If I Stay {Fillie}

Corticosteroids

"...and I made this for you, too." Noah grinned from ear to ear and began slowly unzipping the little grey duffel bag he'd brought. "Close your eyes."

"Noah, you didn't have to make anything for me, seriously—"

"Shush! Close 'em!"

Millie stuck her tongue out at him playfully, but obeyed. She felt her best friend lay something small in her hands and had to fight the sudden urge to take a peek.

"Okay...open."

She did as she was told and nearly fell off the bed in joyful surprise. In her hands was a canvas, around the size of a brownie pan. What Noah had painted on it simply took her breath away.

There was Millie, on stage at the Calpurnia concert, left hand clenching her microphone, singing her heart out in her silky pink dress and heeled sandals. The way Noah had blended the colors made it look like the bright stage lights were illuminating every part of the painting in a splendid display of beautifully different hues. The backs of the heads of the roaring front row crowded around her feet, reaching for her like a lifeline. Millie's head was thrown back, her knees slightly bent, and her right fist was clutched near her heart like what she was singing came from someplace much deeper than just a bunch of lyrics.

"Noah," she whispered breathlessly, unable to tear her gaze away from the painting. "It's...gorgeous."

"Oh, thank God, I'm so glad you like it." Noah let out a relieved breath as if he'd been almost certain she would hate his flawless gift.

Millie gaped at him. "You're completely insane if you thought I wouldn't love this, Noah Schnapp!" She hit him lightly on the shoulder just to prove her point. He laughed and swatted at her.

"He took that picture of you while you were singing that Ed Sheeran song at the concert," Sadie commented beside him. "He thought you looked beautiful and wanted to paint it. Something about keeping moments like that one real." She nudged him in the arm, smiling as he blushed.

"You just seemed so lost in the music," he admitted with a shy shrug that suggested he was actually overly proud of himself. "I wanted you to have that moment forever."

Millie had been singing Give Me Love, a song that meant a lot of different things to her. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she threw her arms around Noah's neck. "Thank you so much," she sobbed into his shoulder. "I love it so much."

He embraced her tightly, chuckling a bit. "Aw, don't cry, Millster. It was nothing, really."

Millie let him go and tucked the canvas safely into the drawer in her bedside table, where it nestled comfortably with her tiny notebook.

Noah's other gift to her had been a pretty golden picture frame that read "Best Friends" across the top, and inside was her favorite of any of the photos she and her friends had ever taken.  They were so tired after a day at the mall and had decided to document that day forever. All three of them were exhausted, but smiled their biggest for Millie's phone camera anyway.

Millie loved the picture frame, but Noah's canvas was absolutely breathtaking.

"Time for my gift now," Sadie said, smirking.

Millie pulled away from Noah and wiped the tears of happiness from her eyes to look at the ginger. "I can't wait," she joked.

Sadie pulled a rolled up tube out of her own bag. She unraveled the paper and presented it to Millie, a hilarious expression on her face.

Millie had to laugh. "You went back and bought it!"

It was the poster from the arts and crafts store, the one of Calpurnia leaning against the white car. Millie found herself staring at Finn and his no-longer-purple hair again.