to make things awkward | fillie

prologue

November 1, 2024

"Truth or dare." Noah said across the six person circle to Gaten, sitting crossed legged, a beer in one hand and an anxious grin on his face.

"Truth."

Everyone sighed. Caleb, Finn, Sadie, Noah, and Millie, all releasing bored breaths of air before taking swigs of their drinks, hoping enough of the stuff would aid in making a game of truth telling a bit more entertaining.

For Millie at least, it wasn't helping much. Then again, she might just have been a bit too grief-stricken for any game to prove particularly entertaining. This was the last time they'd all be together like this for who knew how long? The press junket hit its last stop this morning and the release party for the final season of Stranger Things ended nearly three hours ago. They were all sitting in this hotel room hanging on to the last taught thread of commonality holding them all together. The last strong-hold of their childhoods finally falling in the war of adult responsibilities and life.

"Why won't anyone pick a dare?!" Noah begged, arms up in frustration, "This game of truth or truth is so. . .so. . ."

"Dull." Millie finished for him. Granted, she was one of those continually picking telling the truth over risking a wild dare. But with everyone being at varying levels of drunk, the longer they played, the more heinous the dares would become. She knew that. They all did.

Gaten shook his head, "Truths can be interesting if you make them interesting. You guys just aren't being creative enough."

"Ouch" Finn winced, "That hurts."

"Alright," Noah said, "You give one then, show us how it's done, oh wise one."

"My pleasure," Gaten grinned, "But no more of this 'yes or no' bullshit, I wanna ask real questions."

Everyone nodded, some more apprehensive than others. Millie, probably the most. A lot had happened in her life recently, both good and bad, but the potential for questions she'd rather not answer was high. Several quickly accumulated in her mind, starting with her breakup and ending with the same. She took a gulp of her pink cocktail— a Dirty Shirley— then ate one of the maraschino cherries off the plastic sword adorning the edge of the glass.

Gaten slowly scanned the room, appraising them all before landing his eyes on Caleb, whose brows rose over his widened eyes.

"Caleb." Gaten said impishly, "How many fans have you slept with?"

Millie felt her heart quicken. These types of truths were far more revealing than the previous hour of the game had been. Full of 'is it true that you peed your pants as a fifth grader?' or 'is it true that you still sleep with your baby blanket?'. Maybe this would be more fun.

All eyes shot to Caleb.

"I—um. . ." he wrenched the back of his neck, then looked to the ceiling as if it would grant him deliverance. "Four? B-but one shouldn't count because we actually dated, so it's really not so bad." he reasoned.

Gaten nodded approvingly as Caleb shook out his shoulders, "Alright," Caleb said, "My turn." He narrowed his eyes on Sadie like she was his prey and rubbed his hands together. "Oh, now this is going to be fun."

As they made the rounds of this new and improved game, the idea of a dare became more and more appealing. Millie's first question was easy—why are you taking a break from acting after this?—to go to school. Physically go to school, that is. Noah looked like he was having a great time at university and she wanted a little break, some normality. Sure, she had completed two years online but going in-person would be different. She wanted this experience.