[edited 12/1/15]

Millie didn't go to the bonfire.

A very small part of her had wanted to go. She wanted to make Sam happy by showing up, and she wanted to see him smile at her.

So, she'd considered it. She'd gotten ready, curling her hair, putting on mascara, and pulling on a thin summer dress. She'd even caught herself standing in front of the backdoor, hand on the door knob.

Then she'd heard one of her sisters running down the stairs and had realized, all at once, what she was doing. She'd sprung away from the door, kicked off her shoes, and went to join Angel in the living room.

It was probably a good thing she changed her mind, she decided, lying on the couch next to Angel. Her older sister was playing with her hair, twisting it back into a complicated waterfall braid, cupping her phone between her ear and her shoulder. If she went, she was pretty much inviting someone to talk to her, and that could only lead to a dangerous place.

"Daphne said she was going to be here at six," Angel said to Millie and their uncle Drew, who was on the phone. "It's seven thirty two. I swear that girl is never on time."

Millie rolled her eyes. Daphne was flighty, kind of like a bird, and definitely flaky. She'd been born three weeks late, and had never been properly on time once since then. The one time that Millie remembered Daphne ever being moderately punctual was when Angel had informed Daphne that the dinner they were having was at four, so when Daphne showed up at six-oh-five, she was only five minutes late.

Angel heaved a heavy sigh, reaching over Millie's head to grab a bobby pin off the coffee table. After pinning the waterfall braid into place, she patted Millie's back, slid out from under her, and started into the kitchen. "Could you call her and see where she is? She stopped replying to my texts."

Millie put her arm over her head and listened to the low hum of the TV. She wasn't really sure what they were watching — some Lifetime movie about a stalker and a baby or something that cried a lot. Angel was a sucker for sob stories, and Millie just liked being around Angel, so they tended to watch a ton of forgettable movies together while Angel deftly did Millie's hair into some kind of intricate design and Millie took in her sisters' comforting presence.

"Hey, loser. What are you doing in here by yourself?"

Millie turned her head to look at Clea, who had snuck into the living room at some point. Clea was the only one of her sisters who didn't frown every time she saw Millie and was kind of prone to being abrupt and honest.

"First time I see you in almost four months and you call me a loser? You're the sweetest, Clea."

"I know." Clea smiled in a way that made Millie think she was barring her teeth. "Leni or Luce told me something interesting."

"Leni or Luce?"

"Angel told me that Luce is in the blue tonight, but turns out, they both ended up in blue."

"Typical," Millie said, pushing herself into an upright position so she could see the two girls in question, sitting at the dining room table on their laptops.

All of the Clearwater girls looked similar, with gold hair and sea foam eyes, but Leni and Luce looked particularly alike, thanks to their identical genes. On a good day, the twins were difficult to tell apart, but when they were both wearing the same blue flannel shirts and both had their hair up in messy ponytails, it was downright impossible to tell which one was which.

Millie had long ago stopped trying to figure out who was who, and just went with it. "What did they tell you that was so interesting, you had to come and find me?"

"That a boy asked you out today and you almost went. I'm surprised — you're practically a nun."

"First of all, I'm not a nun. Remember Tommy Jenkins, from freshmen year? I kissed him a ton. And secondly, I didn't get asked out on a date. I was informed of a party that happens every single year at the same place at the same time. That's not a date, Clea, that's just a statement."

"You're making that face again. You like him, don't you?"

"Clea..." Millie sighed, crossing her arms. "I don't want to date him."

"What? We all know how hard it is for you to just get it over with, but one of these days, Millie, you're going to have to kick Sam, no matter how cute of a puppy he is. He's got it bad for you, and you're doing nothing to curb his desire."

"I didn't even go tonight. I'm pretty sure that's somewhat curbing."

"But I bet you did something today that was nice enough that he won't even care. I bet you said something sweet or held open the door for him or told him he had on a cute outfit, just because you knew you'd let him down tonight."

"It's really sick that you're going to be a psychiatrist, you know that?" Millie couldn't even imagine the brashest of her sisters being responsible for someone's mental health.

"Hey, that's what Angel told me yesterday." 

Millie didn't reply, mostly because she was thinking about Sam. Clea was right, in a way — she hadn't shown up tonight, but she had given Sam that picture of him. She'd just been bored, with more than an hour left of time in that class, and had started doodling. It hadn't even been Sam when she'd first started, but it had quickly morphed into him, and when he'd asked her to the party, a part of her knew she'd never go. So she folded up the picture and slid it onto his desk, hoping it would make up for her absence.

"I saw him earlier," Clea said offhandedly, going to sit on the armchair across the room. "He wasn't wearing his glasses."  

"I think he got contacts," Millie replied. "He hasn't been wearing them as much."

"Interesting that you noticed that."

"He lives next door, Clea. We go to the same school. I can't not notice these things."

"Right," Clea nodded. "Does it ever worry you that you could crush him so easily? He's practically already married to who he thinks you are. If you just let him look inside, for a second..."

"God, do you ever shut up?" Millie looked at her sister. "It's like you literally cannot, for one second, stop talking."  

Clea shrugged. "What can I say? I like the sound of my own voice."

"You're definitely my most annoying sister today."  

"Thank God that title isn't going to me," a different voice said, and both girls turned to look at Daphne, standing in the doorway. Throwing her arms open, she called out, "I'm back! Did you miss me?"

"You're home," Angel said flatly as she came into the living room. "What the hell took you so long?"

"Traffic?" Daphne smiled slightly.

"Wrong answer," Millie murmured.

"Clea left at the same time you did, was farther away than you are, and still managed to get here first." Angel pressed her hand to her forehead. "Millie, remember what I told you last night? Daphne's the most annoying sister today, by far."

"Looks like we're in the same boat," Clea said to Daphne, winking.

Daphne sighed. "Look at this, I come in here bearing my amazing presence and wonderful news, and you bully me."

"Your wonderful presence is debatable," one of the twins said as she came into the living room.

"Which one are you?" Clea asked.

"Leni," she said, as Luce came out of the dining room behind her. "What's your news?"

"There is a boy on the front porch for Millie."

There was a pause, and before Millie could say anything, three of her five sisters were shoving at each other to get to the door before she could. Daphne just smiled, crossing her arms, and Angel shot Millie an apologetic look. "You should probably go after them."

Millie jumped off the couch and slid into the hallway. Her sisters already had the door open and were crowded around it, talking animatedly to whoever was on the other side.

A boy? That seemed absurd to Millie, but the second she heard it — the familiar snorting laugh — she swore softly.

Millie shoved between her sisters, stepping on Leni's foot and pinching Clea's side.

Sam smiled at her as she came into view. "Hey, Millie."

"Sam," she panted, reaching behind her to push Luce backward. "What are you doing here?"

"I went to the party, but you didn't show, so I thought I'd come by and make sure you're okay."

"Um, yeah, I'm fine." She looked over her shoulder. "I'd be better if we were alone."

None of her sisters moved, and Millie sighed, reaching down and swiping the first pair of sandals she found, before sliding them onto her feet. Clea started to say something, but both Luce and Leni elbowed her at the same time, giving her matching looks.

Millie wanted to smack all three of them at the same time, but instead chose to step out of the front door and shut it tightly behind her, efficiently locking her sisters out of the conversation.

Sam was still smiling when she looked back at him. "I didn't really think you'd come tonight, so I wasn't surprised."

"Then why are you here?"

"I went with Brandon, but the party was pretty lame." Sam shrugged. "So I guess I just figured I'd come see if you wanted to drive around."

Millie pursed her lips. "You wanted to just drive around, instead of going to the biggest party of the year. You want to just drive around instead of going to the last bluff party you'll ever attend."

Sam shoved his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "Pretty much."

Millie considered this. This party was something everyone looked forward to, the whole school year. The Dakota Bluff party was a notorious end-of-the-school-year, start-of-summer tradition, one that was upheld by practically everyone in town. Millie had even gone freshman year, when Clea had dragged her along because no one else would go with her. It was pretty uncommon for seniors not to go, and was usually considered a rite of passage.

"You want to go driving with me?" She reiterated. 

"Yes, Millie, I want to go driving with you, instead of going to the biggest part of the year. Yes, it's true."

"Alright. Where are we going?"

Sam smiled. "Does it matter?"