Go inside

The closer you get, you both realize it's already too late to go in while it was still open...

Unfortunately, you spent so much time walking around and looking, you were just in time to find the last few clerks leaving the building and locking the front doors. The windows are barred and lights are turned off. “Well, Kenji did suggest stealing.”

“We’re borrowing!” Flora snaps. “I’ll...I’ll leave some money or return the favor somehow.”

What’s Flora doing with these people? She doesn’t seem to be at all cut out to be with these crooks. You keep your questions to yourself, now isn't the time to be asking anything personal. You admire her thoughtfulness, but now have a personal distrust for her good heart now. She seems like the type of that would throw someone under the bus if you were caught. "Oh no! Please help me! I'm **** to do all these bad things!!"

While you play out some unfortunate events in your mind, Flora resigns back into an alley. There was nothing else to do after finding the store locked anyway. “We’ll have to wait a few more hours before we try anything extraordinary here. There'll be plenty of guards still, but I’m willing to gamble that they won’t be around here that much.”

“Around the pharmacy?” You ask, which makes her shoot a glare at you.

“Trust me.” She sounds confident and it does relax you. “We’ll just have to pass the time for a little a while.”

She twists her wrist to check her watch. This is the first time you’ve seen it. The leather looks new. Even the glass of it is pristine - it looks brand new! In fact, standing this close to her, she even smells expensive - and not in the slutty or whore-ish kind of way either. She just seems so...pampered. “We’ll wait until midnight. So, about thirty minutes from now we’ll start to break- I mean forcing our way in.”

“Neither one of those sounds very...civilized. Maybe we should call it...Entering after-store-hours instead? How’s that?” You offer a different term for your mission.

Even in the dark, you can see her curled lips. She nods and says that is an acceptable term. After that, it all falls to silence. The night isn’t cold, but you get uncomfortable with just standing around. Tired of doing nothing, you lean up beside her and exhale. She slides further away from you, but looks in your direction. Even though she has a dull expression, you want to do something.You offer a smile, but she doesn’t give one in return. You tilt your head somewhat, widening your smile - it’s this that makes her brows knit further confusion. Realizing you are making the situation awkward, you quickly follow up with something to say.

However, you can’t think of anything to say before your mouth opens, so what was meant to be a question is unleashed as a compliment. “You look really pretty, Flora.”

“Aw!” she exclaims “Thanks, fella.”

There’s no hint of her being flustered, instead it seems almost like she expected it. There was no sarcasm too, which gives you a sense of relief since she clearly doesn’t take you like a complete idiot. “I’ll need something a little more unique other than a simple compliment now, I already know the basics.” She continued. “But, I suppose hearing it from someone new is refreshing too.”

Now that you’ve made her smile, all that discomfort you felt earlier has gone away. This girl is making you feel strange. It’s similar to having butterflies. Wait, is this butterflies? All these feelings should have been outgrown a few years ago. Ugh, now you wish you weren’t this close to her. Hopefully your face isn’t as red as it feels. She brushes her hair behind her ear and winks at you, waiting for you to say something else. There isn't anything mischievous or maleficent behind her smile. And yet, you feel compelled to shower her in compliments.

Her head tilts. Her eyes fixes onto yours. Your heart skips a beat. If you were to speak you'd probably stutter. After taking a moment to find and keep your composure, you lean back into the wall. Flora's eyes narrow a little bit, taking note of your fluster. "If talking to me doesn't work out, you don't need to. We only have a few more minutes before we can start."

"Well, no, it's not that it's just-"

"No, no! Really, it's fine." She insists. "I'm used to not talking to anyone. I understand."

"But, we're both working together-"

Flora cuts you off again. "I don't do well in pairs. This won't happen more than once, I can promise you!"

Steadily, her voice got louder the more you tried. You didn't want to **** a failure on the mission by talking when you shouldn't be already. So you shut your mouth and nod. Flora nods too. It gets quite again, but this time it does feel awkward. You hear her breathing and your heart pounding - nothing bad happened, but you still feel bad. You exhale and lean against the wall, calming yourself before waiting until midnight...No matter what happens, you're going to find out more about Flora.