~ Hidden Love ~

CH4 - The Sauna Test [PT1]

> TUESDAY.   JULY  2nd <

I awoke to the same annoying sound of my alarm. It was another regular morning. No one was home, I got dressed and shortly after Steve pulled up outside. I walked outside and hopped in the backseat of his car while Dustin rode in the passenger side. Shortly after, we arrived at the mall and made our way to the parlor. Robin arrived shortly after us and we opened the parlor. Dustin kept an eye on the storage rooms we saw yesterday, while the three of us worked. Not long after, Dustin came back and rushed us to the backroom. We sat around the table as Dustin stood up.

"The keycard opens the door, but unfortunately, the Russian with this keycard also has a massive gun. Whatever's in this room, whatever's in those boxes, they really don't want anybody finding it." Dustin told us as he paced around.

"But there's gotta be a way in." Robin said.

"Well, you know.. I could just take him out." Steve replied. I couldn't help but chuckle at it.

"What? I sneak up behind, I knock him out, and I take his keycard. It's easy."

"Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?" Dustin told him.

"Yes, Dustin, I did." Steve told him. "And that's why I would be sneaking." Another chuckle slipped out of my mouth.

"Well, please, tell me this, and be honest, have you ever actually.. won a fight?" Dustin asked him.

"Okay, that was one time–" Steve said as I cut him off.

"Twice. Billy and Jonathan. I would also count me because I fucked up your nose pretty bad." I corrected him.

"Listen, you and your brother don't count."

"Why wouldn't it? Because it looks like they both beat the shit out of you." Dustin told him.

"It was.." Steve tried to defend himself as I cut him off again.

"You had a messed up eye, crooked nose, blood everywhere." I said to him.

"It just might work." Robin said out of the blue as she stood up and ran over to the tip jar and grabbed all the cash. We followed in pursuit as Steve called for her.

"Hey, Robin! Hey, what– what are you doing?" He asked her as she turned around.

"I need cash." She said as she walked backwards out of the store. We stopped behind the counter.

"Well, part of that is Y/n's and I."

"Where're you going?" I asked her.

"To find a way into that room, a safe way. And in the meantime, sling ice cream, behave, and don't get beat up. You're in charge, Y/n. I'll be back in a jiff." She said, then turning around and running off. I looked over to Dustin and saw him licking the ice cream scooper. I looked at him with my eyebrows furrowed, and Steve looked at him.

"Oh, dude. Come on, man, not my scooper." Steve said as he took the scooper from him and pocketed it. So, Steve scooped ice cream while I worked the register. Dustin was there talking to us. Not long after Robin left, she arrived back with some kind of paper. She drug us to the backroom. She then sat the paper onto the table as we stood around it.

"It is fascinating what 20 bucks will get you at the County Recorder's Office. Starcourt Mall. The complete blueprints."

"Not bad." Dustin replied to her.

"So, this is us, Scoops, and this is where we want to get." She said pointing to the blueprints.

"I mean, I don't really see a way in."