Run Of The Mill(ie)
It was the dress that made him
notice her for the first time, really notice her.
It wasn’t like Adam had never
noticed Millie before.
She had been in the back of his
mind since the first day she showed up, a broken, scared mess of a girl, too
nervous and jumpy to even sit still for two minutes together.
He had seen her like he saw most
all the other girls in the compound: Not worth his serious time.
Adam was the first to admit he was
susceptible to a pretty girl. He had had more than his fair share of flings
with a handful of girls in the compound, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit that he
would probably have even more. There wasn’t a whole lot of good in their world
these days, so in his mind, spending a few stolen moments or an occasional
night with a girl he thought he could guess her name seemed all right.
And then Millie.
He subconsciously left her alone for the first
week or so she was at the compound, as if giving her a chance to settle in
before figuring out if she was easy prey for him or not. He just figured she
was typical, ready to be seduced, or at the very least susceptible if he turned
on the charm and manliness.
He was almost pleasantly surprised
to find that she was a lot stronger than that.
Adam wasn’t cocky, not if you got
down to it. He had a reputation for being a bit sleazy, for a smile that could
melt hearts in a matter of seconds, but he only turned it on when he knew a
girl was interested. He had learned the look when a girl at the compound needed
an escape, when he could get what he wanted. If he didn’t see the look, he
backed away. Adam was smart enough to only go after the girls who wanted him
back.
So when he didn’t see the look in
Millie, when he saw instead a stable, tenacious woman who had toughened herself
up and knew herself well enough to save herself, he didn’t give her a line or a
sensual smile. He was proud of her, respect in his eyes when he saw her.
But the more he watched her, the
more proud he became of her, the more he felt something inside for her. He
didn’t know what to call it, so he tried to always just shrug it off when it
hit him.
When he saw her in that dress, he
couldn’t just shrug it off.
Adam couldn’t remember if he had
ever seen her in a dress before, besides the tattered, mud-caked one she had on
the day she arrived that they made her burn. He knew they had some dresses and
skirts they offered girls when they first arrived, but Millie had asked for
pants only.
He wasn’t sure if she had just
asked for this dress for the festival or what the reason for the dress was, but
he didn’t care.
She was gorgeous.
Adam couldn’t have told anyone
later what colour the dress was or what the pattern was, or even how long or
short it was on her frame. He wouldn’t have been able to say if her hair was
down or up, if she had put extra care into her general appearance. Those
details didn’t hit him.
What hit him was the way she wore
the dress, the way she seemed to know that it made her beautiful, the way she
wore that beauty with such grace and dignity. She knew in that moment that she
was special, and that look was not lost on anyone, least of all Adam.
He couldn’t stop staring at her at
the festival.
They hadn’t talked much before,
really. After he knew she wouldn’t fall for him, he never went out of his way
to be nice to her or try to hold conversations with her. She occasionally ended
up in the same work group as he, and they worked well together and conversed
that way, but that was it.
But at the festival, all he wanted
to do was be near her and listen to her talk.
“Did you need to ask me something?”
Adam snapped to attention at her
words. She was standing just a few feet away from him, a grin he didn’t
recognize on her face. He blushed, realizing he hadn’t been very coy about
following her around for the past half hour.
“Um.”
“It’s Adam, right?”
There was that grin again. Adam
wondered if it was intended to calm him into forming a sentence. It was doing
the exact opposite.
“I just, um. I like your dress.”
Adam closed his eyes as he heard
the words come out of his mouth.
He had always prided himself on his
smoothness with girls, the way he could get what he wanted with a flash of his
smile and a few rehearsed words.
But then again, this wasn’t a girl.
This was Millie.
“Thank you,” she said, still
grinning, not seeming at all phased by his clumsiness. “I’ve never been to a
festival before. It felt like it needed something special. I like your
suspenders.”
Adam stretched himself up a little
bit taller and smiled, feeling a little calmer. He could get used to
compliments from her.
“I want to try this cider I’ve been
hearing about for days,” Millie said, her eyes scanning for the table with the
drink.
“Want to sit and have some
together?”
Millie’s focus immediately went
back to Adam at his words. She didn’t smile at first, just stared at him, then
swallowed.
Adam knew this look. He knew she
was trying to decide something important about him, and he knew better than to
look away when she was deciding. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath,
then met her gaze.
They stood just looking at each other
for a few seconds, Adam willing himself to not look away, to somehow prove to
her that he could be worth it if she gave him the chance, that he would try
with all his might to not disappoint her.
A smile slowly began on her face,
starting first in her eyes, and then spreading to her lips.
“I’d like that,” she said softly,
still looking at him.
Adam breathed a sigh of relief. “I
would too.”
They both turned to walk towards
the table, not saying anything. Adam reached over and silently took her hand in
his as they walked.
He let go when they got to the
table, Millie gesturing with her head towards a spot on the ground in the shade
before walking over and sitting down. Adam walked over a moment later, handing
her a glass of cider and sitting down next to her, his back against the tree,
his leg barely touching hers.
“Could you, um,” Millie started,
then stopped. “Before. That was nice.”
Adam didn’t say a word as he
reached over and took her hand in his again.
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