Secrets and Lies ||mildie/sillie||

Chapter 5

It was Saturday afternoon and Sadie was bored at home. She still didn't really know many people in town yet, so had no one to spend the day with.

"Sadie, why don't you go for a walk to the park? You can't hang around here all day" said her mom. "Who knows, you might make some friends there" she added hopefully.

"Ugh, ok mom" she answered, rolling her eyes. To be honest, she was getting sick of staying in, it was a gorgeous, sunny day and it was a shame to miss it. She headed to the local park a few roads down. It was pretty big and full of local kids, unfortunately, most of them were under 8 years old by the looks of things. "What a waste of time this was" she thought to herself. She was about to walk away when she spotted someone she thought she recognised, but wasn't sure because they looked so different.

It was Millie, but instead of her usual edgy clothes, slick back hair, and strong make-up she was wearing a simple sun dress with leggings, her hair had been left unstyled and loose, just parted to one side, she wore little make-up, but was wearing glasses. Wow she looks so different. She was surrounded by about 10 kids and was buying them all, and herself, ice creams from the truck, huh, she looks really happy.

Just then Millie looked up from handing out the last ice cream and locked eyes with Sadie, who was basically just standing there staring at her. They both looked at each other awkwardly for a moment before Millie, looking around self-consciously, made her way towards her.

Sadie took a deep breath as Millie arrived. "Hey Millie, almost didn't recognise you" she blurted out.

"Hey Sadie" she replied, her tone impossible to read. "Did you have fun at the mall?" she asked coolly.

"Oh, um, I guess..." said Sadie, feeling flustered for some reason. Millie just raised her eyebrow. Sadie thought back to how uncomfortable she'd felt when they were bitching about people, no, not really she thought.

"There seemed to be a few kids there that weren't enjoying themselves" she stated, "but your friends were" she added, giving a pointed look. "What are you doing h..."

She was interrupted by one of the smaller children who came up to her crying, "M...M...Millie..." she said through her tears.

Millie glared at Sadie for a second before turning to the child. "Awww, what is it my love?" she said in sweet voice, crouching down to the child's eye level.

"I...I...dropped my ice cream" and she pointed to the offending treat on the floor a few meters away.

"Don't worry, cutie, you can have mine", and with that she gave the kid her ice cream, and received a hug and kiss in return. "Off you go now, be careful with that one" she shouted after her.

Cute thought Sadie, who didn't realise she was grinning.

"What?" asked Millie, seeing Sadie's expression.

"Er, nothing, it's nothing" she insisted, damn why does she make me so nervous? Millie narrowed her eyes at her. "Cute" Sadie blurted out. Fuck, abort!

"What?"

"I mean, cute, that kid was cute" saved!

"Yeah, she is" agreed Millie, surprisingly. After that she seemed to soften her stance towards Sadie. "You, er, you want to hang out for a bit?"

"Yeah, I guess so" said Sadie, trying to play it cool, hoping she didn't sound too eager.

Sadie watched as Millie played games with the group of kids, tag being the clear favourite. "Gotcha" said Millie, as she tagged the smallest one, who proceeded to burst into tears. "Awww, it's ok" she said, scooping her off the floor, "I didn't do it right so it doesn't count...but I bet I can catch Sadie over there."

Sadie's eyes opened wide, before she shot up of the bench and started running across the park. She didn't realise how fast Millie would be though and, whilst turning to see how far back she was, slowed down enough to cause Millie to run into the back of her, their legs tangles and they went flying. They landed with a thump next to each other on the grass. "Oh my god, Millie, are you ok? I'm so sorry" said Sadie, in a panic.

Millie just rolled over, looked Sadie seriously in the eye and just burst out laughing. Sadie couldn't help but join in, they must have been lying there for 5 minutes before they could stop. "Millie!" They looked over and saw a lady holding a little kid's hand, calling her name. "Millie! Time to go." Millie raised her hand in acknowledgement. "Well, I gotta go." With that, she jumped up and started walking away, but she stopped after a few steps and, turning, said sincerely "I had a nice time, thanks Sadie." She paused, looking down at her still sitting on the grass, "you coming?"

"What?"

"Do you want to come to my house? I'm sure my mum wouldn't mind."

Sadie was baffled, this girl with the attitude, who everyone was scared of, was being genuinely nice. "Yeah, that'd be nice." Millie pulled her up and they walked over to her mom.

"Hey mum, can Sadie come over for dinner?"

Sadie watched as Millie and her mom seemed to have a silent conversation using only their eyes before her mom agreed that she could visit. Millie turned to the little girl and smiled. "Mummy, Millie, mummy, Millie" she said cutely, pointing and looking between her mom and her sister.

Millie chuckled and picked up the little kid, who was probably about 2 years old. "Hey smolbean" she said, wrinkling her nose. "This" she said, turning to Sadie, "is Ava, and she's a trouble maker!"

"Am not!" she giggled back.

Sadie watched them argue back and forth cutely, well, she watched Millie more than anything.

Turns out that Millie lived in the next street to Sadie and so they didn't have to walk far. Her mom had ordered pizza, which was waiting for them when they got there.

"Ava, it's time to get ready for bed, go put your jammies on and I'll come read you a story" said Millie's mom.

"I'll do it, mum" said Millie, scooping a giggling Ava up in her arms. "You wanna help me?" she said, turning to Sadie.

Sadie couldn't help but see Millie's mom giving her a nervous look as they walked upstairs. She waited in Ava's room whilst Millie got her washed and changed, surprised at how happy she was to help out. They sat either side of her on the bed while Millie read a story, doing all the silly voices and making Ava laugh. Eventually, she fell asleep and Millie gave her a tender kiss on her forehead and they made their way back downstairs.

"I'd better go" said Sadie, "my mom wants me back by 9."

Sadie saw a look of disappointment flash across Millie's face, but she quickly covered it with a smile. "Can I walk with you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'd like that" replied Sadie, suddenly feeling shy.

"Mum, I'm just popping out for 10 minutes!" called Millie.

"Millie, wait!" said her mom.

Turning to Sadie, she said "can you wait outside? I'll just be a minute." Sadie did as she was asked, but could still hear Millie and her mom speaking with raised voices, not arguing exactly, but clearly a heated discussion. She only caught a few words here or there, but it seemed to be an argument about whether Millie trusted Sadie or not, which confused her no end. After a minute, Millie appeared at the door, "shall we go then?" Sadie just nodded, nonplussed at the whole situation.

They walked in silence to Sadie's house, it didn't take long being the next street over. "This is me" said Sadie when they got there. They stood in an awkward silence for a few seconds. "I had a nice time today" said Sadie, trying to break the awkwardness.

"Yeah, me too, um...sorry about my mum...she just worries about me."

Sadie couldn't help but laugh at this statement but stopped pretty quickly when she saw Millie's serious expression. "Sorry...it's just...you know, at school you're badass."

"You know, Sadie, sometimes things aren't always what they seem...sometimes people lie to protect themselves" and with that she leaned forward and kissed Sadie gently on the cheek, turned and walked away, leaving Sadie open mouthed on her porch.

*~~~~~~~~~~~~*