AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And then I did so you didn’t have to.” I’m not sure why she is so mad. All I did was help her.
“That’s not your place! I didn’t need help. I didn’t ask you to help. I was taking care of it!” She takes a big breath in and slowly lets it out. “I’ve been dealing with Troy and men just like him for years. I know how to take care of myself! I’m not this damsel in distress that’s just waiting for a big strong man to come and save me!”
Ice floods my veins as I think of Troy or any man acting like that around her. “I’m sorry I got overprotective.”
“You were impulsive and possessive! You’re MIA for years and then after one night of going down memory lane, suddenly you’re here to solve all my problems?” I’ve never seen Millie so infuriated. “Guess what, Mark, I don’t need your help! And I don’t want it! You have no claim on me.”
She’s right, I don’t have any claim to her. I don’t have a chance to respond before I’m suddenly being pelted in the head by a pink stiletto heel. She threw her shoe at me!
“Did you really just throw your shoe at me?”
“You’re treating me like a child anyway!” She goes to throw her other shoe at me, but as I try to deflect it from hitting my face, I inadvertently get hit square in the chest. I had forgotten just how good her aim was. Still recovering from the shoe raid, I’m a bit dazed as I see her making her way to the parking garage barefoot.
“Millie! Wait!”
No response.
I watch as she moves through the doors to the garage and disappears, leaving me standing in the hallway of the hotel holding two pink stilettos. I’m perplexed about what just happened. One thing is for sure, that isn’t how friends react.
It’s the bottom of the 9th, all bases are loaded. I’m about to make the biggest play of my life.
Chapter 11
Millie
I’m so furious at Mark right now! Who does he think he is? He’s been back in town for like thirty seconds, and he thinks he can just step in and fight my battles? I’m not some helpless little girl anymore! I’m not the eleven-year-old who was getting bullied and made fun of for having a boy best friend and doing theater. I’m not that girl anymore. I haven’t been her in a long time. Why is it so hard for Mark to see that I’ve grown up? That I’m capable of making my own decisions and defending myself?
And to add to everything, I lost Tori’s shoes that she let me borrow. Okay, so I didn’t lose them. I threw them. At Mark’s head. But he deserved it!
Am I being childish? Probably, but I don’t care. I don’t need Mark swooping in to save the day. He’s not my knight in shining armor. That daydream ended long ago. This is real life and not some fairytale. No Prince Charming is coming to slay the dragon and save the princess. What’s worse, the whole night, once we got past the awkwardness, was perfect. If it would have been a date, it would have been perfect. If I hadn’t been in love with him since I was twelve, I would be now. But then he had to go and ruin it by stepping in where he wasn’t needed. It was like I was a child who couldn’t take care of herself all over again. All those old insecurities resurfaced. All the feelings of never being enough. Everything reminded me that I’m not a main character. Main characters stand up for themselves.
I am in no condition to drive, but I also need out of this hotel garage. At this rate I’ll end up sitting here all night and run out of gas. Then Mark will show up to save the day. Because that’s just how my life goes. Everything is good, and then suddenly something happens that brings Mark Winters back into my life. It’s like some magnetic pull that draws me in. I’m a moth headed straight into the light about to get the life zapped out of me.
My phone buzzes in my hand, and I all but shriek as I throw it. It takes me a moment to find where it landed. Under my passenger seat. Just wonderful. I move the jackets and sweaters (I should probably clean my car out) so I can grab it.
Tori: How’s tonight going?
Tori: It’s boring without me, isn’t it?
Millie: Not all of it.
Tori: Ooo, gossip! Yay! I do love a good story. Especially if I’m in no way involved.
How does she do that? I can’t even blame it on my face giving it away when it’s in print.
Millie: There might have been a bit of people watching.
Tori: Boring. I need the juicy stuff. People being caught in an affair, someone getting exposed for being a rotten thief and stealing all the clients, corporate espionage.
I roll my eyes as I type.
Millie: That’s it, no more Gossip Girl
Tori: You know you love me, XOXO
I can’t help but laugh. Which is calming me down.
Millie: Fine. There might have been a thing with Troy.
