Vulnerable by Elise Pehrson Page A

frustration, “Please help your sister out; she’s tangled in—oh, I’ll come over, haha, hold on.” She turned to face Michael, who was already looking back at her. “I’ll be back,” she said in a smoky face with a stroke from her fingers on his shoulder. Did that just happen? He thought to himself in equal shock as his ecstatic delight. Millie looked almost as surprised as he did. She froze after realizing what she just did and twisted her mouth into an awkward smile before turning around and jetting off to help the girls.
                What’s going on in that brain? Michael wasn’t sure if she was hiding her attraction to him or afraid of it. Maybe she wasn’t attracted to him? Maybe she was being nice because she sensed his attraction to her? No, she wouldn’t do that. Michael thought that he shouldn’t be wondering all of these things anyway. Guilt consumed him as his mind flashed back a few years in the past. His hands trembled and clutched to the colors of his collared shirt.
                Luckily, he was saved from further thought.
                “Brother Michael!” Brother Raymond was waddling over to him with the same goofy smile that had been plastered across his face the whole car ride over.
                “Hey there…” he said back, much less enthusiastically.
                “Are you ready to set up these tents?”
                “More than you will ever know,” he replied. He didn’t pick up the sarcasm. (Michael thought that it was probably because he was one of those people that thought of the good in everyone… he always wondered how people like that think, how their minds work).
                “Well, then come on!” He opened his mouth to allow an even bigger smile, which Michael didn’t know was even possible until he saw it happen for himself. He shrugged and helped Brother Raymond get the tent stuff out of his camping bag.
                They spent a good part of two hours trying to get those tents set up correctly, and the whole time Michael couldn’t think of anything but Millie. The way she was that day on the beach; he knew that he was slowly unveiling who she was—who she really was— peeling away layer after layer of shell that she was hiding so avidly behind.
                “You guys have been working hard,” Millie’s voice was a ray of light in sound through Michael’s thoughts. She appeared as a symbol of hope and perfection, even though he knew she was far from perfect, which is as much of perfect as anyone can really be. “Take a break,” She smiled and nudged her head towards the picnic tables covered in potato chips, gelatin salad, an array of veggies, and various lunchmeats. “Oh, and Brother Raymond, I changed up the schedule a little bit. I hope you don’t mind. The kids wanted to do the hike tomorrow and just enjoy the outdoors today. And since it will be dark kind of soon, they wanted to wait to roast marshmallows as well. Besides, I hear that this mountain takes hours to hike.”
                “That’s great!” he threw his arms up in jubilancy. Michael couldn’t help but roll his eyes, but he was making a conscious effort to be nice—he had a feeling that Millie didn’t like jerks.
                “Great,” she replied vibrantly. She was twisting her fingers together in some sort of nervous twitch. She looked at Michael and bit her lip, waiting for something. He immediately acted upon it: what would happen if he lost this moment?
                “Um—uh—D-Do you want to go eat? With me?” he rubbed the nape of his neck. He felt beads of sweat trickling down his temples through the stubbles poking through and dotting his face with color.
                “I’d love that,” she replied through almost immobile lips. Her grin looked so plastered on her face at the moment that he couldn’t help but grin too,