'Jonathan Garner' shook hands with his client. He turned and left the hotel lobby, throwing an empty Coke can in the bin on his way out. He got into his car, a shiny silver BMW, threw the briefcase of money onto the back seat and booted up the engine.
Fifteen minutes later, the same car pulled up outside a tall block of upmarket apartments. The door to the driver's seat swung open, and Danny Blue got out. He walked into the lobby of the building, and rung the elevator bell. He let out a low whistle as a tall, slender woman with a lot of legs and blonde hair walked past, her heels clip-clopping against the polished, white floor. She turned around and winked, grinning.
The elevator doors opened, and Danny got in. He proudly pressed the P/H button. As the lift started ascending, he examined himself in the mirror. He undid the buttons of the black jacket he was wearing, pulled off the black tie and loosened the neck of his pastel blue shirt. He ran a hand through his dusty blonde hair, trying to make it look casually ruffled. This was the part of the day where he left behind 'Jonathan Garner', a car dealership man, or whatever other art dealer or antique shop owner or record producer he was playing, and let himself be Danny Blue, his real self.
When the elevator arrived on the top floor, the doors opened with a little ping, which Danny had heard so much he could now sort of sing along with it. He crossed the corridor in a few strides, and fumbled for his keys in his pocket. Danny knocked on the door, still searching for the keys. The annoying thing was, he could actually hear them jingle somewhere in his jacket every so often. He knocked on the door again.
"Hey, let me in, I've lost my keys!"
The door swung open, a rather put out Ash Morgan stood at the other side.
Danny didn't say a word, just lifted up the briefcase of notes and rattled it in Ash's direction, letting a boyish grin spread across his face.
"Hey, well done!"
Ash raised his hand; Danny struck his across Ash's as they high-fived.
The other two members of the group appeared from the huge, open space that serviced as a living room, smiling as they saw what Danny was holding.
Stacie, dressed in a casual crimson dress and black, footless tights, went over to Danny. She softly pecked him on the cheek, which sent a little shiver down Danny's spine. And then she moved away.
Danny couldn't remember how long he'd been in love with Stacie Monroe, but he was. It would have been nice to say it was from the moment they met, but that wasn't true. He'd thought she was hot, that was all. He hadn't felt like this before, ever. But if he thought about it, really thought about it, it was hard to remember a time when he hadn't felt just like this about her.
He knew it was hopeless, thinking she could ever feel the same way.
He'd thought for a while, maybe after Mickey had left things would be different, maybe that Stacie would give him more attention. He'd thought when Mickey left that a lot of things would be different.
He wished he could be like Mickey. He wanted to be the one that Ash idolised, that Stacie flirted with, that Albert saw as a younger version of himself, smart, talented, a real grifter.
He'd thought that it was Mickey that had been stopping him being like that. But it wasn't really like that, was it? Maybe… maybe he just wasn't that awesome.
Great. Danny had just won them all over a million pounds and now he was having ego problems.
After Danny had changed clothes, all four of them headed over to Eddie's Bar. For once, they actually paid for their drinks, much to Danny's disappointment. But then again, conning Eddie was like playing rock, paper, scissors or I Spy. Unlike their other cons, they didn't do it because there was big money involved, or because it would help someone. They did it when they got bored, just to pass the time. Making fun of Eddie was just what they did. Sure, they all loved him really.
The bar was unusually popular; there were two other groups of strangers in there. Ever since Eddie's Bar had been given a 'makeover', it wasn't as normal for them to be the only people there, particularly on a Friday night like this one. There were a few regulars, but none seemed as dedicated as Ash, Stacie, Albert and Danny. They almost missed always having the whole place to themselves, but it still happened sometimes and anyway, it was better than staying in their flat. They didn't always go to Eddie's, though. About once a week, Albert would pick a club or a casino and they'd set up shorter cons, usually returning home with a few thousand pounds in their pockets, sometimes just leaving a grand on the street for whichever lucky stranger came across it.
"So, what're we gonna do next?" Ash asked, toying with the lemon in his drink.
"Can't discuss it here," Albert replied, gesturing to a group of about six people. Eddie jumped up to serve them. Although it happened more regularly now, it still gave him extra satisfaction when customers that were probably going to pay him came into his bar.
"Could you not do that?"
Danny turned to see a disgusted Stacie frowning, as Ash happily bit into the slice of lemon. He shut his own eyes tight, imagining the taste…
Eww.
They spent the rest of the evening laughing and drinking, as usual. By one, Ash had got bored and gone back to their flat, and Albert had gone off to talk to a group of men, Danny didn't miss the few aces up the sleeve of his posh suit. Danny's head hurt, and he almost felt like turning in but he didn't want to leave Stacie here to get a cab on her own: Ash had taken the car they'd all come in.
He came back from the bathroom and noticed Stacie was asleep, half-empty glass of wine still in front of her. Her head was resting on the corner of wall next to their table, a curtain of dark hair across her face. Danny didn't want to wake her up, though he supposed it would have been nice to move her. He rarely saw Stacie sleeping; she wasn't the type of person who usually ended up falling asleep in bars. That was just him.
Watching her sleep was fascinating. Stacie was so impossibly still, Danny was a little scared that she might not have been breathing.
He almost, almost held her hand. But only almost, it only took a second for Danny to realise what he was actually doing and that this was Stacie, who his chances with were about as slim as the chances of him opening an ice cream factory next week.
Actually, he might have opened an ice cream factory next week…
Whatever. Stacie and him was just… never going to happen. Ever. Whether Mickey was in Australia or right round the corner.
Danny finished off his drink, and rooted around in his pocket for his phone. He found it and dialled the number for a taxi firm, still a little unable to take his eyes of her.