I N D U R A T I Z E

He eyed Millicent coolly, leaning back on the couch before he responded. “We both know you can spell, Millie. It’s not that hard to spell out Ezra, is it? Or to say it?” he remarked. “Maybe I’ll pay attention to you when you finally learn my name. But no, I haven’t. I’m all set, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“WHY DO you always try and fight with me, thing two?? i find it rather --  t i r i n g . i don’t understand why you must always try to huff and puff your chest out like you’re the [  big bad wolf  ]. at this point i favor your sister more; at least, she knows when to pick her battles.” millicent rolled her eyes, arms crossing over her chest. “back to what’s important, the trip is  s c h e d u l e d  for next month on the tenth. make sure you’re free for that day and the week after -- as well as your sister.”

The fit of laughter he had tried to suppress for the past few minutes after seeing Millie and her unnecessary disguise interrupted the quiet noise. He snorted at her comment, breaking every control he had forced himself to swallow down; though he should probably stop with the laughter now; otherwise he might just earn a rough nudge from the girl.·“Yeah, what the hell is all this? Baby, you look absolutely ridiculous.” He questioned through soft chuckles, tapping the round edges of her hat with the tip of his finger. Quite frankly, he shouldn’t be surprised judging by the amounts of their secret meetings and her need to hide herself. Her disguises often humor him in every sense. From every accessories put onto her killer body, to her darn excuses. It wasn’t him who hid them from the world; God, with Millie under his arm, he’d show her the fuck off to the world. Through Millie’s perspective on their relationship – it was quite hard to understand. Even so, he forced himself to. It made sense after all. Why would a woman like her go for a man like him? He understands. Kind of. He has to.

MILLICENT HUFFED, “no.” her voice was stern, but could he tell she was  s h i v e r i n g  slightly due to the cold?? she rolled her eyes to [  m a s k  ]  her slight irritation. “you should only be thinking about me darius. that’s the only thing anyone involved in my life should be thinking about. me me me. i am the  p r i n c e s s  -- aren’t i??” another smirk to  c o n v e y  the sweet little devilish angel, eyelashes batting. “i don’t leave for another month or so for some event in rome. that gives us--” her fingers glided on his bicep -- “enough time to  c o n n e c t  more -- or rather roll in bed together.” 

A hum escaped Ezra’s lips as he pressed the ‘shut down’ button on his laptop, finally looking up. “Sorry, what was that?”

“YOU’RE NOT paying attention to me, thing two...” she sighed --  d r a m a t i c  enough to emphasize how “ hurt ” she was. “don’t forget we have [ vacation ] planned for rome -- you haven’t forgotten have you??”

his brows rose in shock, and he had a feeling this would be a regular occurrence through the night. with the only excuse his racing thoughts could produce perfectly solved and discarded, he cleared his throat.

“PLEASE, THIS event is rather  i m p o r t a n t . if you manage to make me look  t e r r i b l e  in front of these notorious names, i will kill you.” a suggestive smile was offered before millicent pulled out her iphone to make a call to the tailor on [  speed-dial  ]. “hello, marcos?? yes it’s millicent duvall, i have a favor to ask... yes. yes yeah he’s like --  a v e r a g e .” her eyes glanced over at him,  s n a p p i n g  then pointing her index finger at the town car [  approaching  ]. 

He responded with a hum in confirmation and nodded his head; his lips growing wider and cheekier from Millicent’s interest. He couldn’t seem to hold back his own chuckles. The sound of the blonde’s giggles tugged at his heartstrings; but it’s not as though it was his first time reacting this way – on days, he hid it better; just not today. Not when he missed her terribly while she was gone – even if he did pull back and reserved himself. Even if he would think twice if she ever asked. She doesn’’t have to know of the nights he felt inspired. That would overflow her ego and drown him. “We haven’t seen each other for a whole week, and the first thing you want to do is to see me do tricks?” Darius laughed lightly in disbelief, brows drawing in. “I’d rather show you other tricks.”

OTHER TRICKS?? the smirk she pulled, yet again, effortless. “[ o t h e r   t r i c k s ]  hmm. a shame i wore this outfit -- it would be a  d i s a s t e r  to take it off just for some old tricks you played on me a fortnight ago.” a wink, then a nudge, followed by a  g i g g l e . her eyes darted to the stars, the ones you could barely see with the amount of smog lifted into the air. it was almost a sigh that [ g r a c e d ]  her red lips, but her pressed lips contained the frail noise. perhaps she wished to be somewhere else other than the park, but this was their  d e s i g n a t e d  location. her dorm room most likely contained her roommate -- which [ i r o n i c a l l y ] is the best friend of the boy millicent found herself  e n t a n g l e d  with. perhaps going back to the duvall manor would be the suitable option, but seeing augustus’  w r e t c h e d  mother made her want to vomit. a suite in the [ luxurious ] hotel in upper townsville??  p e r h a p s . 

His brown eyes flashed, once, twice, but that was the only sign of straight forward rebellion from Caellum. Among others, he was always the leader. He didn’t want to be a follower, but he hadn’t known that that was to be his role when he first “signed” up to be her best friend. He he known he would end up in a position like this, he wondered if he would have done this all again. He didn’t want to face the truth to that ending. Caellum had always believed that he was fickle, but preserved his last shards of undying loyalty for those he loved first. He didn’t known if he wanted to change who got it. To be honest, it was absolute hell sometimes having to deal with Millie when she got into difficult moods like this, which was pretty much all the time. 

SHE SMILED, wicked, disastrous because in that moment she knew she had [  total control ]. a smile that cut a person to the  c o r e  and watched the  b l o o d  ooze out. she was the devil and thing two already sold his soul. “striking up a conversation??  h i g h l y  from it thing two. there is order in the morbucks, and all you need to  w o r r y  about is who do i like more?? you or your sister.” lips pursed, she turned on the [  recorder  ] on her laptop, offering a quick glare at her friend. “i’ll record my own notes -- you’re being awfully  u n t r u s t w o r t h y  right now thing two and i don’t think i need that type of  d e f i a n c e  from you. pipe down. also girl on the left in third row keeps looking back at you -- bump up your  p o p u l a r i t y , offer a smile. now’s your chance.” 

Ada bit her tongue, taking a moment to compose and to stop herself from losing her cool. Though the idea of a frozen Millicent wouldn’t harm anyone. She hated bragging and receiving  attention for her accomplishments despite having a list of accomplishments that could rival the best of the best at Bellum. Just googling her name alone would reveal the several initiatives, research projects, and awards and grants Ada had under her name. Everything the Morbucks did revolved around recognition and being in the spotlight, a reason Ada enforced a “no talking about personal lives” rule when working with Cal. Being a hero wasn’t about doing it for praise, it was about helping others and doing what is good just because it was the right thing to do. “Did you forget that it wasn’t you wearing the valedictorian tassel besides Cal at graduation? You weren’t the top 1% then,” she countered raising an eyebrow at the display her former friend was giving. “Congratulations on being top of your classes now though, but it doesn’t make you’re better than me. I’m also the top of my classes. Actually, a lot of people are the top of their classes. Did you forget about the diverse number of majors offered here or were all of your brain cells being used up to come up with that attack?”

MILLICENT GRITTED her teeth, a forced smile as she turned on her laptop and tablet. “oh sweetie,” she glanced up, eyes  m e e t i n g  her opponent’s. it didn’t matter to her if she had wanted valedictorian or not. “do you think i wanted to be some [ loser ] giving a speech that no one really cared to listen about?? you got valedictorian,  c o n g r a t s, you did it!! while you were bathing in your only glory moment, i was making appointments in the crowd with major companies. i was making money and you were talking about the ‘good moments’ in high school.” she pulled out her stylus and began  s k e t c h i n g , adeline’s [ annoying ] voice used more as a blocker of other noises and millicent slightly felt annoyed for sitting here. “none of my brain cells are being lost, you dimwit. adeline do you feel attacked that i am as smart as you?? does my intelligence and beauty intimidate you?? is that why you sought out to try and out-best me??” millicent laughed, head titling back. 

millicent. at the very least, he remembered the girl’s name despite the initial shock at the sight of her. It was probably because she was niamh’s friend, though he figured if he mentioned that was the only reason why he could remember her name, he would ‘regret it.’

“OF COURSE there is,” millicent gave a quick glance at his outfit, sighing  d r a m a t i c a l l y  afterwards. she then forced a smile, kind enough to trick someone who didn’t know how [ vindictive ]  she really was. “i’ll make a call to have a suit ready for you when we get there.”