three step plan - fillie

10. what they start

finn

"ok, whatever," i breathe out finally, after what seems like forever. "sure. i mean, fine. lets see where this goes."

she smiles widely, taking the napkin from her side of the table. brown, with the shoppe's logo imprinted right at the bottom in black ink. she takes a pen out of her pocket, clicks it, then looks at me.

"the reason why im here is because of a plan," she begins. "i devised a three step plan that will help me in finding romeo. which now, as im saying it does sound pretty undetailed," she bites her lip, "but yeah. whatever. it helps. so lets make our three step plan. it helped me. so." she says her statement so candidly, so nervous. like she isnt sure of her sentences.

"o-kay." i reply. "what do we do?"

she writes, "finn & millie's three step plan".

"three?" i exclaim. "you said it yourself. undetailed." i shake my head, "this is just beginning and its already going to shit."

she rolls her eyes. "three is a basic number. so we're using it, suck it up. the details follow."

i shrug irritably. "okay. by the way, your handwriting sucks - "

she shakes her head, "thats beside the point!" but her cheeks heat up.

"step one:" she writes, "finn and millie get to know each other more."

i read it out loud, frowning. "why?"

"because how does a team work if they dont know who theyre working with, exactly?" she rolls her eyes in a matter-of-fact way, which irks me.

"okay, whatever." i lean back on the chair. "step two?"

she leans over to write. "step two," she reads it out loud as she scribbles, "finn and millie get to improve each other for iris and romeo."

"improve?!" i scoff. "what improvement ?"

"stop contradicting everything!" she says angrily. "i mean, improvement in a sense where we get to develop ourselves together for him. them, i mean." she exhales, closes her eyes briefly. "get it now?"

"yeah, i guess," i mutter. "like what though?"

"i mean like, your fashion sense for beginners," she says, gesturing her hands toward me. "stripes and checkered flannels dont go along, finn. you look horrible."

i scowl, "well romeo doesnt like girls who wear jeans and overalls mind you," i nod towards her. "he likes those girly-girly outfits, miniskirts, croptops, those kind of things." i eye her look. jeans and a faded shirt. i roll my eyes.

her cheeks turn crimson, swallowing. "so see my point."

she writes the heading for step three, and for a moment she pauses. she doesnt know what to write.

"whats next?" she asks me.

"i dont know, youre devising this, remember?"

"well then help me out at least!" she huffs, pushing away short brown strands of hair covering her face with her free hand. "we both partake in this, remember that," she says raising a brow.

"im helping you out, as simple as that." i speak. "but you get to partake in the benefits!" she reminds me.

"benefit of what, dating iris?"

"well, yeah! isnt that what you want?"

theres a pause. and complete silence.

she looks at me nervously, uncomfortable with the whole awkward atmosphere. "please stop being so grumpy," she pleads all of a sudden. "when i met you, you seemed so..'' she pauses, "light. and happy. and so fun to be with. thats why im so puzzled. now youre like - character shift."

"well, things fucked up," i swallow. "and now isnt the time for me to explain that." she couldve used the first step as an excuse to let her push me into telling what i was talking about, but she doesnt. she keeps her mouth shut.

"okay." she says shortly. "okay." she repeats.

"lets just add some rules," she announces as she draws a box at the side.

"this is so childish," i mumble, but she pretends not to hear.

"under no circumstance will finn and millie tell anyone about the plan." she writes down. "thats number one rule."

"okay?" i reply questioningly.

"finn will stop being such a grump," she scribbles.

it makes me laugh. the word grump in her hand writing makes me scoff. she stares at me, with eyes full of this happiness. 'i made you laugh,' its telling me. round, brown orbs in silent triumph. 'im making you less grumpy'.

i smile, loosening my shoulders and morphing my voice slowly gentler in a way. "okay then."

she grins. "good."

"no goo goo ga ga statements over beckham boy," i say suddenly. "write that down. i dont want you being that stereotypical girl, clasping her hands together and talking about 'his butter hair and his beautiful eyes'. p-lease." i roll my eyes.

she frowns. "im not goo goo ga ga over him!" she says defensively, her face heating up.

"yeah right," i say, "you went all over here for him." i shot back.

she opens her mouth, then closes it. "whatever."

she writes it down, missing one ga, which makes me snicker.

she looks questioningly at me, pausing at writing, but i wave my hand trying to make her go on as i bite my lip to water down the smile plastering on my lips.

"there!" she clicks her ballpen again, smiling victoriously. "three steps and three rules."

"two steps," i correct her. "we dont have anything for three yet."

"well," she says as she rubs the back of her neck. "lets just decide on it later. for now, we start with step one."

"okay." i lace my reply with a tone that makes her frown. "you dont want? still a grump?"

theres that word again. grump.

it makes me double up in laughter, resulting to her giggling madly.

"its good i make you laugh," she says. "you need it, you know. you look good when you laugh."

she takes into a halt, stopping. i do too.

i smirk. "you think i look good?" i lean over, resting my chin on my palm, my arm propped on the table, as i bat my eyelashes.

she draws her eyes away, her cheeks turning bright red. "i - "

she stutters.

"i'll meet you tomorrow here too at 10 am, make sure youre available," she takes the napkin and pockets it along with her pen and her purse. she doesnt meet my eyes and her face is still all so.. red.

"bye," she says as she heads out.

i smile to myself. she thinks i look good.

EXAMS ARE OVER YEYEEYSH this book got 1k reads, i know its small, but yoooo thanks!!! aAa i hope this isnt going too slow for you guys. it took ten chapters till they actually have a relationship progress im sorry lol

this also wasnt proofread. im lazy.

heres all i got for now. thanks for reading ;) 💕

- delia 💙