Rose
"I'm back" I dust my snow-covered shoes on the door mat and hang the keys on the hook.
I walk in to the smell of fresh bakeries filling the air and to my right croissants and cakes are neatly laid out for tommorow's sale.
"Finally"
Jade drops the TV remote on the chair and rushes towards me. "Did they have it?"
I nod. Greedy thumbs snatch the bag from me.
"Careful with that" I mutter slumping in the couch next to Willow with a sigh.
She didn't look up-her attention glued to the laptop typing fast, her head in a way that held the phone to her ear.
"Mike didn't let me off easy this night" I shut my eyes forcing the earlier unnecessary, weird uncomfortable conversation from my exhausted mind
"He's still flirting with you?" Jade asks
I nod again, opening my eyes to see my greedy green-eyed bigback of a friend already devouring the icecream like an animal
"That absolute fucker" Jade adds and I inwardly shake my head—typical Jade no filter "How hard is it to take a hint?"
"Language" Wililow ends the call with sharp beep.
I shake my head and glance to the corner. My baby asleep kneeling, head on the table with paint all over her face. I push off the crouch, shrugging out of my jacket and drape it around her
"But still though!" Jade tucks her legs in a blanket- my blanket "Don't worry i'll go next time-"
"Eat" Willow interrupts, beckoning for the remote which Jade begrudgingly hands over smudging it with icecream.
Willow glares and Jade snickers unfazed
Ignoring her Willow reaches for a tub of ice-cream, returning her attention back to the laptop.
I watch my Baby as her rosy cheeks puff up in her sleep
"Baby...Elara" I shake her gently brushing her hair away from her face "Mommy's home, wake up let's go to bed" She groans turning her head away from me.
I smile—her usual tactic. It's works
I lift her in my arms and her head settling perfectly in my the nook of my neck, A small smile escaping her lips- she probably learned this from Jade.
I send her tiny glares and she responds with a ice-cream moustached-wink.
I carry her to our room, pushing the door open with my hips. I switch on the lights with my elbow and gently lay her in the ruffles of our faded pink duvet—her weight sinking in. She mutters something in her sleep and pushes herself facing the wall.
"Good night sweetie" I whisper kissing her cheek and pull the duvet up to her shoulders. For a while I sit zoning out, my hands grazing her hands mindlessly. Its been 5 years since I had her.
They do grow up so fast.
I grab her inhaler from my pockets setting it on the bedside table—close enough for safety. I stay a minute more before shuting the door quietly.
"She asleep?" Jade asks and I nod retying my hair in a bun. Willow is staring into space with a spoon in her mouth, I wave my hands infront of her and she blinks rapidly before meeting my gaze.
"You okay?" I ask snatching my ice-cream tub from Jade. She pouts and I ignore her "What's the plan for tommorrow?" I take a bite, mentally preparing for the gruesome heist we've gotten ourselves into. Willow's gaze becomes more calculated and Jade sits next to me.
"Right." Willow begins her voice quiet as she starts scrolling on her laptop. Lots of blurry words zoom over her screen before landing on an image.
The Location
"Moretti Mansion" Jade reads aloud, its a big mansion—very beautiful one. Even it's lamppost screams money. Looks better than the places we have been too.
I bite my lips, preventing a smile at the thought of dressing up for what looks like a socialite event.
It's gonna interesting to be a part of that life for a few minutes
"Funny name, so just to be clear" Jade sits up taking the laptop from Willow who is now sanitizing her hands.
"Willow and I are going undercover as super wealthy bimbos and you my little genius" She pauses for a moment rubbing my head ruining my bun "Will be our eyes and ears, Thats simple as Abc. We are getting the flash drive and like flash—pun intended—we are out" She shuts the laptop grabbing the remote "Any questions?"
Silence fills the now hospital scented air
"Wonderful ladies. We can now enjoy our Friday and possibly the last time we'd ever have to work for that scumbag, our names cleared and lives peaceful" She turns the Tv on and grab her empty ice-cream tub "Cheers!"
That is true, we have been working for Marco and his wannabe gang for 3 years now. Stealing drives, jewels from wherever we are sent too. Honestly the less we knew the better for us as long as we didn't kill anyone, that dirty rat won't have anything on us anymore. With that I raise my half filled icecream tub to hers and Willow joins in reluctantly.
"To us, hardworking bitches who never let stitches get in the way" She really needs to work on her language
"Cheers" We clink in unison and Jade puts on our comfort show 'The Muppet Show'. To be honest if anyone told me I'd spend my fridays watching this with my closest friends eating half-melted icecream. I don't know what I'd do but it beats watching National Geographic for Willow or Bridgerton for Jade. So all thanks to my beautiful daughter for bringing us together with Muppets.
I snuggle closer to Willow, resting my head on her shoulder. It's been an amazing 5 years with these girls, who've always been there since— I shut my eyes tight forcing painful memories behind me. I feel Jade's curls on my lap and Willow's head resting on mine grounding me. I release a soft sigh succumbing to a peaceful darkness to the sound of upbeat trumpet fanfare.
***********************
Ever felt that suspicious feeling that you're getting too much sleep so you jump up and pull out your phone only to be greeted with dissapointment
5.01am. You have got to be kidding me.
I groan stretching my sore neck and limbs and wiping the dry drool from lips. The smell of coffee immiediately alerts me and i turn to see Mama Elena and Willow sipping from mugs, steam clouding her glasses. Willow seems to notice my stare and immiediately waves me over pushing a mug towards my direction.
I try standing up but either my legs are still asleep or Jade has a really fat head. Either way i push myself up and head to Elara's room first.
I turn on the nightlight on the bedside table, the warm light illuminating the inhaler still safely placed beside her. I lean down to check her breathing—steady and calm and I release a sigh of relief.
I kiss her cheek then forehead before tucking her in the duvet. I leave the door slightly open on my way out and stop to see a coffee mug in front of me.
"Thanks" I take the cup from Willow and relish the caffeine boost I get from a tiny sip.
"Is she okay?" Mama Elena, our landlady and mother asks, her voice full of concern.
"Yes she is, she's okay" I reply and Mama Elena smiles and continues drinking her coffee whilst jotting something in her notepad. We both head to the counter and sit opposite her as she counts her baked goods.
"You baked a lot this time" Willow comments setting her cup on the counter, her spoon perfectly beside it. Mama Elena nods as she pushes her glasses back.
"I invited the orphanage over for breakfast and my friends are coming for brunch later" Her eyes sparkles as she explains, she has that sort of kindness that just inspires you to want to protect it.
Now 5 years now, when she took us—absolute strangers in. I always ask why she did that, taking in a single mom with a baby, an orphan and an ex-prostitute but she'd always shrug and start commenting on the weather or cakes.
"What's your plan for today?" Mama Elena's voice snaps me out of my reverie and I instinctively turn to Willow.
We don't plan to tell her about side job, money's been tight these few years and she would absolutely kill us and herself with a heart attack if she found out we were doing jobs like that.
"A waitressing job at some high social event 2 hours from here" Willow replies direct as always. For a second a worried look crosses Mama Elena's eye for a moment before being replaced with exhaustion.
She drops her pen and places her hands on ours, gently caressing them "You girls don't have to pick up jobs anymore, The bakery's been doing good these past few months"
Willow puts her other hand over hers and smiles "The least we can do for you Mama E, its our last one this night then we'll spend all oir time on sales for the bakery" She pauses for a moment wiping the tear falling from Mama Elena's eye "You're my family and I will do anything for you"
"We would" I add patting her hand over mine. She sniffles taking her hands back to wipe her tears, over the years her eyebags have darkened, wrinkles more defined and face lean. Her blonde hair turning gray styled in a bob still makes her look younger.
My heart tightens as guilt washes over me, The landlord must've threatened her again. My knuckles clench towards the man who seems to target women he deemed weak or didn't fit into his idea of a 'woman'
We really ought to deal with his ass
"What is going on?" Jade's groggy voice causes us to turn our head. She stretches dragging her body over to the counter before stopping mid-way and running to Mama Elena's side " What happened, are you okay? Did that fuc- man say something again cause if he did—"
Her words are stopped as Mama Elena forces a cake to her lips which causes her to chuckle while Jade blinks confused.
"You always know how to make me laugh" Mama Elena smiles before pinching her cheek
My body relaxes a bit and I notice Willow's face grow softer.
Jade sets the cake down and grimaces "Not funny" Mama Elena smiles sweetly, packing her stuff neatly off the counter.
"I'm off to bed girls, don't stay out too late" She leaves finding her way to her room upstairs.
Jade sits leaning back in her chair "What was that all about?" I shrug too tired to explain while Willow sips her coffee "Is there something on my face" She aggressively touches her face worsening the already smudged mascara and dried drool on her cheek.
I nod and smile. Jade sighs.
It was silent for a long time, the only noise coming from the fridge and the wind howling from the window. Willow is the first to stand up, she heads to sink and the sound of running faucet replaces the silence.
"I can't wait to get today over with" Jade begins placing her head on the table staring at the fruit bowl in the middle "I'm stressed enough thinking about it"
"You? Stressed?" I tease taking another sip of my coffee
"Yes, perfect lil me is already procrastinating in her head" She sits up resting her head on her hand "When are we leaving and what are we doing before that?" We both face to Willow who is now cleaning her knives.
Her Big Bad Boys— as Jade calls them are a set of Cold Steel Recon Tantos. We can't even touch them without getting our fingers sliced off. She loves those things for some strange reasons that I will not even try to understand.
"We help at the bakery for 3 hours from 7 to 9am" Willow begins setting down her babies, perfectly aligned side by side "Then we go to Marco's to get the" She leans down closer and I glance at the corridor Mama Elena just once was "Weapons and the dresses, they are rented so please Jade try not to get anything on it" Jade scoffs, throwing her head back dramatically
"Then by 10am we start a 2 hour drive from here to The Location. By 12pm we get ready by then the maids would be setting up for the Party. So you Rose have time to start hacking cameras, we test our comms and we can just lazy around till 6pm when guests should start arriving, then we can infiltrate, we already have fake Ids, Marco said he's registered us—"
"He better have" Jade interrupts sucking air between our teeth "Remember last time, when we were almost rough handled by a bunch of geezers thinking we were beggars" Jade sighs "We did not look that bad"
We dressed up as old ladies.
"As I was saying, We just infiltrate and we don't cause a ruckus, we have one thing we came for and its one thing we get" Willow turns to face Jade narrowing her gaze "No distractions"
"Pssshhh they'd all have to be strippers to distract me" Jade swings back in her chair reaching for the lollipop stand "Don't worry about me, I can keep it in my pants" She winks at Willow before sticking the lollipop in her mouth. Willow recoils before rubbing her hands over her face while I just sit here with a disgusted look.
"What?" Jade asks with a puzzled face before frowning "I'm going to brush later, There's no rule about eating and then brushing" She stresses on the later before glaring at both us "You guys were literally drinking coffee" I sigh looking down at my already cold coffee.
"I've had my bath and brushed" Willow interjected to which Jade only just glares more. I can't help but agree, who wakes up at 5am and think it's sane to shower and not go back to sleep
"Hallelujah to the Clean freak" Jade stands to the towering Willow at 5'10, I snorted at the sight. She's 5'5 (5'4).
"Cool your horses" I get up, stretching. I walk over to the sink, setting my cup before I set the bomb off. "Shorty" I sprint out of the kitchen as a tiny gremlin chases me around the couch.
I didn't mean to scream out of pure terror but she jumped straight at me, over the chair aiming for my leg with her teeth.
"Might as well make you join me down here" She adds right after she missed my ass by an inch
Did I mention she's crazy but I would not have it any other way.