purse missing but that was a problem she would worry about later.
Étienne sticks his tongue at his friend as she huffs at him, before taking back off down the hallway and slipping easily into the ballroom again. The young teen watches her go, waiting a couple of seconds with baited breath before he decides to head off in the opposite direction, down along the hallway he intends to lead them. The one good thing about Military pricks was that they didn't expect anyone to double cross them. Who would? As long as you went along with them, nothing bad would ever happen to you, and the world would be nothing but sunshine and rainbows.
Étienne scoffs at the thought, but knows it's because of that, that there isn't any guards in front of any of the doors leading off to other areas of the building. He quickly peeks in the first two rooms — nothing interesting. An office, and another room that looked like a meeting room of some sort. He knows Isabella won't take too long, so he's quickly back at his post long before he sees her charging back out of the ballroom again.
His eyes go wide as he spies that she had taken her mother's entire purse with her! That seemed like a smart thing to do.
“Bella!” he admonishes her with a shake of his head as she admits it was easier to just take the purse. For now, sure, but it was easier to notice a purse missing than a simple set of keys. But he doesn't say anything more, as she fishes the keys out and chucks them at him. He stretches out his hands to catch them, careful to make sure they don't jingle too much. His face scrunches up as she calls him peasant, but he simply rolls his eyes and whispers a follow me to her before taking off back down the hallway again, careful not to make too much noise.
It felt like they were doing something really bad...
And it felt exciting. Thrilling.
“I'm guessing it'll be obvious what it is when we see it,” Étienne whispers to Isabella as he quickly passes by the first two doors, having already seen they didn't contain what they were looking for. “I got this side, you look on the other,” he continues, pointing at the row of doors on the other side of the hallway. He waits to make sure she does as told before he opens the next door on his side: yet again, nothing exciting in there.
“What?” Her voice was as sweet as sugar a sly smile finding its way to her lips when she looked to her friend. What had he expected her to do? Waltz up to her mother and just ask nicely for the keys? No. This was obviously the easiest and safest option for the time being, especially if they wanted to make any progress with their mission anytime soon. She was positive she would catch ten kinds of hell when her mother discovered her missing purse but for now it was all gravy, and they could go about their night of snooping around. “Don’t you dare shake your head at me mister ‘ I know where a new weapon is let’s go find it’.”, she rolled her eyes and laughed soon after. She was officially invested in this operation.
She stayed close when she was told to follow, glancing back over her shoulder to make sure they weren’t being followed. All this excitement was really growing on her, normally she would have been worried about what her family would have thought but all of that had officially been tossed to the wind. She wanted to see this weapon, she wanted to do things she knew damn well she wasn’t supposed to, she almost wanted to get caught just to see her parent’s reactions.
Looking in the direction he was pointing she quickly moved over to the doors and began opening them, looking inside but none had what they were looking for. What were they looking for? A gun? A canon? Maybe a robot! Who knew…but she was sure it would look totally out-of-place in the office setting. Soon she came upon an office at the very end of the hallway instantly zeroing in on something. “Ettie come look! Quick I found something!”, she called to him as quietly as she could manage. She soon scooped up the cutest little cat she had ever seen in her life, cuddling it up to her face smooshing it into her body. “Gosh you are just the sweetest thing I have ever seen in my life next to my Ettie. Who smuggled you in here, huh?”, it wasn’t the weapon they were looking for, but it deserved just as much attention.
For some weird reason, Étienne feels awfully nervous about this. Maybe it's because it's the first time he's really acted out — gone against his parents in such an obvious way, that they'd no doubt be furious if they found out what he was doing. Of course, the whole fact it was absolutely forbidden, taboo, made it all that much more exciting and thrilling. An adrenaline high he'd never felt before, but one that also made his normally nimble fingers slip once or twice while trying to open a door. He curses quietly under his breath in French, but someone hissing words at him makes him whirl around and forget the door he was trying to open.
She found something? So it was true?
His eyes light up as Étienne glances once more back the way they come, before he scoots over to the other side of the hallway and in the direction of the door Isabella currently has propped open. She enters the room, just about disappearing, and Étienne is hot on her trail. A hand reaches out to catch the door before it slams shut again and he yanks it open, quickly shuffling inside and closing it behind them so they wouldn't get caught. He eagerly turns his attention to the room once they're secure inside and—
It's a cat. It's a damn cat that had Isabella whispering him over! The young teen stares at his friend in shock as she scoops the fluffy creature into her arms, immediately cuddling it close and lavishing it with love and praise. As she speaks to it — an annoying comparison between him and the cat being cute — Étienne quickly looks around the room and notes that they're in someone's private office. Just great. It felt weird someone smuggled the animal into here to begin with, but weirder still that it was tonight of all nights. He just hoped that person wouldn't be quick to return.
“Really, Bella? This is what you had to frantically wave me over for?” Étienne groans, scrubbing a hand over his face before he screws up his expression and wrinkles his nose at the cat. “Does that look like a weapon of mass destruction to you? We didn't come here for a cat. Don't make me regret bringing you and not one of your brothers instead,” Étienne sighs, turning back to the door and grabbing the handle.
But it, uh— Oh shit, it didn't want to open. His eyes widen as he uses both hands now to start yanking on the door, only for it to not even budge. What kind of idiot made an office door lock from the outside!?
” Excuse me? This is important Ettie! Look at how cute it is!” , this stupid cat was the most important thing to her in that moment. She ignored his groans of obvious discontent as she snuggled her face into the cat’s fur, glancing over at Ettie for only a moment when he asked her such a silly question. ” Well we haven’t exactly ruled out that this isn’t the weapon now have we?”, she asked in the most serious of tones. ” You shouldn’t rule things out so quickly! He could easily carry a tiny bomb on him or something, maybe fit some lasers on his sides, who knows. He could be an effective weapon! Yes you can, you can be a killer can’t you? Yes you can sweet baby.”, while her attention was fixed on Ettie at the start her tone quickly changed as she began baby talking the cat.
” PLEASE, you know you wouldn’t have nearly as much fun with them as you would me.” , she huffed rolling her he eyes at the thought of being replaced by one of those sticks in the mud. Her confidence spiked for only a second before crashing down when she heard him struggling with the door. ” Let me do it!” , she snapped scooting past him to push on the door herself. A sense of panic began to set in, they were going to get caught in here, together, with this cat…what were people going to think? What was her parents going to think? They would make sure she never got to hang out with Ettie again for sure…” This isn’t happening.”
They didn’t even get that far! She didn’t steal her mother’s purse and run off with Ettie to end up locked in a room. She could feel herself almost starting to hyperventilate, her breathing fast, she didn’t want to get caught, not here. ” Ettie we have to get out, I’m not kidding. My dad will kill me….my dad will kill you…. he might even go after the cat.” , subtle tears began to pool in the corners of her eyes as she tried her best to get out, moving from the door to the other side of the room looking for any way they could possibly escape. ” I can’t lose you and the cat in the same night; I’m just not prepared for that.” , at least she held her best friend on the same level as the cat, that was a good thing right?
Posted 07-28-2021, 03:55 PM
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