Sidney Dalwit

Riley changed her tune faster than Sid could blink. “Well,” she hedged, “if you get onion rings, I suppose we could share.” She had skimmed right past them on the menu, and now couldn’t deny her regret. Despite the place being Greek, none of the traditional dishes appealed much to her - spinach pie, salads tossed with feta cheese, baked lamb, stuffed grape leaves, kabobs, gyros, and something called mousaka. She could admit to herself at least that she didn’t feel very adventurous at the moment, not with such a stressful event looming ahead.

“Copycat,” she teased, sticking her tongue out at Sid. Lost for another moment perusing the menu for another better choice, her head snapped up at Sid’s last whisper, a smile forming on her face despite her effort to stifle it. “Crime words?” she repeated, one eyebrow lifted and face contorting with her effort to resist laughing. “Is that what they’re called, Sid? What should we use instead?” She tapped sardonically on her own chin, faux deep in thought, corners of her lips twitching. “I want to be big and strong, so we can go gather corn and wrestle pigs on the farm.” She raised a finger pointed at Sid, “don’t forget to save your energy for tomorrow, we have to be up early to milk the goats.”

Sid realized their bargaining power immediately, a small smirk tugging at their lips. “Could we,” they hedged, contemplative. Actually, that sounded just about perfect for Sid, he wanted the fries more than onions rings anyways and food always tasted better stolen from someone else’s plate. “It sounds good!” Sid huffed, but then frowned, shaking their head. “No, I’ll stick with the salad. If I don’t I’ll be craving it for the rest of the day,” they decided with a definitive nod, flipping over their menu because it was only one page and didn’t close. 

“You know what I meant!” Sid scowled, his expression not lightening any more as Riley continued to talk. “Well, huckleberry, sometimes the best harvest is at night. When all the chickens are asleep and don’t notice you’re stealing their eggs,” they continue her metaphor, badly. The appearance of the waitress was an immediate distraction, especially given what she was carry. Sid’s grin was more than delighted, accepting it with a reverent thanks. The woman seemed amused by Sid’s enthusiasm, barely holding back a giggle. 

“Ooh,” Riley flipped through her own menu, eyes lighting up when she came across the same list. “I’ll take… banana,” she decided with a grin aimed at both Sid and the waitress. She couldn’t help that her enthusiasm was infectious. When the waitress scrawled down their order and walked away, she snorted and gave Seth a look. “What, are you watching your figure?” she asked sarcastically, reaching out to pinch their bony wrist between her thumb and forefinger. 

Releasing them with a short laugh, she flipped back to the front of her menu where the sandwiches were listed. “If you get a salad, I’m not sharing my fries with you,” she warned, eyeing the list of sides. “Just because you want to eat rabbit food doesn’t mean we’re both going to suffer.” Looking back up at Sid with a triumphant smirk, “I’m getting the avocado Swiss burger. I need real food to have enough energy to commit grand larceny,” she added, voice low and eyes twinkling with mischief. 

“This is a Greek place, isn’t it? Greek salad is mostly cheese,” they protested, not pulling their wrist away from Riley despite the huffy tone. “I can just get an order of fries too. Ooh, or onion rings...” Absorbed by the menu, they didn’t look up till the heard the words ‘larceny’, but that was more than enough to quickly get Sid’s attention. 

It was impossible not to glance around their booth, but even though Sid had tried to pick the most out of the way spot available, but it was the pre-diner lull and the smattering of occupied tables were fairly spread out and the noise level wasn’t enough to drown out the nearby conversations completely. They blinked, then shifted as they tried to look less...suspicious. 

Riley couldn’t really argue with that. “Not really,” she conceded with a shrug, “but neither am I. I just happen to notice things,” she nudged them with an elbow. When she almost fell, her cheeks flushed pink with embarrassment, but she remained latched onto Sid’s arm; her pride would not allow her to slip again, and Sid was a warm and sturdy anchor anyway. She certainly didn’t mind being snug up against their side.

“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered noncommittally to Sid’s tsk, cheeks still warm and eyes darting between their profile, the restaurant, and the icy parking lot. The warm air inside the restaurant enveloped her like a cocoon; sighing with relief, she parted from Sid to begin unbuttoning her coat again. She followed them to the booth, copying them and tossing her winter clothes beside her as she sat across from them. Picking up the menu, she perused it for a brief minute before looking back up at Sid. “Anything look good to you?”

Picking up their own menu, Sid flicked their eyes quickly across it before shrugging. They were interrupted before they could speak with the arrival of the waitress, who introduced herself quickly, and then brightly asked if they wanted anything to drink. Without consulting Riley, Sid grinned up at the woman and quickly flipped to the back page to point out where it listed ‘MILKSHAKES’ in bold letters.

“You can buy a screwdriver anywhere, Sid,” she pointed out with a raised eyebrow, “convenience stores, Walmart, CVS… you could probably find one at a gas station.” She followed suit and opened her door, shivering immediately at the blast of cold air, before remembering her coat in the back seat and flinging it open with gusto.

Once properly dressed, she made her way towards the restaurant alongside Sid. With a sudden squeak, she stumbled, one foot sliding in front of her on a patch of black ice, and she instinctively reached for Sid’s arm to prevent her fall. “Thanks,” she said breathlessly, clinging to their elbow as they continued across the parking lot. “While these shoes are perfect for a bank heist, they don’t have much grip,” she giggled. She thanked them again as they entered through the front door, pausing at the hostess’ booth to be seated. 

Sid shrugged helplessly at her incredulous expression, rolling his eyes. “Do I look like the type to be buying a lot of tools?” They asked with a small laugh, waiting a few steps ahead for Riley to get dressed and catch up, shifting impatiently in the cold. She was lucky Sid had an arm out to catch her when she grabbed onto him to keep from falling, and Sid managed to brace themselves just enough to avoid toppling along with her.

“Oh well,” Riley shrugged, “we’ll just need a screwdriver then.” When they entered the city her interest piqued, and she sat up in her seat to drink in the sights - despite how gray and icy they were this time of year. 

“Greek sounds good,” she decided, selecting it on her phone and directing Sid to the small restaurant, yellow blinking sign spelling out Kastore’s. “Hmm,” she observed the building with a critical eye, “it looks alright, but the reviews are really good. I think we’ll be safe. Look, wait,” she pointed at a car with its reverse lights on, “take their spot. It’s nice and close, I don’t want to freeze my tits off for some spinach and feta cheese.” 

“Maybe we should stop at a hardware store,” he suggested with a laugh, sure they could find one in town. Her directions were easy to follow, and once she’d proclaimed it acceptable Sid  quickly nabbed the spot she pointed it, finally parking the car.

Riley shrugged, “alright, fine, no rental car.” She couldn’t help but beam when Sid agreed, “see, not all my ideas are bad,” she giggled. “I haven’t either, but it’s not hard. All we’d need is a screwdriver and some screws. Or,” she shot Sid an amused look, “all we’d need is the hole punch kid and some screws to put it back on.” 

Riley sat up to peer out of the windows more closely, but quickly grew bored of the drab storefronts and sad-looking chain restaurants. “Phone it is,” she decided after ten minutes, “let’s see… there’s a Greek place with four stars. A sub shop… more Chinese… sushi… Italian… Thai… burger joint… and it all starts going downhill from there. Anything sound good?”

“It’s not....really precise enough for that,” Sid had to admit with a bit of reluctance. “I mean, I could take the plate off but then it wouldn’t actually screw on again, it would ruin the thread.” They shrugged, trying to navigate their way into a part of the city with restaurants. 

“Well, yeah. But I figured you’d use a fake name, so the plates wouldn’t trace back to you.” She grumbled wordlessly at their logic, unable to really counter it. “Alright, well. We’ll take back roads, there will be fewer cameras and lights. Or,” her eyes lit up, “let’s stop at a parking lot when it gets dark and just steal somebody else’s plates. Or go to one of those souvenir shops that sells old ones. Keep yours and switch them back later.”

“Sure,” she agreed easily, “it’ll give us more time to figure this out anyway.” Now that she thought about it, there was much more planning required than she had anticipated - not that she would ever admit that to Sid. “What are you in the mood for?”

“But if they traced it back to the rental agency...I’d have to rent it in Philly, seems like a lot of work,” they sighed, already exhausted just by the scope of issues to consider and the drive had only barely begun. “We could steal someone’s plates, then leave them outside of town,” Sid huffed a laugh, the idea was pretty funny they could admit. “I’ve never really tried to take off a licence plate before.”

“I can shut those down too, if we see them. I thought you were going to get a rental car,” she remembered, turning to them with a furrowed brow. “Maybe we should take it off before we go into Philly,” she shrugged, “better than nothing. Put it back on when we’re a little ways away.” 

“Only to you,” she laughed, letting the license slip through her fingers. “The davenport. It’s a name for a sofa, from… somewhere,” she trailed off, somewhat annoyed she couldn’t remember where she had heard it before. “I mean, it’s a name too, but… whatever,” she waved it off, “never mind.” She leaned over to peek at their phone, “how much longer?”

“Not if we’re only going to stay the night. That’s even more paperwork than a motel is and they have plates too,” Sid shrugged, glancing sideways at Riley to see her expression. “If we take them off before we get into the city we’re bound to be pulled over. Cops hate that.”

“Look at us, we’re preparing,” Riley nudged them with a friendly elbow. “Well, we can’t park too far away. We don’t want to end up on world’s dumbest criminals, running down the street from the cops with duffle bags.” She snorted at the mental image that it conjured up. “A few streets over should be fine. If there are any streetlights I’ll put them out.”

Riley snatched the wallet from Sid’s hand, opening it and pulling out their license. “Sure, a fake one, that doesn’t count,” she muttered, grinning at the picture of Sid with long hair before noticing the name. “Sidney Davenport?” Riley dissolved into laughter, clapping her hands and throwing her head back. “God, Sid, like a sofa?” She covered her mouth, still giggling. “Please tell me you didn’t choose that yourself.”

“What about street cameras?” They countered, trying not to envision the scenario she’d described. “It’s even worse if we drive all this way and they just track my license plate,” Sid frowned, worrying his bottom lip as he tried imagine every possibility.

Sid’s final dying protests only made Riley’s smile wider, though she turned towards her window to hide it from them. She knew well enough when she’d won. The redhead turned back to her friend with a more serious expression, “I know, I get it. You know that it’s risky, though, staying there and letting people see us. We’re not just anyone, Sid,” she said with more than a hint of pride, “and I have no intention of letting either of us get caught.” 

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Of course I can drive.” She added after a pause, “I don’t exactly have a license, but neither do you.” Riley couldn’t help but giggle at Sid’s confusion over her part of the plan. “I know how to shut down a building’s power,” she said with a smirk, “they only drilled me on that every friggin’ day.” She cast them an amused look, “though I’m guessing you want me to tell you every detail now.”

“It’s risky to rush into it without preparing first too,” Sid couldn’t help the final comment, tapping their fingers against the still cool steering wheel. “We’re going to have to walk, I can’t park my car anywhere nearby,” they added after a few long moments of silence between them, making a face at the idea of how cold it would be. 

“Uh huh,” Riley responded dryly, “you spent months planning on how best to put a hole in a wall? Come on, Sid. You know what they say, two minds are better than one.” Like a dog with a bone, Riley was intent on convincing them. “I think you’re kidding yourself. You’re smart enough to have done it in a week. The two of us? One night and a bit of luck is all we need.” 

She snapped up their uneasy agreement instantly, squealing and reaching over to wrap both arms around their neck and pepper their cheek with a kiss. “Hell, I’ll drive both ways if that’s what it takes.” She sat back in her seat with a satisfied sigh. “We are going to rock this, Sid. I bet we could be in and out in like ten minutes. And most of that will be loading up our bags full of goodies,” she added with a laugh. 

“I spent months, finding the best place and deciding when and how to put a hole in the wall,” Sid pouted, sending Riley a sideways look that might have been a glare if they didn’t need to focus on the road. “I was only saying we wait until tomorrow night!” Sid protested. “Then we have the chance to pick the place and time we want.”

“Well…” Riley couldn’t really argue with that. “That’s true,” she agreed with a huff, pulling out her phone to clear the texts from Sid and dawdle through Instagram until her stomach started to turn and she had to look back up through the windshield. “Thank God,” she muttered when she saw two cars on the side of the road with their hazards on, and watched as traffic started slowly speeding up.

“You don’t know where to start? What happened to the bank robber extraordinaire?” she snorted, crossing her legs and shooting them a look. “I can drive on the way back,” she offered, not hiding her displeasure at the idea of having to wait another day before they could begin. “I say we just get there and do it, then go straight back. We don’t really want to be seen by anyone, even just by a motel owner,” she pointed out. “Besides, after using my power that much I won’t be able to sleep anyway.”

“This-” Sid gestured between the two of them, “ is not normally how it goes down!” He protested, offended by her lack of faith. “I used to spend months living in the city and planning it out, I didn’t just...drive into town and wander around till I hit a bank,” Sid shook their head, a bubble of nerves or worry growing in the pit of their stomach. It was hard not to be a little worried when they were very literally planning on committing grand larceny.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve been waiting all year, pal, I get it,” Riley laughed, pulling on her seat belt and shifting in her seat to get comfortable. She couldn’t help but hum to Sid’s choice of song, shimmying in her seat and pumping her fists as they began their journey down Cleveland’s narrow icy roads. 

She, too, couldn’t help but become impatient when they hit traffic almost immediately - tapping her fingernails on the dash and twiddling with the heat controls. “Too bad neither of us can fly,” she grumbled, slumping her head down onto one palm and resting her elbow on the door. “But,” she looked back up at Sid, “it could still work. Give us more time to plan. And at this rate it’ll be dark enough to get started right when we get there,” her eyes lit up with excitement.

“It’s too cold out,” Sid protested miserably, though Riley was right it would be a pretty cool power to have. “And it wouldn’t be very helpful with that we’re doing,” they pointed out. The traffic crept forward, and Sid pulled up the traffic to at least learn there was an accident up ahead causing the delay.

Riley could hardly contain her excitement at the prospect of her trip with Sid. Hurrying around her apartment in a flurry of activity, she heard her phone chime again from her bedroom. Swearing under her breath, she darted into the bathroom to check her makeup and outfit one last time. Straightening her black sweater and tugging on her boots, she grabbed her jacket, hat and phone and headed for the door.

Stepping out onto the street, she pulled her jacket tighter around herself with a shudder. Hopping into Sid’s car, she made a face at the sudden change of temperature. “God, Sid,” she immediately pulled off her hat and began unbuttoning her coat, “are you trying to roast me alive?” her smile was thrilled nonetheless. After tossing her winter clothes into the backseat on top of Sid’s, she turned to them with a brilliant grin. “Ready to cause some trouble?”

“Fiiiinaally,” Sid complained loudly when Riley stepped into the car, his wide grin however giving him away. “I guess you’d rather freeze,” they snorted, but Sid leaned forward and turned the heat down a few notches. “Me? I’ve been out here waiting for you!” They teased, finally settling on a song and putting the car in reverse to pull out of their spot.