Cecil huffed and pointed. “You two owe me a damn sugar high! Now, feed me!”
The twins burst out laughing and Hyde patted the stool next to him. Cecil stomped over and hopped on.
“What can I get for you, oh demanding one?” Jekyllasked, beaming. Gods, his smile was too bright for this time of day.
Cecil was a bit surprised that Jekyll hadn’t gotten angry at him for ordering him around. “I want a grilled cheese.”
“A grilled cheese, it is.”
“Make me one too! Pwetty pwease,” Hyde begged with a pout, his voice turning babyish at the end.
Jekyll scowled. “I will if you suck that bottom lip back in and never use baby talk again. I do not appreciate you doing such a thing with my voice and face.”
Hyde sucked his lip in and scowled right back. “It’s my face too!”
“Yes, but I was born first, therefore it was my face first. Which makes you a copycat, brother,” Jekyll informed him while gathering the supplies he needed to make Cecil’s food.
“No, it makes me the upgraded version,” Hyde sang.
Jekyll scoffed.
“What party were you two talking about?”
“Sin’s birthday is coming up,” Jekyll answered while buttering six slices of bread.
“When is it?”
“The third of February.”
“Ah.”
Cecil frowned. Well, shit, he wished he’d known about it sooner. Cecil had nothing to give him.
He rolled his eyes—not that knowing earlier would have mattered, because knowing wouldn’t have changed the fact that he didn’t have any money.
“What’s wrong?” Hyde asked.
“I don’t have anything to give him.”
Jekyll placed the slices of bread in a large skillet, and thebutter sizzled on contact. “No problem, we have some free time tomorrow, we can take you shopping then.”
“Um, yeah, let me clarify, I don’t have any money to actually buy him something.”
“We could?—”
Cecil held up his hand. “Not much meaning in buying a gift with someone else’s money.”
Of course, I have bought plenty of things with other people’s money before, he thought in self-disgust.
Ugh, everything he owned was bought with someone else’s money. That was pretty pathetic.
A thought occurred to him. “Do you know anyone who would hire someone with no experience, and who happened to be a former thief?”
Former? The word felt like a lie, but not at the same time. It seemed part of him believed he wouldn’t have to steal again. Not all of his fears around what could go wrong could be silenced. But his yearnings for something better were too strong to surrender to those fears.
Jekyll’s back was to him and he was flipping grilled cheeses, so Cecil didn’t know what he thought of the idea, but Hyde was looking thoughtful.
Moments later, Jekyll turned and smiled. “I know just the place. It pays well too. Though…the man you’d be working for is a bit peculiar.” Jekyll plated three grilled cheeses and placed one in front of Cecil.
