Milly's Date Part 1

Truth be told Milly had been slightly dreading this day for the last week.

When her mother made it known that she'd be going to meet a potential fiance she'd stifled a very unlady like groan of frustration.

'We aren't nobles anymore!' She wanted to scream in Claudia Ashfords' face. Maybe if they still were Milly would suck it up and go along with it but they were commoners now. For all the flak the lower class was given the young blonde was quite happy with the sheer lack of obligation she had. The freedom was very much worth it in her opinion.

Not that mommy dearest cared, nevermind agreed for that matter. Clearly Grandfathers' carefree attitude had skipped a generation.

Oh well. It may not be the prefered way to spend her Sunday afternoon but she could find worse things to do. Like balancing the Equestrian Clubs' budget. Again. Ick no thank you.

With her best fake smile Milly asked who her next vict-err potential suitor would be.

To her surprise Claudia said it was Dante Jackson, heir to the House of Jackson.

The name triggered a memory for Milly. Dante was a former senior at Ashford University for her first year as a freshmen and head of the Disciplinary Committee. They'd never really exchanged more than a few sentences and they'd always been brief affairs. Mostly just small check ins considering Dante ran a tight ship and made sure those under him didn't go too far in enforcing the rules but maintaining order when students decided it was a good idea to brain each other when they had a problem with each other or had too much alcohol.

That was new. Usually Claudia would try setting her up with much older men, not those within her age group. Milly had always used the significant age difference as her excuse whenever the courtship was broken. From the knowing look in her mothers' eye apparently she'd known what Milly was doing but simply never called her daughter out on it. Now though it seemed the time for fun and games was over. The older blonde had effectively put her foot down on this one.

Milly still had little intention of going down without a fight tho. The very next day she'd gone to visit her younger brother in all but blood Lelouch in the hopes of getting a bit more info on Dante. The ex-prince didn't exactly pay much mind to school yard gossip but he did keep his eye on the nobility if for no other reason than to know whose money he was taking during his gambling runs with Rivalz.

When she explained the situation Lelouch's usual lazy look was replaced with carefully concealed concern. He explained that the Jacksons were an old house with roots from the military but also the rumors of their ties to the mafia.

With a curse Milly gave Claudia a small applause for the move she just pulled. If Milly ruined this meeting she ran the risk of angering the mob AND putting Lelouch and Nunnally in the cross fire. If anyone in the Jackson family recognized the two exiles they'd be shipped back to the homeland in no time. The Ashfords would no doubt be summarily executed for harboring them if Marcus Jackson didn't grant them the small mercy of disposing of them himself.

She considered going to her father before scoffing and tossing that idea into the trashbin. Mother had taken Benjamin's spine out with all the delicacy of a chainsaw years ago. All that was left these days was a bag of meat that said 'yes dear', 'no dear', 'ask Claudia Milly' and 'you should listen to your mother Milly'.

To be fair from what she heard about him prior to marrying Claudia he had it coming for years.

Grandfather couldn't help either. Claudia had inherited the title of family head when he'd stepped down and built Ashford University. He could suggest this was a bad idea but ultimately once his daughters' mind was made up nothing would change her mind. A stubborness she'd gotten from Millys' grandmother he'd said.

In short she was effectively stuck.

The rest of the week was spent with her going through the motions like some inmate on death row. On the day of the meeting she'd lightly applied some make up and put on a yellow sundress that highlighted her figure without making her look like a whore before going to the car that would take her to the cafe she was to meet Dante.

By the time the car pulled up Milly had butterflies the size of eagles wrestling in her stomach. She spent an hour just sitting in the car looking at the cafe like it were the gallows. Her driver David, bless him, simply sat inside quietly listing to the radio. She eventually gathered her courage and walked up to the reception desk both hoping and dreading Dante just got up and left while she was daydreaming.

The receptionist pointed her to her reserved table where Dante was patiently waiting. As she moved closer she took the time to take in her would be betrothed.

He was nice to look at if nothing else. Dressed in a blue and white suit that did nothing to hide his track like build, dark skinned with a tapered fade, a small cut on his left cheek that didn't take away from his appearence, and blue eyes a few shades darker than her own. Cobalt maybe? He also wore a silver rolex on his left wrist and a pair of gold N shaped earings.

The more she looked the less nervous she felt to the point she wanted to throw her head back and laugh. What the heck? She'd been driving herself up a wall and all because of this normal guy, someone 5 years her senior no less, was to meet her to become her fiance?

'It had to be because of the Mafia rumors.' Milly rationalized. They made her think she was being handed over to some tatted up brute and forget Dante went to University with her. For crying outloud she'd sat at the same table as him countless times and held short conversations with him about how the Disciplinary Committee was running. They didn't even abuse their power since he'd taken over!

With a sense of relief Milly greeted him and allowed him to pull her chair out for her. If he was annoyed at being made to wait for an hour in 97 degree heat he damn well wasn't showing it. She still didn't want to be married but now after seeing Dante and remembering he was also a human being and not some feral Hellspawn maybe the meeting wouldn't be so bad after all.