Stolen Pies and Pretty Lies

Chapter 8

"Sorry," Leo apologized for the umpteenth time.

Millie wasn't sure if he was apologizing for the fact that Clarke got away or because he repeatedly bumped into her on their way into town due to his limping.

"It's not like I won't see him again. We live under the same roof."

"Lucky," Leo muttered.

"How's your ankle?" Millie asked, walking her bicycle on the sidewalk alongside him.

Leo dismissed her suggestion entirely of letting him ride in the basket while she rode citing 'reasons'.

"It's seen better days," he winced, putting too much weight on it.

"Are you sure you don't want to stop at Kaycee's? It's probably not the smartest thing to keep walking. You're gonna need to ice it."

"It's fine. My parents' restaurant is right down the street."

Millie frowned.

"If it makes you feel any better, they have ice too."

"How are they?"

"My parents? They're good. The business is thriving-- it has to, given the fact they've ran Green Flower since we were kids."

"Right."

"They ask about you, you know?"

Millie instinctively touched the side of her face, recalling the many pinches Mrs. Lei bestowed upon her cheeks.

Leo laughed. "I don't think she pinches anyone past the age of 13. Seriously though, it's always 'where's Millicent?', 'Call her', I've made her favourite food', 'Do you think she'd like this dress I bought?'. I should change my name to yours because she calls it so much."

"What can I say, parents love me."

"Some more than others."

"My Mom and Dad are the same way. It's all 'Whatever happened to Leo?', Do you still keep in touch?', I wonder what he's up to these days."

The last sentence was actually hers she slipped in without thinking.

"Why didn't we stay in contact? We were like this," he crossed his middle finger over the index.

"I guess we got busy. You had your math club, I had science. For me, it was easier that way. You?"

"I can't argue with that," Leo said, breathing deeply. "I kept myself occupied to forget. In hindsight that wasn't the best coping mechanism, but I was 13 so..."

"I get it."

A lull fell over them. The only sounds were their footsteps and the spinning bike wheels.

A hint of yellow flapped in the afternoon breeze drawing Leo in to the residence on his left. He halted, jutting an arm in front of Millie.

"What was that for?"

An unsecured piece of police tape floated onto the sidewalk landing at their feet.

"It's her house."

"You gotta be more specific. Whose house?" Millie replied.

"Amelia Copper's."

"Oh."

The house loomed in the sunlit shadows of the neighbouring residential homes lining the quiet street. Three cobblestone columns supported the minor sloping front roof and underneath them was a small patio guarded by railing.

"Weird not seeing her in her garden," Leo shuddered. "I used to get my flowers from her yard to give to you."

"Stealing?" Millie asked.

"I was young," Leo said.

"You can't blame everything on your age. You're gonna have to take responsibility one day."

"Well today's not that day."

"That's cute, the house I mean. I expected something more sinister."

"Why?"

"From what Kaycee has told me she was a real piece of--"

"Language."

"I was going to say work. A real piece of work."

Similar to Sweets by Kaycee a week before, Amelia's house was cordoned off. This time, police weren't coming and going. The house was ripe for looters and squatters, Millie thought to herself.

The grass on the lawn was untrimmed and overgrown, tangling around Millie's shoes. She avoided trampling on the flowers Amelia had planted by following the path around the brick edging.

"What are you doing?" Leo half whispered, half shrieked. "Are you going crazy?"

"No. Curious, yes."

"Crime really does run in your family."

"That was uncalled for," Millie turned her head, eyes blazing in Leo's direction. "You can go. You don't have to be here. It's not like I need you anyway."

"Come on don't be like that," he said to Millie who pulled a napkin out her jean pocket and jiggled the door handle.

"Locked," she circled to the house's left side.

Wind gusts caused flapping curtains to smack the open bottom floor window.

"Score!"

"Millie no. Don't even go there," Leo grabbed at his hair. "This isn't cool."

"I'm gonna say no," she lifted a leg over the window, her body dangling.

"Breaking and entering is a crime. And anyway, you're too pretty to go to jail, so can we just go?" Leo hobbled up the concrete steps, whirling his head side to side, in the event someone saw them.

"While I appreciate your honesty, flattery will get you nowhere. And if you're so worried, be my lookout."

"I will do no such thing," Leo huffed. "I'm going to school to be a doctor. No one's going to hire a doctor with a criminal record. No one!"

"Don't worry your little head about it. Go home then. I'll be fine. It's not my first B and E."

Leo's mouth dropped to the pavement.

"I'm joking Leo! Could you imagine what the headlines would say? They'd it me up alive! I can just picture it. 'Daughter of famous marine biologist and world renowned geologist brings shame to family name', 'Brain or beauty: Daughter of brilliant scientists behind bars', 'When parenting goes wrong'."

"Okay okay. You've got a lot to lose. Now get back here. Is doing this B and E thing really worth it?"

"What? What was that, I can't hear you."

"Millicent Madison Morgan, get back here--"

She paused the lifting of her other leg. The only time her full name was read aloud was when she was in serious trouble. But it was just Leo who was as scary as a baby lion.

"Or what?"

"I'll...I'll..."

"That's what I thought. Don't worry about me. I can handle my--"

"Millie!"

"I'm okay," she groaned, standing up. She misjudged the landing of Amelia's living room, falling on her butt.

"Thank goodness," Leo sighed, poking his head into the window. "You are a walking heart attack."

"I know, right? Stay there," she walked past the blue couch, glass coffee table the ceramic figurines, bowls on the shelf, and lingered in the hallway.

Peach paint coated the walls, light hardwood carried itself through the home's entirety. A large green plant Millie didn't know the name of brushed against her wrist.

"Sure," he leaned beside the beige house siding. "Wait a minute..."

"You're the best!" Millie's voiced echoed back as she climbed the staircase.