Beauty and the Beast | Fillie

It's Christmas, I'm in love

➵

"And this is what happened..."

Millie finally concluded before taking a long and exasperate sigh; she looked directly towards her interlocutor, who had his hazel eyes wide open and his face almost paralyzed.

"Holy fucking shit! You... you kept all of this by for yourself?! And you didn't tell me?!" Noah Schnapp yelled, almost scandalized, and he could not believe it.

His best friend hid him all of that sufferance; she hid all of those problems from him; and he didn't know any of it because he was living in New York. And that Finn, oh that Finn stole her heart and he treated her like shit in the very start.

If only he had told her before, he would have kicked his ass.

"I couldn't, Noah. It was too risky. Look what Jacob and Conor tried to do..." she talked, but emotionless.

She just felt her heart heavy.

"Jesus Christ, Millster. I let you down. I never knew. I never knew a thing. I could have helped you!" he let out with frustration while his hands were busy cuddling her. The only things she needed was comfort, and someone who was about to stay.

She went through so much. All alone. Scared.

"No, no... it was for the best. I was so scared in the beginning but then, he changed... he was good, lovely, and amazing. And he let me free." and with her last words she broke down, finding affection and pure love in Noah's arms, laying on his sofa.

Millie flew to New York on Christmas Day; David bought her the tickets. She needed them, more than ever before. And she needed him, the face of the second man who never let her down.

David would have spent the Christmas alone, and he didn't really mind it: the well-being of his kid came before anything. Anything.

It was snowing in the Big Apple, and their Christmas lunch consisted in Chinese food and trying to make each other laugh before her inevitable break down.

Noah gifted her with a credit card she could spend in books, and Millie gave him that fantastic red hoodie he saw in that shop he liked so much. They simply knew each other; they were soul mates in friendship, a brother and sister no one could divide.

"Honey, you were so brave. So so so brave." he said quietly, smashing tiny little kisses on the top of her head.

And in his words, Millie could hear Lilia. Two days passed by, and she already missed everything. Their house; her friends; Finn. Everything. Every corner of the mansion, her library, Finn's divine scent...

"I was brave. But my bravery didn't repay me." she admitted, still with her head hidden in his chest.

For all of those months, Millie missed feeling the warm and soap flavored skin of her best friend and, most of all, his reassuring words.

Yes, she had missed him, and that was it.

"It will, eventually. You taught him how to love, and how to love back. You have never had these feelings before, never. You let yourself fall, and sometimes no one is there helping you to get up. But... you tried and you loved. You felt it, Millster. You finally felt how it was loving someone." Noah's lips whispered, while running his fingers through her short and soft wavy hair.

His touch was making her feel comfortable, at home. Because Noah was the closest thing to love before knowing Finn; there were just pure affection, promises and life experiences she was lucky to have experienced with him.