Tomorrow's Blues

15. The Truce

I got back to the house at about seven-thirty, trudging up the path to the door. Suddenly it opened, and Millie appeared, but no Joseph. I stopped in my tracks, wondering if I could run and hide in a bush or something before Millie saw me. But, too late – she'd seen me, and she was walking over.

I took a deep breath and before she could say anything, I said flatly, "Just don't even say anything, okay Millie? I don't care if you slept with Joseph, I don't care if you don't like me, I just don't care." And at this point, I really didn't. I hadn't had a wink of sleep last night, not even for a second, and I was ready to full on punch Millie if she got on my nerves.

As it was, Millie just scowled at me. "Why so grouchy?" But then she sighed and glanced back at the house. "Listen, as much as I wanna piss you off, nothing actually happened. Alice would have killed me if something had."

I raised an eyebrow, now confused. "Why is that?"

She gave me a look. "That's none of your business. But you know, you should really stay away from Joseph."

"I'll do whatever the hell I want," I snapped, but Millie just smirked.

"Not because I want him, jeez. I'm just saying it would be better for both of you. There's a lot you don't know."

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"No need to look at me that way. I'm just trying to help." She shrugged innocently before brushing past me.

I was just going to let her go, but I blurted out, "Why do you hate me so much?"

Millie stopped and turned around, rolling her eyes. "For god's sake, Ana, I don't hate you. You're not that special."

"Fine," I said with gritted teeth. "Then why don't you like me that much?"

She watched me for a minute as if analysing me. "There's just something about you that ticks me off. I don't know what it is, exactly."

"Wow, thanks, that makes me feel so much better," I said sarcastically, and Millie actually smiled a little bit. It wasn't a smirk, or a condescending grin, it was an actual smile.

"Sorry, just can't help it." She sighed. "I don't... I don't not like you, I just think you can be kind of... blind, sometimes."

I frowned. "Blind? How?"

"Figure it out for yourself." Millie was quiet for a second. "Um, listen, I'm really sorry about your parents."

I exhaled slowly, feeling my eyes sting. "Yeah. Me too."

She nodded at me. "I'll see you at Melissa's."

I watched her go, feeling a little confused. It was almost like she'd declared some kind of truce, and maybe she would lay off me a bit now. Maybe she wasn't that bad. And okay, she didn't like me and didn't exactly give me a reason for it, but not everyone's going to like you, and I could accept that.

When I entered the kitchen, the only one up was Joseph. He looked up briefly as I walked in before going back to typing something on his laptop, not even saying a 'hello'.

I sighed through my nose and was about to ignore him too and just go back upstairs. I didn't have the energy to talk to him, or anyone. Last night had felt like a real setback for me. I'd thought it had been getting better, the grief, but now it felt like just yesterday that my parents died, even though it had been... over a month and a half, which really was no time at all.

"Have you only just got in?" Joseph suddenly asked, and I stopped, turning around. Joseph wasn't looking at me. In fact, he seemed to be looking anywhere but me.