Starlight | Fillie

Family Gathering

Finn.

Oh, no. Millie shook her head as the music of her AirPods resounded through her head.
She was so not going there...

She had to stop it already.
He didn't deserve anything after the way he replied to her texts two days before.

Feeling her heart racing, Millie just shut her eyes and rested her head on the window car, as it finally moved towards the destination.

It was October, and fall had just begun. New York was a grey, toxic jewel. Last time she went there were months before for a photo shoot and, then, she literally couldn't wait to go back to London. Not because she didn't like it, but, again, United States didn't feel safe anymore for a bunch of reasons.

"Are you happy to see your friends again, Millie?" Melanie Green, her manager, asked her with a delicious voice.

"Uh? Oh! Sure, I can't wait for it!" She finally sketched a grin that lighted up the dull environment around her.

"I am so glad you can have a little bit of fun and being comfortable. It was time you took a little break."

"Yeah, I will surely have fun! Party hard and music. And drinking." She raised an eyebrow, with a bratty smirk that said it all.

"Sweetheart, I know in England you actually can drink, but here you're still not allowed to." Her motherly advice was tender, but it hid a veil of a warning.

A warning which said "Don't do something you could regret".

"You know I am a saint. How can you not trust this cute lil face?" She snuggled her cheek on her shoulder, looking at her with those gorgeous big eyes.

"Hm, hm. Just don't drink too much, alright?" She smiled back, winking.

"Can't assure you it!" Millie laughed, as she chewed her gum.

"What about the security? Did Caleb think about everything?" That was the most important thing the manager cared about.

She simply nodded.
"Yes. Security is his first priority. He said... he said he chose the best bodyguards just for me."

Again.
Protection. Just that.
It had been two years and she was still treated like that, like if she was a baby who needed to be put in a golden cage.

"Good. Then, I'm sure you're going to have the time of your life!" Melanie smiled back, holding her hand just to comfort her.

Millie nodded, thinking about how she was an adult but still, it seemed never changed from the previous years. Certainly, it was cool being already an adult in UK. Being eighteen meant one thing in Europe: freedom.

Yes, she was a full grown up woman and could travel just with her body guards and her manager, without her family. And if this fact could gave her independence, on the other hand it made her feel terribly insecure.

But she hadn't time to think about it: Caleb was waiting for her in the penthouse he had rent just for the occasion. His trust friends would have spent the night in there, just for the sake of the good old times when sleepovers were just a teenage thing in order to stay up late, playing silly games or watching musicals on the TV.

"Uhm Melanie?"

"Yes?"

"Why have you decided to travel with me? Have I a commitment I have forgotten about this weekend?"

Melanie smiled, "No, absolutely not."

She looked at her confused, "So, why are you here?"

"Just want to check if... the situation with you and your friends is still fine. If your... whatever it is with that actor, Finn, can be solvable."