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I’m so glad that I did give him a chance now and I agreed to the date. Not only because me and him have such an awesome connection but because I no longer have any secrets weighing me down. As awful as it is to have everything out there in the world, it’s worse to having it weighing down on my shoulders. I carried it around with me for far too long and it made me retreat in on myself, it made me quieter and shyer, I didn’t even think of my dreams. But now I can put all of that to one side, now I have the chance to focus on making things better for me.
“So, where do we go from here?” Lance asks me with a shrug of one of his shoulders. “If you’re considering dating me, but trying to avoid the public eye, then how do you suggest going about that?”
“There isn’t any media here,” my father pipes up, I suppose trying to be helpful. “Why not have a date here?”
“I can’t guarantee that there won’t be anyone watching us,” Lance pipes up. “Some girls insisted on taking their picture with me earlier on today and I’m sure they are online already.”
“Well, what more can they say about me now?” I laugh. “There isn’t anything else.”
“So, you will let me take you out then?” Lance asks me. “On a real-life date in public here?”
“Oh no.” I shake my head with a smirk. Lance looks disheartened, but it will only be for a minute. “You don’t know anything about this place. I will be the one to take you out. I know all the best spots.”
“You do, huh? Well, I guess I will have to trust your judgement then. Since you know it all.”
I shoot Lance a playful wink. “Oh, that I do, and this place will blow LA out of the water. You haven’t ever seen anything like it. You better gear yourself up to have your mind blown.”
Lance and Dad both laugh, and I find myself joining in happily. Now without the weight crushing down on me, the laughter feels freer and much more joyful than before. It feels genuine. And I have to admit that I’m really looking forward to showing Lance my home town as well. I can’t wait to show him a side of me that he hasn’t seen before. I never thought that he would see it either because I thought this part of my life was locked away forever. How quickly things change. But that change is good, isn’t it? Change has always been good to me, and I can only see this being incredible as well. After all, this time I get to have Lance by my side.Chapter 17 – Lance“Not exactly LA, is it?” Millie says with a playful laugh as we enter her local diner. “Sorry, it’s also not the best on offer, but I love it here. It reminds me of my childhood because this is where my dad always brought me. Then it was the hang out when I was a teenager. The place to be.”
“I like it here as well.” I glance around and smile. “I like the fifties vibe that we have going on here.”
We take our seats in the red plastic chairs and grin at one another over the plastic covered menus. This definitely isn’t the LA vibe, no one would ever go to a place like this there, but that’s exactly what makes it so perfect. Me and Millie need a date that isn’t anything like our home with all its reminders.
“I don’t imagine that the paps will be in here,” she laughs. “Hopefully no teenage girl fans either.”
I hang my head low as the guilt flows through me. “I’m just worried that we won’t be able to avoid it completely… with the way that my career is going at the moment, there will always be interest. Plus, my publicist, Stephen, will go mad if I start avoiding the celebrity world any more than I already do…”
“As long as you don’t need me to be seen out with you, at those parties or on the red carpet, I will be fine.” She smiles reassuringly at me. “I don’t see how the interest in me can last forever.”
I lean back and grin to myself, thinking about how incredibly different she is to any other LA girl. They would usually be desperate to get in a designer dress and be seen on the red carpet. But that isn’t Millie, and that’s what makes her perfect for me. That’s why I know there isn’t any chance of me falling out of love with her.
“I love you,” I tell her happily. “I love everything about you, Millie. You are awesome.”
Her face lights up as she tells me that she loves me too. I feel the intense fluttering of chemistry between us as our eyes meet over the table, like we are back to where we were before all over this started. Maybe even closer than before because we now know so much more about one another. I can see the true Millie shining through and I love it. I adore her even more than I did before, not that I thought that was possible. She’s strong, she’s been through a lot, there are more layers to her than she can possibly know, she’s incredible.
