A Big Kind of Little Love

Chapter 17: Heist

"Come on, Evie, trust me. This plan is going to work!" 

Bella was trying very hard to convince her little cousin that her self-described "perfect plan" to break into her caregivers' candy stock would work without them getting caught. 

"I can't do it when I'm by myself," she went on, "but with the two of us, I can lift you up onto the kitchen counter and you can reach the top shelf of the cabinet."

"Why can't I lift you up?" Evie asked, feeling as though being the one on the counter was much more at risk of getting into bigger trouble. 

"Because, Evie, I'm taller and stronger than you."

Bella was right. Despite being a relatively average human size, Evie often felt as though Bella's over-six-foot-tall frame towered over her. Yet still her cousin's height was minuscule compared to their Colossi caregivers. 

"But-... but-," Evie stammered nervously.

"But what?"

"What if we get in trouble?" Evie looked up at Bella with anxious eyes. As stubborn as Evie could be, she did not like getting into trouble. 

"That's the beauty of the plan, Evie. We won't get in trouble because we can't get caught. All we have to do is sneak past the dining room where the adults are sitting, and the kitchen will be ripe for raiding." 

Evie's little mind couldn't come up with any objections, despite her significant effort to find with one. The plan seemed like a strong one. And, not to mention, candy sounded really good right now. 

"Okay fine. Let's do it."

********************************

While the girls had been devising their kitchen candy heist, the Colossi adults sat in the dining room. Though they were well within earshot of the playroom from which Evie and Bella were conspiring, the girls whispered quiet enough so as to not raise alarm from the adults. 

Plus, they were well-engulfed in conversation about boring adult stuff. Mainly, Camilla and Lucia talking about the memories they had already made with their beloved little. Adrian and Marcella were so happy that their best friends had finally found their little, and that her and Bella had grown to be such good friends so quickly. 

"Bella's made a couple of friends at Little's School, but there hasn't been anybody she's connected with as well as she has with Evie," Marcella explained happily. 

"How is she liking Little's School?" Lucia asked.

Her and Camilla had discussed the possibility of giving Evie the option to attend Little's School. It wasn't a traditional school with different grade levels or tests. It was more a daycare-type environment where the littles were divided by the age which they typically regress to and looked after appropriately. 

"She likes it but I think having to go Monday through Friday is a bit much for her," Marcella answered. "By the end of the week you can tell her social battery is drained because she just clings to Adrian and I. It's sometimes hard to get her to go to school. We're trying to get our work schedules shifted so that she won't have to go every weekday."

With that, Lucia's phone buzzed on the table in front of her.

"Ugh, speaking of work," She said with a huff, "My boss is calling me. Do you guys mind if I take this?"

The group gave a collective shake of their heads before Lucia made her way through the kitchen and out the front door onto the porch to take the call.