Intermission - Realization, wishes and hope.

Mila had an epiphany. Talking to Oliver, her sweet, wonderful boyfriend, helped her understand so many things it was hard to process them all.

She realized that going into modeling was a more appealing prospect than she first thought, though that was still too big a decision to say she had made up her mind about it. And as important as that was, she also gained a better understanding of her own relationship with Oliver and what social media attention meant to her.

Mila loved Oliver to a near unhealthy degree. He meant so much to her that she had, without realizing it, began to make decisions based solely on what would make him happy. That he told her she didn’t have to do that only made her fall from him even harder. Saying ‘I love you too’ didn’t feel like enough, so she opted for shoving her tongue down his throat. That always felt better and conveyed even more.

Whatever sex magic Oliver had could make him more attractive, a sex god, the perfect lover… but it couldn’t make her love the man himself, the essence of what he was. These feelings were genuine, and she had to make sure Oliver knew it.

It made her happy to hear him validate her feelings on her social media presence, too, but… There was a time when Mila did do it for the approval of strangers. In a time where Grace and Sarah, two of her best friends were having boyfriends and learning about things she also wanted to know, she turned to social media. People told her she looked beautiful, that she was sexy, that her choice of clothes was perfect. It felt… good. It felt like she wasn’t fully lagging behind her friends. Then she met Oliver, and with time those comments began to mean something different without her even realizing it.

“Hey…” Mila said, gasping as she pulled away from Oliver’s lips.

“W-What…?” he asked, a little stunned himself. Always great to have that effect on him.

“Can I tell you something a little fucked up?”

“Ah?” Oliver raised an eyebrow. “I mean, sure.”

Mila smirked and bit her lip. “I think I get why I like the attention now.” She leaned down again and kissed her boyfriend’s chin. “I want people to see how pretty I am, to see I’m sexy, to fantasize about me… All knowing they have no chance. I’m taken. I got myself the greatest boyfriend, and none of those guys will ever be half the man you are.”

Oliver’s jaw dropped. She didn’t blame him. It was kinda fucked up. It was a cruel way to look at it, and Mila was starting to regret saying it out loud. But then Oliver began to laugh.

“Holy shit. I didn’t know you had a sadistic side,” he told her.

Mila felt her face burn, but she giggled along with Oliver. “Is it? It’s not hurting anybody, right? It’s not like I’m going to tell that to their faces.”

“You’re not allowed to hang out with Grace anymore. She’s a bad influence.”

Mila snickered. “Too late for that, don’t you think?”

They laughed together again. And GOD did it feel good. Again, Oliver proved how perfect he was for her by instantly accepting this odd new side of her. Still, she wanted to ask.

“So… You don’t think it’s fucked up?”

Oliver smirked. “A little, yeah. But I'd rather see it your way. I think it even turns me on a bit.”

Mila grinned. “Oh?”

“People get to see only glimpses of you, they’ll fantasize… but only I get you have you.”

Mila’s heart skipped a beat and her crotch began to heat up. “Oh yesss!” She kissed him again, hard and deep. “Only you, Oliver. I’m yours and yours alone.”

Fuck, giving herself to him was such a rush. It had been that way for a while, but something about this felt like a new level, a new step forward in their relationship.

New steps… Mila wanted to take so many more. Their relationship couldn’t stop here. It couldn’t. The others couldn’t go away. They needed to stay together.

Would they survive a long-distance relationship? Maybe, but those would be the hardest years of their lives. No, they had to look for a way to solve this.

Was it naive to think like that? Idealistic? Were they wrong in believing their group had a future together? That this was more than just a high school thing?

Mila could see it. They didn’t need some dumb paper telling them they were married. They could make their life together, grow, pursue their dreams, raise children. Mila looked forward to days of making a grocery list together, to afternoons of looking at and cutting expenses, to constant nights of a full dinner table.

It wasn’t their fate to be pulled apart. It wasn’t. They could do something about it. She believed it with all her heart. Her mind, however, drew a blank.

Sarah and her were, in a way, the ones with the most freedom. Their families would support them no matter what they chose, would let them pick their schools or career paths and be there to back them up. Oliver was in a similar situation, but his family had less money to support him on the same level, not to mention he had a dream he wanted to pursue. Then there were Grace, Alice and Noelle. Those three were at the mercy of their parents, given freedom to do what they wanted so long as they did as told WHEN told. Was there any way they could go against that? Any way to free them from their families sole path?

Mila pulled away from Oliver and looked down at him, swallowing the mix of their saliva. “Oliver… Is there no way for us to live together?”

Stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Mila cursed herself for saying that the moment the words left her mouth. She felt the pain in Oliver’s chest, her own worries mirrored in him. Of course he was also looking for an answer. Her question WAS naive and idealistic. They didn’t have the resources of something as reckless as that.

But then Oliver frowned. Not in pain, but in thought. Her boyfriend had an idea, if a vague one. Not one he could talk about yet but he saw the silhouette of a path, and that was enough to fill Mila’s heart with hope.

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