The Ineffable Ruth Rhodes

15.5

millicent

Millicent jogged to her appointment, shaking her head and murmuring a wide variety of curse words under her breath. She needed this job. Her family needed this job.

"Hey," a voice called out to her, pulling her arm back and in turn her whole body. "Watch out."

She paused and glared at him. She didn't have any more time to spare. "What?"

The person scrunched up his nose, "You were about to step in some... err, feces."

Then she realized it was someone she knew, and her eyes widened as they landed on the pile of dog droppings on the ground in front of her.

He smiled easily. "It's okay, but sorry if I'm intruding... are you rushing somewhere?"

Did he remember her? They shared the same classes two years in a row. Maybe he did. Maybe that's why he stopped her.

She checked the time again. 4:34 p.m. "I am. I have an appointment at 5:00."

"Can I come?"

She froze. "Sorry?"

"You look a little out of it so I wanted to know if it was okay if I walked you down." He shut one eye due to the bright sun, offering her a smile. "You don't have to say yes though-- random men offering to walk you places can't be the safest bet of course... but maybe I could help so that you don't step in any feces, or worse, on somebody."

He's cracking jokes. He's funny, she thought then. She thought he reminded her of the sun.

"You're not random," Millicent said, blurting it out before she could think. "We're in the same class."

"Right, since 10!" His eyes lit up. "Ah, so you do remember me!"

"I'm more surprised you remember me," she replied.

"Why?" he cocked his head at her. "You're friends with Charlotte right? I mean, I've known you longer than her but she talks about you often."

"Oh." Millicent watched her feet. She didn't realize that they'd slowly started walking in the direction of her job. "Right! You guys are friends, right?"

He smiled at the thought of her. "We are."

That day, Millicent arrived late and didn't get the job, but for some reason, she got something better.

Slowly but surely, with small and shy greetings in hallways, throwing mini snowballs at the other's window because they always parked beside each other, and passing funny notes in class, Millicent fell in love with Vincent. 

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we won't be seeing much of her anymore in this book :'< i did enjoy writing this little blurb though.