Tar, Flowers. Agony, Hope. What's the difference?

Chap 12 -Meeting Brooke, i think i want her as my sister now- |MILLIE|

Millie tried to sleep that night, but she was nervous about meeting Brooke, what if it was a trap and the girl wanted to hurt her, or what if Brooke laughed at Millie's appearance, or what if, if.....

Millie couldn't take it anymore, she decided to walk around for a bit in the hopes it would help her calm down, she eventually ended up at the workshop door, mostly by subconscious choice.

She carefully opened the door, half expecting Funtime Freddy to be on, but he didn't seem to, and she didn't think he was on, sure he had tricked her Grandfather pretty well but even then a small light came from the power button on his neck, and that light was off currently.

She went back to her room briefly but came back with a blanket, she carefully and slowly leaned against Funtime Freddy, and was actually surprised when her nerves didn't immediately scream for her to run.

Millie felt herself nodding off, sure she'd need to wake up within the next like four of five hours to avoid being there when Funtime Freddy powered on but for now she could sleep.

~

The next morning she woke up -somewhat- when she felt someone shake her gently, at first she didn't think it was cause for alarm until she remembered exactly where she had slept last night, and who she had been leaning on.

"Wake up Cupcake, your Grandfather might be worried if he finds you slept out here" Funtime Freddy whispered, voice surprisingly soft and calm as if he realized that his usual bold and loud tone of voice combined with Millie still being sleepy was a bad idea.

"......go away" Millie mumbled, trying to hold onto sleep despite the faint fear she felt knowing that Funtime Freddy could very easily kill her right now while she was so vulnerable.

"Go back to your house or I'll have to carry you there and risk your Grandfather catching me" Funtime Freddy said, gently shaking Millie's shoulder again.

She blinked open her eyes, trying not to shut them again as light flooded into her pupils.

She forced herself to sit up, although she did keep the blanket wrapped around her shoulders.

"......bye Funtime Freddy" She mummered as she stood up and left, noticing the bears ears twitch up at her words, a clear signal he heard her.

She snuck back into her room and dropped the blanket on her bed.

She didn't quite know how to feel about how comfortable she had been sleeping in the workshop even with Funtime Freddy being so close, on one hand she still was scared that the bear would kill her but on the other hand he hadn't even tried since he somewhat succeeded the first time.

Her phone dinged with a message, from Dylan, asking her if meeting him and Brooke at a laser tag building in an hour was okay.

She responded that it was and hurried to get dressed, she didn't dress up in the way that she was really trying to be pretty but rather hiding the bandages on her hands with gloves and wearing makeup to hide the eye bags from lack of proper sleep due to nightmares, that had been first about Funtime Freddy but now were shifting to be about...... She shook her head to clear it, she could think about it later, for now she needed to finish getting ready.

An hour later she discovered that she was the early one there, Dylan and Brooke were both technically late.

"Hey Millie!" Dylan called, spotting her and walking over, Brooke quick on his heels.

Millie thought Brooke had only one outfit style, pretty basic girl, she was wrong.

The plain grey t-shirt, black pants, leather jacket, fingerless gloves and boots that Brooke was wearing looked more like something Millie would wear instead of Brooke, not to mention Brooke hadn't even done anything with her hair but rather simply tied it up in a simple ponytail.

"My outfits okay right? I didn't want to go all out because you've never seen me wear an outfit like this so...." Brooke said, trailing off as she watched Millie curiously.

"Yeah, it's fine, just didn't expect you to wear something like that" Millie responded, noticing that Brooke seemed more relaxed, no longer keeping up the 'perfect' act but instead allowing her flaws to shine through.

"You should see what she wears normally when we do stuff like this, it's crazy!" Dylan butted in, shoving Brooke slightly, who didn't respond and looked away, Millie guessed that the other girl was maybe embarrassed.

"Let's do this" Brooke said after a couple seconds, and grabbed Millie's hand, leading her into the building, Dylan trailing as Brooke excitedly told Millie about laser tag, all about the game, not just the rules.

It was fun, any and all negative emotions and former connections are ignored, and Brooke kept seeking out Dylan and tagging him out.

Millie was often roped into a unofficial team with Brooke and quickly realized that what she thought she knew about Brooke was all one side of her, and that Brooke was more then just a pretty face and high heels, Brooke's love for the laser tag guns and her own paintball gun definitely proved that.

After Brooke insisted Millie come over so she could show her the paintball gun and ended up actually teaching Millie how to use the paintball gun, with Dylan playing the unaware and unwilling target for target practice.

Dylan was that mad about it and laughed it off with Millie and Brooke, and Millie ended up teaching Brooke a bit about poems, which the other girl seemed interested it knowing about.

Millie was a bit sad she didn't get to know Brooke better and based her opinion on her off of what she saw as well as treating her so awfully but Brooke insisted it was in the past, and insisted that Millie was now her best friend, even though they'd only really interacted for a day.

Millie was actually sad when she had to head home but she promised both of her friends that she'd hang out with them again soon.

Millie didn't feel as.... Lonely anymore, and the fire seemed to like her interacting with Brooke and Dylan and hadn't flared up today.

It was a start, but maybe she could learn to give chances, and hope for a better tomorrow.