This story is purely a work of fiction, and does not represent the real actions of any real people or characters. I do not own Millie Bobby Brown or Natalia Dyer.
____________________________________
"Mills? Hey, Mills? Helloooo, Millie?" Natalia Dyer asked, tapping her co-star, Millie Bobby Brown on the shoulder, desperately trying to get her attention as the pair practiced their lines for the upcoming season of Stranger Things inside of Millie's trailer.
"Y-Yeah, what's up?" Millie responded redundantly, trying and failing at pretending to be focused when, in reality, she was anything but.
"You were daydreaming again," Natalia pointed out, reminding, "Listen, Mills, we gotta get these lines right before we start filming. If you keep getting distracted, we're gonna fall behind, and what happens then?"
Millie sighed, having answered this question twice already tonight. "Production falls behind."
"And we don't want that. Remember who we work for, and how much content they want to put out, okay?" Natalia reminded, a quick jab at Netflix and their incessant series cancellations meant to inspire young Millie. Sadly, it did the opposite.
Millie shook her head feverishly. "I know, I know! And I am focused, I swear," She promised, waving her script in Nat's face, but Natalia wasn't buying.
"I find that hard to believe..." Natalia argued, gripping the arm of the sofa they called their current seating arrangement. "Considering we keep having these little interruptions."
Millie lowered her head, clearly upset, leading Natalia as the older, wiser woman, to reach out a hand and latch it onto Millie's shoulder, hoping to comfort her. "What's bothering you, Mills? C'mon, spill it," Nat pressed.
"It's nothing," Millie passively dodged. "Don't worry about it."
"Tell me," Natalia pushed sternly, but whatever it was, Millie was keen on keeping it to herself. Wouldn't be the first time, especially lately. The nineteen-year old was hardly outgoing at her most extroverted, let alone now, with something weighing heavily on her mind. Usually introverted but lately, Millie had been almost completely antisocial.
"Can we just...get back to the reading?" Millie asked, her big brown eyes insisting that everything was okay, but her tone suggesting otherwise.
Natalia pulled her hand away before softly shaking her head. "Millie, it's okay. You can tell me when something's bothering you."
Millie looked back at Natalia, a much older woman, one whom she's always admired, her long blonde hair covering a large portion of her beautiful face. Yet, she remained silent, unsure of how to respond or, rather, if she should give in and vent her worries to her long-time co-star. Luckily, Natalia always seemed to know just what to say.
Nat reached her hand out again, this time laying it atop Millie's, and insisted, "Seriously, Mills, what's up? C'mon, you can tell me. Get it all off of your chest." Then, she pulled her hand back, and allowed Millie to think the proposition over for a few moments. And once she had, she parted her lips and prepared to speak.
"It's just," Millie began, reaching to her side and fumbling through her purse, a very small handbag. Out popped her phone a few weeks later, Millie unlocking the device and swiping until she found what she was looking for. "This."
Millie faced her phone outwards, revealing an Instagram picture of herself, sunbathing in a lavender bikini, her assets, ever so impressive for a young girl, barely contained by the thin material, a fact that Natalia couldn't help but notice.
"This? What's the problem?" Natalia asked awkwardly, slightly taken aback by the picture of her co-star. "It's just...just a picture of you."
"I'm not the problem, these are," Millie informed, using her well-manicured finger to scroll down, into the comments section. "It's...it's every time I post, Nat. Just hundreds of people calling me a slut! Saying that I should be more careful about showing off my body. Like, I'm nineteen! I'm not a little girl anymore!"
"I know, Mills. You're becoming a beautiful young woman. But that's not something that most people are gonna come to terms with quickly. For them, you're probably still just Eleven, you know? You'll always be that little girl," Nat explained, handing the phone back to Millie, who chucked it aside.
"But...that doesn't give them the right to say that stuff about me. What, I'm a slut because I take hot pics of myself?" Millie asked redundantly, shrugging her shoulders and Natalia did the same.
"I think a lot of them aren't ready to see you grow up yet," Natalia added.
"But why?" Millie questioned, before turning the sword on her friend. "Why are you defending these trolls? They don't know anything about me! They just assume things!"
Millie stood from the couch, angrily pacing as she vented. "What, do you agree with them? You think I'm a slut, don't you, Nat? 'Cause I'm young, right? Young and dumb!"
"Millie, you need to relax!" Natalia barked, standing up to meet the younger girl, eye to eye.
"Why? You're the one who wanted me to get everything off my chest!"
"Yeah, so you could get it out of your system, not get mad at me!" Natalia confessed, grabbing a very worked up Millie by both shoulders and bringing her back down the couch.
There, she explained, "Listen, I'm not the one who wrote all those mean things about you, Mills. I've always been there for you, you know that. Even when you haven't wanted me to be. So, I'm gonna tell you how I feel, honest to God. You're a gorgeous young lady, and you're welcome to take as many hot pics as you want. But, because of your age, you lack life experience, and something that comes with life experience is the ability to handle life in the limelight."
Millie nodded, paying close attention to every word that left Natalia's pink lips. She couldn't shake the feeling that Nat looked incredibly...stunning. Millie wasn't sure why the thought occurred to her; obviously, she was well-aware that Natalia was very attractive, but it felt as though her eyes were only noticing just now.
"Millie, I wasn't trying to make you feel bad, honest. But if I did, then it only proves my point that you still have a lot of maturing to do."