Sean sat in the bathroom stall trying to make sense of what charlotte had just told him. He knew something was off when he had picked her and Victoria up from her apartment. She was hardly talking and wasn’t herself at all. He could tell something was on her mind and she was ruminating about it. That didn’t seem like Charlotte at all. After they had joined Kumar, Ally, and Monique at the Senor cactus. Sean made sure to order shots round after round. He was determined to get Charlotte to spill her secret and he knew how to approach it. After a little while he bummed a couple of cigarettes and was able to corner Charlotte alone in the alley outside the bar.

“You having a good night?” Sean asking peering into Charlottes eyes attempting to appear vulnerable.

“Yeah, It’s been okay.. I think I’m pretty drunk”. Charlotte said laughing nervously as she took a drag from her cigarette. She didn’t normally smoke but she didn’t want to refuse Sean’s offer.

“You’re always so cute when you’re drunk.” Sean said.

“Awwe Really?”

“Yeah, I kind of have a big crush on you Charlotte. I’ve been wanting to tell you for weeks now, but I couldn’t get the courage to ask you.”

“What! You mean it?”

“Yeah of course I do.” Sean lied

“I think I feel the same way about you too, Sean. You’ve just been so nice to me lately.”

“Well I think I just care about you a lot. You haven’t seemed like yourself lately. Has something been on your mind?”

 

And that’s when Charlotte told him about the money. Thousands she had said possibly over fifty thousand. She told him Victoria didn’t even know. It appeared that only Sean and Charlotte knew in addition to the man that dropped off the bag. Charlotte thought about telling Victoria, but Sean told her it was best for her not to know. Charlotte said that Victoria needed the money and it help her so much with Cameron and her nursing school ambitions. Sean knew he had to get the money, he needed it for the project, and if he played his cards right nobody would ever suspect him. He thought about why the man had dropped off the money to his friend. It must have been for some kind of illegal deal. Perhaps drugs, or maybe something else. If the money were to go missing then Victoria would be suspected of the crime. If Victoria were then suspected maybe she’d then come to Charlotte. He thought about whether Charlotte would be able to connect him with the crime, but it was unlikely. It would be Victoria who would be blamed or perhaps her neighbor would assume the man with the money had never paid him in the first place. Could there a way for Sean to do this.

 

It didn’t matter to him that he could potentially ruin the lives of Victoria and maybe Charlotte and he didn’t even begin to care about the intended owner of the money bag. Years of bullying and abuse had hardened him, he no longer felt empathy for others. At one point this concerned him and he did everything in his power to heal himself. But eventually he stopped viewing it as a curse and was able to see that this had freed him. He was also a proficient thief and was certain he could manage to take the money. It started in high school. Him and his only friend. If you could even call him a friend, more of a partner really. Well, him and his partner started off breaking into high school classrooms stealing spare change and answer keys to exams, but the breaking point happened when they discovered the school’s breast cancer charity fund and went home with over two thousand dollars. An infinite amount for a teenager. This led him to steal more. He developed complicated scams and pyramid schemes and was never caught once. This heist could be his crowning achievement. He had it all planned out in his mind. In the ride over here, Victoria mentioned that she had to be home by 11:00 so she could drive to her sisters place in Eden Bluffs to pick up her bratty kid. That was 20 minutes away. That left him with a 40 minute window. All he had to do was find a way to get Victoria to invite them up and then find a spare key or manage to leave the door unlocked somehow. This was doable. All thanks to that dumb girl, Charlotte. It paid off having her under his finger like this. He knew it would.

 

After the night had begun to wind down, the other two left with Sean. Sean’s night had just begun. Victoria was in the back seat mostly keeping to herself. Sean kept peaking in on her from his rearview window. He wondered if she too knew about the money, but decided Charlotte was right. Victoria wasn’t the type to dig around other people’s stuff. She was too ethical. Too weak. Charlotte was in a much better mood and way too talkative for Sean. He was starting to worry whether or not she would foil his plans somehow. They pulled into Victoria’s parking lot. He checked all the apartments facing him. Most of them appeared to be dark. Perfect. He needed there to be no witnesses. 

“Alright, here we are.” Said Victoria. “Thanks for the lift Sean I had so much fun with you guys.” She said unconvincingly.

“Yeah, thanks so much Sean.” Charlotte said lingering in his car.

“Hey Victoria would it be alright if I used your bathroom really quick. I forgot to go at the bar.”

“Hmm alright, but make it quick.”

“Don’t worry.”

“Oh can I come up for a glass of water?” Charlotte asked cheerfully.

“Of course.” Victoria replied.

After pretending to pee and fixing his hair in the mirror. Sean silently exited and made his way to the front door. The other two were talking in the kitchen, the next room over. There had to be a way. There just had to Sean thought as he scanned the door and surrounding area. There were no spare keys in sight and it seemed the doors could only be locked from the outside and with a key. Maybe this heist was impossible. But of course, the window he thought. He heard footsteps behind him he quickly ran to the window, unlocked it and opened the door.

“See I told you. Super-fast.”

 

Victoria gave them hugs and then drove away to pick up her son. He saw Charlotte turn towards her car and then got into his and started his timer. 45 minutes should be sufficient. He shouldn’t go in right away he thought. He couldn’t leave the bag empty; Victoria would notice. She would have to be able to deliver the bag to her neighbor, the weight remaining the same. Charlotte estimated 50 thousand possibly more. Sean picture what that would look like and figured he could buy something at the Kransz Mart to replace the weight. He heard a tapping at his window which startled him. He looked over and sighed. It was Charlotte. 

“Hey I was thinking about our conversation earlier and… would you like to come home with me?”

He glanced at the timer 5 minutes had already gone by. He had to lose her. And fast.

“Uh, I’m sorry Charlotte. I really have to go home, I’ve got something to do at like 7:00 tomorrow.” He regretted his tone after saying this. It was too harsh. The stress of the situation had ruined his usual charming front. 

“Oh alright.” Said Charlotte looking dejected.

“Maybe we can go on a date or something sometime soon though.” Sean said trying to cheer her up.

“Yeah, maybe. Well I hope you have fun at your thing tomorrow.” Charlotte said blushing and walked over to her car.

“Goodnight Charlotte. Hope you get home safe.” Sean called out as she got in her car. She didn’t respond to him and then drove away. Good, she was gone. He drove quickly to the Kransz mart located only a couple miles away. He illegally parked on the side near the entrances and briskly walked toward the candy section. He grabbed all the chocolate bars he could and threw them into his cart. He thought this was best. It seemed to be close to the size and weight of the cash Charlotte had described and didn’t make the extra noise of other items. He went to the self scanner and immediately regretted his decision. But after 5 more minutes He was able to scan them all in, pay, and then place them into 3 brown paper bags. As he quickly made his way to the door he heard a familiar voice behind him. Shit. This was not the time.

“Hey there Seany boy. What’s the big hurry. You’re not stealing are you?” Georgie said smiling.

“Oh.. Hey Georgie. Not stealing this time. I got get back to my place though.” Sean said

“Woah, you must really like chocolate. You’ve totally ransacked the candy aisle.” Georgie said sounding more inquisitve then before as he noticed what was in the shopping bags.

“Oh yeah. I’m having a.. Fondu party, yeah chocolate fondu. But we’re all out so I had to get some more.”

“That sounds fun. You’re gonna have fondu for weeks, dude. I’d stop by, but you’re looking at the new night shift supervisor.”

“Wow, congrats on the promotion. I’ll see you around.” Sean said as he made his way for the exits.”

“You know, if I didn’t know you, I’d be sure you were stealing.” Georgie said sarcastically, laughed and shook his head. Sean seemed to be up to something with those chocolate bars. That thought made him laugh aloud to himself. But, why did he have to come all the way across town to this Kransz mart Georgie thought and then shrugged and walked over to Marquis who was riding around on a shopping cart.

 

It all went smoothly. Sean got in through the window without anyone seeing, found the bag right where Charlotte had mentioned, by Victoria’s bed. He grabbed fistfuls of cash and threw them into a trash bag he got from under the sink and then replaced the cash with the chocolate he had just bought. He tested the weight of the original duffel bag. It was close enough he thought. He checked his timer and saw there was 7 minutes left. This was all going to work out he thought. He gingerly passed through the window once more and ran down the flight of stairs and towards his car. 

“Hey you! Don’t think I didn’t see that.” A voice of an old man shouted to him. Oh no. He was caught. His planned ruined. He thought about just quickly driving away for a second, but decided that he could talk his way out of the predicament. He slowly turned around.

“What seems to be the problem, sir.” He said politely and with a slight smile.

“Well, first of all… You can’t park there young man. Residents only. Guest parking is all filled up for the evening.” Said Larry pointing towards the guest parking area.

Sean breathed a sigh of relief. “Well lucky for you I was just leaving.”

Larry furrowed his brow in disgust. “Who were you visiting, may I ask?”

“My girlfriend. We just had an amazing evening together. I’ll see you later sir.” Sean said as he tossed the trash bag in his car and got in.

“Hey!” Larry shouted. “You know you can throw your trash over there.” Larry said and pointed to the dumpster.

“Well, this is recycling. I always return my cans.” Sean said slyly and drove away as Larry stared angrily behind.