The Best Prank

Part 8

Millie|

Finn looked flustered when I came into the room.
"What's wrong? Everything okay?" I ask unsurely.
He forces a small smile.
"Yeah everything's fine. Now I need to use the bathroom. Would you mind showing me where it is?" He laughs, letting his laugh be kind of airy. I nod and he follows me obediently. I show him the small lilac colored room that is my bathroom. He nods and slips past me and closes the door behind him.
"Kids! I have to run to the store! I'll be back in 20 minutes. Behave!" My mom yells from downstairs.
"Alright mom! I love you! Be safe!" I holler back. I hear her close the door to the house.
I get bored waiting for Finn, so I grab my phone and sit on my bed. What I find sends me spiraling into a heap of sobs and screams.
To: Millliebbrown04@gmail.com
Subject: Nana
From: JimBrown49@yahoo.com
Hi Millie honey, it's grandpa Jim. I'm sorry to tell you and your mom this, but Nana brown passed away this morning. Love and miss you. I will keep you and your mom posted about funeral plans. Xoxo.
Grandpa Jim <3
I scream and drop my phone on the floor and that must've startled Finn, as he comes running into the room. He must be shocked to see me sitting on my floor sobbing. He sits down next to me and puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Millie what's wrong?" He asks me, unsure if what's going on or why I'm crying. I just cough and sob. He frowns at me, and wraps his arm around the back of my neck and shoulders.
"Shh.. Millie breathe. It's okay. What happened?" He almost whispers. I finally manage to stop sobbing long enough to breathe.
"My grandma is dead." I choke and begin to sob again. I look up at Finn, who is looking down at me with his eyes watering.
"I'm sorry Millie. I'm so so sorry." He pats me on the back, and stands up, leaving me siting on the floor alone, which makes me cry even harder. He walks out of the room. I cry so hard my whole body shakes.
"Come back!" I wail and I don't see Finn come back through my bedroom door for a good 5 minutes. Then he comes stepping through the door with a box of tissues in one hand, and a chocolate bar in the other.
"What? Why chocolate? Can I have a bite?" I sniffle, still trying not to choke on my words.
He smiles and giggles a little bit.
"I got it for you!" He beams and hands me the Hershey bar. I smile through my tears and carefully unwrap a section and take a bite. It immediately makes me feel less sad.
"Where'd you get this?" I sniffle again.
"The general store. 5 minutes from here!" He sits down next to me and watches me eat my chocolate. I break off a chunk and hand it to him, still crying.
"Gee, thanks." He teases, and I actually stop crying for once.
"Millie, your makeup." Finn points at my eyes. I feel my cheeks, and when I look at my fingers, they're black. I begin to cry again. He just pats my back and lets me sob. Soon I feel my eyes getting heavy, and my body getting warm from Finns arm around my shoulders, and I'm asleep.

Finn|

As Millie leans on me, sleeping and mascara streaked, I smile at her. I definitely like her. But there's no way she likes me too. I hear the front door of Millie's house open, and I hear Kelly putting her keys on the marble table. I try my best to silently slip out of Millie's room, and make my way down to Kelly. She looks up from her paperwork when she sees me standing across from her.

"Hi Finn. What's up? Where's Millie?" She asks quickly.
"Mrs. Brown, Millie got an email from her grandfather Jim that said Nana brown died this morning, so right now, Millie is crying. I don't know what to do about getting home because I want you and Millie to have time to grieve without me here, but I don't have a ride home until 9:30." I explain. I watch a tear slide down Kelly's cheek.
"Finn honey, thank you for telling me about Nana. Millie loved her a lot, and that's why it's hitting her harder than is going to hit me. You are welcome here as long as you like, and don't worry about us grieving. I think Millie needs you here right now. You make her happy, Finn. I can see it. She always talks about you. And her eyes have never been so bright. She's laughing again. Your bringing her back, Finn. Last year, Millie had some struggles with a bad heart problem, and she was very sick. In and out of the hospital, multiple surgeries. I thought she was going to die. But then her medicines started working one day, about 3 weeks before she met you. But she wasn't the same old Millie. Not until you came along. She wouldn't eat, and she was up late with pain sometimes at night. She didn't laugh, and she hardly smiled. Now she's laughing every second with you, and can't keep herself from smiling. Finn, your bringing my daughter back, and she needs you." Kelly put her head in her hands and cried. I sat down next to Kelly. I started crying too.
Just then, I heard a creak on the amazing spiral staircase, and Millie was slumping downstairs. The second she saw me she straightened up and her eyes twinkled. She walked up to where I was sitting next to her mom, and just hugged me. Tight. It was one of those hugs that you will remember for the rest of your life. The one that takes all your broken pieces and squeezes them back into place. That's what I love about Millie. That she can fix you even when you think you can't be fixed. I stood up, with her still at my side.
"Hey, let's go for a walk, yeah?" I whisper to her. She nods. I take her by the hand (and blush obviously) and we walk outside into the cool air. The sun is almost at the point where it begins to set. I look at her and grab her hand tighter and run. She runs next to me, being dragged by my hand in hers. I lead her to an old favorite spot of mine from when I was little.

It's a big, old forest fire patrol tower. We climb the ladder and sit down across from each other. Millie looks up at me for a minute. I look straight into her eyes. I see a mixture of sorrow, love, and pain swim around in the circle of chocolate brown. Her eyes are beautiful. Then my eyes move down from her eyes to her cheeks and nose . She has the most beautiful, light, faint freckles I've ever seen. They're so light you can hardly see them, but they're there. Then I look at her lips. She has nice lips, always so bright and colorful and moisturized. Never dull and dry and cracked. She must've noticed me staring at her, because she scooted over next to me and buried her face into my hoodie and cried again. This time she wasn't sobbing. She was just crying. I embraced her and rubbed her back.
"Hey what's going on? You okay Millie?" I ask softly.
"No. It hurts." She whispers, her voice half muffled from my hoodie.
"What hurts?" I panic.
"My heart, and my brain. From Nana." She cries.
"Oh. It'll be okay. I'm here. Shh. I'm here." I repeat. She looks up at me for a second, and stops crying, and looks down and cries again.
"Are you sure that's all that's bothering you?" I ask, starting to wonder.
" No that's not it. I just feel stupid. I'm failing math, and nobody likes me. They think I'm weird!" She coughs and cries again. I cup her chin in my hand and raise her head up to look at me.
"You're not stupid at all! I have t even been friends with you very long and you've already taught me so much! And everyone likes you! I like you!" I turn as red as a fire truck and slump down.
"You like me? Like, like like me?" She asks, her face lighting up.
"Yeah. I do." I admit.
" I like you a lot Finn." She admits, and something inside me does flips.
I just stare at her with her chin in my hands. I feel a stream of electricity run up through me and I follow what it's telling me to do. I lean in, and kiss her. Her eyes widen and she turns a pink color as she stared at me, shocked.
"What?" I ask, nudging her.
Yo wassup! This is a HUUGE chapter!!! WE HIT 120 reads wow!! THANK YOU! I'm so excited to see where this story goes! Thanks for reading so far! It will get better soon I promise so it won't be all boring anymore! Bye ❤️