If I Stay {Fillie}

Always

"So...you're not upset?" Finn blinked in surprise, his grip loosening on the back of the poor chair he had been stress-squeezing to death.

"Upset that you fired her, or about everything that she did?" Millie asked, folding her arms across her chest.

"I mean...I guess both."

Millie shrugged. "Obviously I'm upset that my friend betrayed everyone in this house's trust, Finn. But we knew someone living here was in cahoots with Sartorius, and now that we've taken care of who it was, we should just move on."

Finn could hardly believe how well his girlfriend was taking everything he had just told her about Maddie. He had expected her to be furious at her, at him, at everyone. But no, she was completely calm.

Millie's phone, resting face-up on the coffee table between them, began to ring just then, and she quickly grabbed it before Finn could see who was calling.

He cocked an eyebrow, wondering why she had snatched it out of view so fast. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, of course." Millie nodded, waving him off as if he had just said something silly. "It's just Sadie. I should take this." She hurried out of the living room and walked toward the kitchen, out of Finn's earshot.

"Maddie," she whispered angrily, "I was right in the middle of a conversation with Finn about you! He almost saw who was calling."

"Oops," Maddie replied, sucking in an apologetic breath between clenched teeth. "Sorry. Is he suspicious at all that you might be helping me start my new life?"

"He's definitely skeptical of me," Millie admitted, taking a small peek behind her back at Finn. He waved at her, and she nervously waved back.

"Dammit, I'm so sorry. I should've waited to call."

"No, it's okay, you couldn't have known." Millie took a few more steps toward the garage door just to be safe. "What did you need?"

"I just wanted to let you know that I just got the paperwork for the house!" Maddie burst out in excitement. "By tomorrow I'll be the owner! You and the others are still going to come by to see it, right?"

"Yes, of course!" Millie smiled widely, already looking forward to the next day. "We can't wait! I've got to go, but I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely!"

Millie hung up the phone and prepared herself to face Finn again. She loved him, but she knew how persuasive he could be. He could have her spilling everything out in minutes.

As she arrived back in the living room, he stuck his hands in his pockets and smirked. "So? What was that all about?"

"Oh, um, Sadie just wanted to make sure I was still going to see Noah and her tomorrow before they go back to school." Millie's lie became a great performance just then, because Sadie and Noah really were leaving again the next day and she was upset about it. She knew Finn could sense her genuineness, and relaxed a little bit when the tension in his shoulders went away.

"I'm sorry, Millie Mars," he sympathized, wrapping his arms around her in an embrace. "I know how much they mean to you."

"It's just so hard to watch them leave me over and over," she whispered into his shoulder.

Especially since she wouldn't be here at all soon.

Tomorrow, she would say goodbye to her best friends in the entire world, and then she would go and see Maddie's new house.

She had purchased her parents' old house that they had just moved out of. When Millie had gone to help her the other night, she could tell how many memories Maddie had made there. The house held the joys of her childhood in its walls, so why not convince her to buy it? She had gotten Lilia, Gaten, and Caleb in on it as well. They were all more than happy to help out, as they had adopted Millie's example of forgiveness as well.