mulberry lane ; fillie & cadie

8. burning embers

   sadie combed through my hair with a small brown brush, gently brushing her hand down the now untangled hair.

   "so, should i do a braid or a bun?" she asks setting the brush down.

   "it doesn't matter, whatever works better" i reply back. silence followed after that, the awkward tension growing between us.

"so" sadie sighed, "caleb invited us to the old beach house - the one with the tire swing - for a camp out and sleepover, like last year."

"like last year?" i scoffed, "do you remember what happened last year?"

"yes but this time will be different, i promise i won't let romeo screw it up this time" i could hear sadie smiling through her words, she always tried to be reassuring, "besides, last time you were dating finn which made romeo go off the handle, and this time-"

"i'm still dating finn" i continued, "well, kinda."

  "romeo doesn't need to know that, we don't need a repeat of last year" sadie chuckled under her breath at the memories of last years attempted sleepover.

last years camp out

the cold wind blowing softly from the open attic window crept over my legs. finn immediately taking notice as he slid the soft blanket over top of my body, which was curled up in his arms.

the light from sadie's laptop screen illuminated the otherwise dark attic. everyone except jaeden and jack had showed up, but of course they always left a few weeks earlier than the rest of us, for personal reasons they kept to themselves.

"i have an idea" sadie spoke up, pressing pause on the movie playing on her laptop, "let's play a game."

"do we have to?" i groan, pushing myself up from the ground.

"why not, it'll probably be more entertaining than sitting in silence" romeo added on, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

everyone eventually agreed. caleb leaving for only a moment to fetch a camp light so it wasn't pitch dark.

"alright" sadie excitedly exclaimed, clasping her hands together, "who wants to go first?"

"me i guess" caleb raises his hand hesitantly.

"truth or dare?" noah asks, a smile already on his face as ideas of dares sifted through his head.

"dare" caleb stated with ease.

"i dare you to stand on the edge of the balcony" noah smirked, knowing caleb would be too scared to accept the challenge.

"what? absolutely not he could fall!" sadie interjected, placing her hand on calebs arm and pulling him close to her chest.

"it's alright sadie" caleb laughs, "romeo truth or dare?"

"truth" romeo replies, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the small room.

"is there anyone in this room you would consider dating?" caleb asked with a devilish grin, knowing full well what his answer would be.

"yes, there is" romeo looks up from the ground to lock eyes with me, a smirk forming on his face. i could feel finns body tense up once he realized what was going on.

i shifted my gaze nervously, pulling myself closer to finn in an attempt to soothe his nerves.

"of course you'd pick him" romeo shoots as he abruptly stands up, "god when will you realize how blind you are millie, you'd rather the boy who's been-"

"alright that's enough romeo" noah cuts him off with a harsh tone, "get out of here, come back once you've cooled off."

i didn't know it then, but what romeo said was the seed that formed inside my head, eventually leading me to the realization of finns cheating. from that night i became worried of his faithfulness, but convincing myself that romeo was just trying to get inside my head.

    the sun was just beginning to set as sadie and i walked up the smooth cobble path to the empty house. my family used to stay in this house, until father left, which is why we keep it empty now.

   caleb and noah opened the door, greeting us both, stupid grins on plastered on their faces as we stepped inside the home.

sadie mumbled a quick hello to caleb, her blushing cheeks concealed by her sunburn.

"hey where's jaeden and jack?" sadie asked, slipping her shoes off and placing them on the small rack.

"they left early again, as usual" finn spoke from the top of the stairs, his voice groggy.

out of nervousness i pull the hem of my white blouse out from its tucked place in my jeans, fiddling with it momentarily before placing it back.

i step down from the small entry room and towards the stairs, where finn just happens to be leaning against.

as our eyes meet i swear it was as if he could feel everything i was feeling and everything i was thinking, thank god he can't.

his hands loosely tucked into his black jeans with his jean jacket hanging on his shoulders, this outfit always got him dress coded at school but he didn't care. he was finn wolfhard after all.

feeling the heat rising in my cheeks i broke the eye contact, only to finally notice romeo standing a little ways behind finn, who now decided it was the perfect time to say hi.

"hey millie" romeo spoke almost too eagerly, stepping in front of finn. his blonde hair brushed messily back, a few of the stands falling between his eyes. "do you have a minute i wanted to ask you something?"

  "uh-", i tried to listen to what he was saying, but i couldn't. all i could focus on was finn and how ticked off he looked seeing romeo talk to me. this isn't  like him, hell we're not even dating yet.

   romeo broke my from my thoughts with his hand wrapped around my wrist.

  "millie?"

   "i'm sorry, what did you say?" i replied back in an attempt to regain the conversation, but i guess finn had enough of it announcing to everyone that he was going to start the fire.

  "sorry romeo talk later?" i smiled apologetically before quickening my pace to catch up with finn, who had just passed through the back door.

   "finn" i breathed out, my cheeks red from the sudden burst of energy.

  barley acknowledging my presence, he steps over the unlight fire pit and slips off his jacket in one swift move, revealing a white t-shirt.

   "like something you see?" he smirked, his voice taunting. i hadn't realized i was stating let alone that he had turned around.

   "what?" i stuttered out, a wave of heat rolling over my face.

   "millie can you pass me the logs?" finn flicked his head up, his eyes passing over mine settling on something behind me.

"oh! yeah sure" i replied once i caught on. everyone was gathered on the small wooden deck conversing quietly amongst themselves.

the familiar pit began to settle in my chest, i'm starting to think agreeing to the camp out may have been a bad call.

-

i decided to upload this as its over 1000+ words and i haven't updated in a while

also i'll probably start writing once summer hits as i'll have more free time and i'm starting to get back into writing, but i don't really ship fillie that much anymore so.

also i'm gonna switch this over to third person pov as its easier for me to write, and i don't like first person pov anymore.

i'll probably update again after june 19 as i'll be on summer break!