Intermission: The Princesses Night (Part I)

"This is going to be so cool," Susan states, kicking around in her hammock.

"I'd rather be in bed, it's more comfortable there," Claire replies, snuggling into her blanket. The night promises to be warm enough, but Finn has got the girls a fan heater from the shed next to the house.

"Oh, come on sister," grunts Susan. "A bit of adventure and open air has never hurt anyone."

"In addition, we can really finish off her birthday here without being bothered by the slowpokes" Denise continues. But Millie can already hear in her voice that that's not all. The girl showed many changes in her behavior that day so that even Millie notices it.

Today was the best day of her life. At first she had thought it would be the first sex with her brother. But when he kissed her hand this morning and made her his girlfriend... She grins broadly and looks at her wrist. Finn also gave her an MP3 player so that no one can suspect something. But as much as she likes the extra data for her music - Finn has selfishly played some songs on it - the player fades to what she is carrying on her wrist.

"Millie, are you listening to us?" Claire shakes her out of her thoughts and Millie realizes that there is still light in the room and everyone can see her looking at her bracelet and running her fingers lightly over it.

"Yes, of course. I am really happy that you are here. I totally enjoyed the day. Thank you girls.” The hammocks are arranged in a square and hang on the supporting beams of the roof of the shed. In the middle Finn has laid out a thick wool carpet on which the girls can sit. But the story of the British killer-rats has made everyone prefer to keep their feet off the ground.

"One can see that you're feeling better" Claire says kindly and holds out her hand to Millie. The two girls hold hands and grin contentedly.

"We should really celebrate that" Susan calls out. She groans in annoyance and struggles free from her blanket. "I'm not tired at all. Let's do something else!” Millie notices that Susan doesn't wear her usual pajamas like the others but wears a tight-fitting sports pant and bra. She frowns a little when she realizes that Denise and Susan have changed in a small private separate, also furnished by Finn. Claire does that anyway and had shyly thanked her brother for the opportunity not to have to run back into the house. But the other two were surprisingly calm and followed his rules without grumbling.

"I do not know. We already have our pajamas on…” Claire hesitates.

"Oh come on baby. Let's do something fun!” Susanpushes. "I drank so much coke today, I could swim through the lake."

"Oh yeah! Let's go swimming in the night!” Denise exclaims excitedly and jumps out of her hammock. Then she hesitates briefly. "We can jump in with our clothes straight away." There it is again, the feeling that Denise is behaving strangely today. As if she was torn between fun and worry.

"I don't know..." Claire says again, whereupon the other two groan loudly. "It's already so late. And it's not our fault that you drank so much.” Millie looks into a corner of the room where there are still several bottles of champagne and beer, all unopened. Millie drank two bottles, Claire one and shared one with her sister, and Denise also had a beer. In any case, not enough for the two. However, the caffeine does its part and instead of being daring, the friends are just jittery. Millie has to smile again. That wouldn't happen to Finn.

"What are you saying Millie? Is it your birthday after all? Do we want to go out to the lake?” Denise asks hesitantly but with an adventurous sparkle in her eyes.

"Or to the city?" Susan suggests.

"I'm not going through the forest at night!" exclaims Claire, outraged and a little nervous.

"There are no bears and wolves around here Claire here. Only chicken like you. Little scared chicken" she continues to tease. Then the three girls look at Millie. It is a bit tiring. While Susan and Denise always want action, Millie and Claire don't like it. The group often faces that problem and Millie sometimes secretly thinks that the two savages only drink so much that they can stand it with the others. That makes Millie angry. She doesn't want to be responsible for looking after three other girls if she doesn't always know what she wants for herself.

"Finn don't want us to walk around so late," she says finally. Susan throws her arms up in the air. Unlike Denise, she is more confident of herself and knows what she wants tonight.

“It's always just Finn, Finn, Finn. He's not here Millie. We even can do something without him.” Susan looks over at Denise in search for support, but doesn't get it, which makes her even more angrier. "All right! Let's just act like little children and stay here like nice babies.” Demonstratively she plops down on the carpet and sits cross-legged. She looks at Millie with her arms crossed.

"I really don't know what this ia all about Millie. What's up with him? He prohibits us from having any fun. Next year, we'll celebrate without him, it'll be way more better.”

"Then you and Denise would just get drunk again, throw yourself at boys and be sad again in the evening because they didn't fuck you." To all surprise, this verbal slap comes from Claire. Susan shakes her head, dazed, but starts again and starts a counterattack. She lets her hands slide down her body and asks in a suggestive voice: "Who could resist this?"

"I do" Millie chuckles to ease the situation somewhat. Susan looks at her with a grin.

"But I didn't mean that Millie-mouse. And also…"

"Finn." Susan whips around to her little sister.

"What?"

"Finn can resist you." It's a very sober, yet devastating statement from which the mouth of Susan remains slightly open and her face loses color. At first she can't say anything and starts a couple of times, but doesn't make any sound. Finally she finds her words.

"I don't really care about Finn or..."

"Oh yes? We all saw how you and Denise messed with him” Claire snaps back. Millie is perplexed and doesn't understand where the conversation is going. Denise only looks a bit embarrassed, not at all the behavior that she otherwise shows.

"I was drunk Claire" Susan shoots back as if that were the explanation for all the problems in the world.

"Exactly. That's the only way it works for you. You think that's the only way to land with men."

"They like that when they have power over you, baby!" Susan calls loudly. "This is a game and that's how you play it."

"Finn doesn't play like that at all. The only boy in the house and you can't end up with him.” Now the younger McKinley sounds really snappy.

"I don't want to end up with him at all. He's too boring for me!"

"Then why don't you drink today?"

"Because he told me and I don't want him to..." Susan breaks off. Her mouth is open with terror, her head is now bright red and the color on her neck is slowly draining into the normal white of her skin. Her breath goes quick. Denise is still sitting in her hammock with her legs dangling and her toes are playing with each other while Claire looks triumphantly at her sister.

"Okay, can any of you explain what this is about?" Millie asks, puzzled. Finn has never been an issue between them and he always understood it well to lend the girls some space, but not to leave Millie alone. What's up with this vacation? she wonders.

"Never mind! We'll stay here.” Susan literally jumps back into her hammock and curls up into a ball, her back facing her friends. Denise stays on the mat and looks at Millie.

"What does Finn actually have against us?" She asks her with an uncertain and bit trembling voice.

"What? Finn doesn't hate you. Come on."

"Exactly. Just because he doesn't fall for your drunk behavior, he doesn't have to hate you.” says Claire and still sounds a bit defiant. "He just isn't interested in you." Now she sounds almost proud.

"What is there to complain about me... or Denise?" Susan asks again and Millie now realizes that Susan keeps coming up with this point.

"We are too childish for him," Denise mumbles and looks down. Wow, the two are really depressed, Millie realizes. Then she stops and realizes something else that she had rarely felt in her life. Proud. She is incredibly proud that Finn took her as a girlfriend and not the other two. Shouldn't it make her sad that the two are not doing well?

"Oh, what childish," Susan starts again. “We have tits, asses and pussies like Millie and Claire too. Nothing differentiates us from the two and if we four go over there now and ask him, he would sleep with us all!”

"Wow Susan, calm down. Millie is his sister”calls Claire and gets louder again. "And besides, you know Finn doesn't like pretentious behavior. Men like it when you do what they say.” That makes Millie flinch. She quickly looks around, but all eyes are on Claire. Millie knows that her friend is right. She saw it herself, his P... cock, how it twitched when she told him that he knows best. Millie was always the shyest in the group, even more so than Claire. But she also realizes that it is about a boy with whom she has already had sex with. No one else from her friends. It is Millie who knows best what her brother... her boyfriend likes. And he loves her, not Claire or Denise or Susan. A knowing smile creeps onto her face while the other three keep arguing.

"Don't pretend you know everything baby!" Susan turns on her sister again. "Just because you saw him naked once you..." It's dead still in the boathouse. All eyes wander to Susan, who is holding her hands in front of her face in terror. Then everyone looks at Millie. "Oh God Millie, im so, so sorry..."

"What?" Millie is very calm on the outside. But inside everything turns over. "Claire, what..." Claire looks at her sister as angry as if she wanted to tear her up in the air. Then her eyes wander to Millie and her face reveals shame and sadness.

"It... it wasn't anything Millie. Honestly. He just showered in front of us and..."

"He showered in front of you?" Now it is Millie who can hardly control herself. "Wait. In front of us?” When all three girls nod, Millie no longer understands the world. Finn loves her! Her! Millie! His little sister! And then she realizes. Yes, Finn loves her... and Megan... then why not Susan, Clair and Denise? And why not the other girls too? Her face turns white. The others notice it too. "How?" She just asks and is not sure what she actually wants to know. Or whether if she wants to know. Her life has been so great in the past few days, all because of him. Of course, he also has the power to take that away from her. Maybe she wasn't good enough? Maybe he loves Megan more? Of course! Megan is smart, confident and funny. And not so exhausting! But Finn said he would love them both equally? He only said that because you jumped on him. Just like the others. You are a whore Millie Lynchwood! And Finn knows that.

"Millie, I'm sorry..." Claire begins, but Millie doesn't listen to her. She is paralyzed. It couldn't go well. Because life isn't waiting for Millie. Millie who is too slow to keep up with people. Millie who doesn't get it. Millie who just howls around and makes life difficult for people. She would like to get up now and run away. But where? Into the house? To Finn? He deserves his fun with the other girls. Se sexier girls. The smarter girls. He hardly could swim in the lake yet, although he wanted to do it so much. Because he had to take care of me. If she goes to him now, maybe she could sleep with him. If he could do what he wanted with her, she might become important to him. But he has Megan for that. Megan is much prettier than her. And she knows what Finn likes. It does not help. If Millie wants Finn to keep her in his life, she has to do what he likes. So she has to leave him alone. She'll stay here and get through the night. And tomorrow she'll call her mom and tell her to pick her up. She looks at her friends and notices the looks.

"Millie, I'm sorry" Claire repeats, and Susan looks at her embarrassed. Do they know how Millie feels about her brother? Before she can say anything, Denise blurts it out.

"We were drunk. We... I... I wanted to please him. Nobody else wants to have anything to do with me when I'm not drunk. I'm just the crazy manga girl. Finn always respected me and was always nice to me. He thinks I'm interesting even without ****. Nobody else thinks that! And he looked after me and Susan. It was stupid of us to get drunk. He told us that... in the bathroom.” Millie still doesn't understand, is too distracted by her own feelings.

"We know that you and Finn are close together, we can see that," Susan says. "We don't want to take your brother away from you. We know that he takes good care of you. It was all a stupid misunderstanding." So sounds ****, but that doesn't help Millie at this moment of dispair.

"He took a shower before you," Millie says tonelessly. If Finn wants these three, there is nothing she can do about it. She has to accept it.

"Not in front of us," says Claire, licking her lips nervously. Her mouth is completely dry. "I-In front of me... just in front of me." Millie looks at her friend questioningly.

"When we brought the two into the house, they threw up and sully his clothes."

"He could have just left us there, but he's gone up with us," Denise says sheepishly. "Megan helped him and he took us to the bathroom. We vomited up there.” A small smile flits across her face.

Millie Lynchwood never really thought about when she started loving Finn. But after the last experience, she realized that it could be related to her ex-boyfriend. When she was sitting alongside the roadside with Finn that night, she thinks it started there. She had felt so stupid and naive. She still felt her ex-boyfriend's hands on her breasts and keep asking herself what is so interesting about them. They were still far too small, even for an eighteen-year-old. She had been too nervous that night and she thought her ex-boyfriend had been right when he said that she had to do more to please him. He wasn't like Finn. For her brother, everything she did was like a work of art that could be exhibited in a museum. She had always liked that. But that wasn't the real world. In the real world you have to fight to please boys. And the thought had occurred to her that if Finn hadn't come, she would surely have gone further. If she had made a child with her ex-boyfriend, she would have arrived in the adult world completely. She hadn't noticed that she didn't want that. And only when he had his fingers in her she picked up the phone. To this day, she cannot say why. She knew what was going to happen the moment he turned up the music and emptied his beer all at once. She would have gone on. But those thoughts were wiped away on this dirty, noisy, dusty, and dark street. Her eyes had been blurred with the ****, but she still remembers her brother's hands.

It was a small gesture, but for her it was the moment when she realized that she wasn't alone. And she was so ashamed of what had become of her. She was a whore. And Finn had talked to her anyway and given her his affection. The moment he held her hair back so that she could get vomit more easily, the moment, in which he makes easy for her to empty her head and soul of bad thoughts, the moment, e have made her feel welcome only by holding her hair and consoling her, yes, that was when she fell in love with him. Even if she only noticed that much later. Too late in fact.

From that moment on, she had tried to please him. It was very difficult for her because she knew that he would not return her feelings. Why so? Megan is much nicer, much prettier than her. And she doesn't have nightmares like Millie either. Her dreams are always about one thing. She had destroyed her life in one way or another, and the people who matter to her, the people she needs, let her go. And Finn let go of her. She is so ashamed of having to crawl into his bed every night to feel his vicinity, to make sure, he is still there for this night. She knows that it secretly annoys him. But she just has to know that he is still there. And she knows no other way to bind him to her. Only by doing what he asks her to do. And for a brief moment she thought it would work and he would love her. But he said she didn't have to do this to love her? But it looks like she has to share Finn with her friends. Megan she can still understand. She has seen her naked and knows that she has what Millie is missing. But the others? That hurts.

• You can make the hurt feel better by liking this chapter and keep reading.