Read Online Millie's Game Plan by Rosie Dean - Free Book Online

deep within me. Then I checked myself. How could I be sure he was the one? Yet again, I could be deluding myself.
    Someone waved. I shifted my focus and saw Arabella pushing herself up off the grass. I waved back, attracting the attention of HIM. Hugely self-conscious, I smiled brightly, wishing I didn’t still feel like that twelve year old and thinking, wouldn’t it just piss all over my fireworks if Victor were gay?
    ‘Hi Millie,’ Arabella threw a slim, fragile arm over my shoulder and placed her cheek against mine. ‘I wasn’t sure if you’d be here today. How did your pictures turn out?’
    ‘Great, really good. I’ve brought some with me,’ I wafted a lime green pocket folder in the air, containing the best shots I’d printed at work.
    Sacha joined us; the Stetson perched on the back of her head, her thumbs hooked into the waistband of her skirt, displaying even more midriff than before.
    ‘Arabella – this is my flatmate, Sacha.’
    Arabella lifted a hand, ‘Hi.’
    ‘What do you do, Arabella?’ Sacha asked.
    ‘Oh, I’m still at school but I’m going to be studying photography, like Millie,’ she smiled.
    ‘Probably not for the same reasons, though,’ Sacha replied.
    I shot her a look.
    ‘They’ll be stopping for tea in a minute,’ said Arabella. ‘Churchill teas are delicious. That’s why it’s such a good turn out.’
    ‘Things are looking up,’ said Sacha.
    All the time, of course, my peripheral vision was clocking Victor’s movements. I was deeply thrilled to see his head turned in my direction. Perhaps he was wondering why I’d turned up with Calamity Jane and would she be a better shag than me? But in my deepest soul, I hoped it was because I’d made a good first impression and he was ever so slightly interested.
    We perched on the grass to wait for tea. I took my camera out and trained it on the batsmen. Although, my senses were completely alert to the presence of HIM.
    At last, there was a ripple of applause for the end of the innings and people began drifting towards the pavilion. Sacha was up off her haunches and, before I could stop her, she was homing in on HIM like a heat-seeking missile.
    ‘Hi.’ She said, breezily. ‘You look remarkably like the guy who nearly maimed my friend Millie, last week.’
    At the mention of my name, I responded with a light, beatific smile. I’m cool with this , I seemed to be saying. Ha-ha. Isn’t my friend amusing? When really, I wanted to wrap the camera strap round her neck and throttle her.
    He stood and smiled at Sacha, before glancing across at me and nodding. Yep. That smile was a real winner. What killed me though, was how good he looked next to Sacha – two beautiful, golden people.
    To my intense satisfaction, he spoke directly to me. ‘Hello, again. How is the hand?’ He actually moved away from Sacha, towards me and I, trance-like, was heading straight for him.
    ‘It’s fine. No bones broken.’
    ‘You should see the photos she took,’ Sacha chipped in – like she didn’t trust me to do this on my own. ‘They’re really good…for a beginner.’
    He glanced back at Sacha and then at me. ‘Did you bring any with you?’
    Arabella was at my side waving the green folder. ‘Yes, can we see them?’
    ‘Sure,’ I said. ‘But don’t you want to have your tea, first?’
    Sacha apparently did. She was slipping into the pavilion, ahead of a tall chap who was smiling eagerly down on her.
    Victor was, I think, weighing me up. I struggled not to gaze back into his eyes for longer than was rational. ‘There’ll be plenty left,’ he said, moving nearer and glancing down at the folder. ‘Did I hear your mum say you want to be a fashion photographer, Arabella?’ he asked, causing a crimson tide to lap her cheeks.
    ‘Maybe,’ she replied.
    ‘Good for you. Aim high and go for it.’ He smiled but not in a creepy, Uncle Fester way; more supportive and big brotherly. My heart and stomach swapped places for a second and my