Paperboy | Fillie

f o r t y - o n e

Millie's birthday was a big deal to me.

It was when I could finally make her my girlfriend, and I was both excited and nervous as hell. I had been sticking to Mr. Harbour's rules and waiting for this, so I wanted to make it perfect. It probably didn't help much that he had given me suspicious looks when I had brought her chocolates and flowers on Valentine's day. That was already a couple days ago though, so hopefully he had calmed down a bit.

I didn't have some extravagant plan to ask Millie either, but I was still looking forward to it because everyone was kind of waiting for it to happen at this point. And by everyone, I mean Sadie. She was probably just as excited if not more than I was. Luckily Millie's birthday fell on a Sunday, so I'd be able to see her early in the morning. That wasn't when I was going to ask her though. No, I was going to ask her later.

After New Years, everything was up from there. Millie and Noah had been able to spend the night more now, so Sadie and I took advantage of that. Noah and I had gotten closer since we slept in my room when they did stay over. He opened up to me about how the whole Millie thing had affected him and his family, something I had been curious about. I know that Millie had told me what she thought but it was different hearing it from Noah.

It was probably around one in the morning when we had told Sadie and Millie that we were going to go to sleep that night. That originally was the plan too, but we somehow ended up talking until the sun rose.

Noah had told me how he grew overprotective of Millie and how he was constantly getting in trouble at school for hurting the people that would talk about her. He told me how he had been on independent study at home for a while because he couldn't even handle being at school. He told me how he felt like he couldn't make friends anymore because all they wanted was a look into his life about Millie. He said that people were afraid of him, so even his own friends abandoned him. He told me how the whole thing had changed his life that he had been so used to.

After that he told me how it changed Millie's life. He told me how Millie had completely shut down for a while and wouldn't talk to any of them. He told me how their parents forced her to go to therapy at first but she refused to speak there too. He told me how the night she shaved her head was the night they decided that they should move. He said she had reached her breaking point that night and cried herself to sleep.

It was like I was able to look into a window that showed their past. Noah spilled everything he could to me. He asked me if I was sure I was going to be able to handle all of this. Of course I said yes. I was willing to try at least. I feel like Noah and I had grown closer after that, and he was finally completely comfortable with me.

Millie and Noah were two friends I had gotten close to in only a matter of months. I only wanted what was best for them because they had such a traumatic past. They deserved happiness and so much more, and I was going to make sure they got that.

As I turned on the street with the stump, I furrowed my eyebrows when I couldn't see Millie in the usual spot sitting on top of it. There were a lot more construction workers than usual though, so maybe she didn't even come. That's understandable, I'd just stop by her house.

I had just turned the corner when I saw her. She was beautiful as ever as she sat on the sidewalk with her phone in her hands. I stopped, watching her from a distance as she concentrated on whatever she was doing. She had on my sweatshirt, something that had been routine for her, and a black skirt. Her feet were bare and from the spot I was at I could see her bright red nails as she tapped on her phone screen.

I continued to watch as she made a face of annoyance and set her phone down next to her with a huff. She put her head in her hands before her eyes trailed up slowly and locked with mine. Her face of annoyance changed to one of happiness automatically and she scrambled to her feet.