Millie's Mayhem Ch. 02

"Not about you." She said and instantly regretted it. Millie knew she ought to keep quiet but some fatalistic aspect of her character sometimes made her say stupid things without thinking them through first. Like now!

"Oh? Which is to say, that you were thinking something bad about someone else?" Drew surmised correctly.

Millie's face flushed a deeper shade of pink as she glanced away.

"Ten guesses who that might be." Drew said with a sardonic smile.

Millie wasn't quite sure how to read his tone, but figured she should apologise. "Sorry," she said, glancing down at her hands. "I know she's your sister and all, but well, I'm still kind of upset." Millie had to bite her tongue here. What she wanted to tell Drew was that his sister had said some really nasty shit to her. But instead opted for the more diplomatic approach; she didn't want to alienate him because of her feelings towards Angela. So when she continued, it was with more restraint. "She said some really, unkind things to me."

She looked over at Drew and saw him give a little shake of his head. "I don't doubt it." He said his lips pressed together.

Millie didn't want to read too much into his statement, not wanting to end up in the middle of some family dispute, but it sounded like there wasn't much love lost between the siblings. Still Millie, for once, kept her mouth wisely closed.

"Look, I won't try to apologise for Angela, she's big enough to do that on her own. But you should know that not all of us Rasenbach's are like my little sister." Drew told her.

"How many of you are there?" Millie queried, curious now.

"Five altogether; in the immediate family that is." Drew answered.

"Are you the oldest?"

"Are you trying to say I look old?" He asked his tone affronted.

"Ah, no no, not at all!" Millie quickly denied. He was older than what she was used too but be definitely didn't look old.

"Relax! I was kidding." Drew said with a smile. He sighed then, "I'm the second oldest. Alexander is the eldest, then me, then Angela, then the twins Alwyn and Allison."

Millie dropped her head forward and glanced at him from below her brows, frankly disbelieving. "You're kidding right?"

"'Fraid not." Drew said sounding as though he'd answered this question a million times over. "My mum was a little bit eccentric and had a thing for the letter 'A'. It has long been a family joke. We're kind of reconciled to it."

"Seriously?" Millie said again, not quite believing him, thinking that he was messing with her again.

"Seriously." He answered again.

"So that would make your full name, Andrew?"

"You got it in one!" He answered with a smile.

"Right! You're pulling my leg, huh?" Millie still couldn't believe him.

"Not at all. You know if you don't believe me I could always introduce you one time if you like?" He added.

"What? To your mum?" Millie asked taken aback.

"No!" Drew chuckled before sobering. "No, that would be impossible. She passed away some years ago."

Millie felt her jaw clench; the taste of 'foot' making her curse her stupid mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be, how would you know something like that? No, I meant to my brothers and my other sister. You already know Angela."

"Oh, well... I don't know." Millie stammered.

Drew smiled. "They don't bite you know. Despite how Angela is, the rest of us are fairly well behaved."

Millie made a non-committal sound. "Eh-hh. I don't know. That'd be kind of weird." She said. "We've only just met, type thing, and well you know... all things considered, its' not like we know each other very well?"

Drew gave her a sideways glance and grinned. "You know I do plan on changing that fact."

"Well, yes I realise I still owe you for my car and the ride back to town..." Millie began.

"I wasn't talking about screwing your brains out Millie, although I'd like to do that again too. I was talking about really getting to know you." Drew said glancing sideways at her again, this time with a serious look on his face. "I know it might sound weird 'all things considered' as you say. But there's something about you Millicent Parker that is both wonderfully exasperating and strangely attractive."

Millie was once again surprised. Well she certainly hadn't expected to hear that from him. Aside from the compliment being a tiny bit backhanded, she essentially felt the same way, had only been thinking about it a moment ago. She really did want to get to know this guy better.

The pause between his words and her response had grown, making it awkward and Millie didn't quite know how to break the silence. She smiled cautiously, still thinking about what best to say and how best to say it. She didn't want to sound desperate or overly eager, but she didn't want to give him the impression she wasn't interested either! God she'd never been any good at this sort of shit!

"Well... of course I would understand if you weren't interested." Drew said into the quiet, mistaking her silence for doubt or rejection.

"No! No I want you... I mean too, I want 'too' to." Millie said quickly, cringing inwardly at how lame she must have sounded to Drew just then. Millie took a breath. "I mean, I would like to get to know you better too!" She clarified with a self deprecating smile. "Sorry, I really suck at this sort of stuff."

"Well, there's nothing wrong with that!" Drew said with a small laugh, breaking the tension. Did he sound relieved? Millie wondered.

"Wrong with what?" Millie asked slightly confused, pretty sure she was missing something.

"Well... sucking!" Drew replied with his lopsided grin.

It took a second. Then Millie's jaw dropped open as a smile tried to plaster itself across her face at the same time. "You!" She breathed amused by his teasing, then, "Asshole!" She broke out in laughter. Now that was more like what she was used too! That she could handle.

Drew looked at her and sank back into his chair with a big grin. Millie shook her head and looked out the window once more. They were just about back in the city proper. She wondered where they were going to go from here.