Whitegirls Like You
Chapter 5 - Ally for Blacks
Trisha fidgeted in her seat, glancing uneasily at the unfamiliar streets flashing past the car windows. "Millie,
seriously
, where are we going?"
Millie kept her eyes on the road, her grip firm on the steering wheel. "You'll see."
Her mother let out an exasperated sigh. "Millie―"
"
I said
, you'll see."
The finality in her tone shut Trisha up.
For a moment, silence settled over the car, save for the deep thrum of bass from the speakers.
Markus' voice filled the cabin once again, smooth and commanding, the beat rolling beneath his lyrics like an unstoppable force.
"She took my money when I was green,
Made me feel like she was so keen.
Oh, she's a gold digger,
Dreaming 'bout a mansion, not me."
Millie glanced sideways, expecting her mother to tense up―to complain, scoff, change the subject.
But instead...
Trisha sat still, her hands neatly folded in her lap. Her face was unreadable, but her head was nodding slightly, almost absentmindedly.
And then―
Millie could barely believe it at first―
Trisha started humming along.
It was quiet, almost subconscious, like she wasn't even aware she was doing it. Just like Millie had the first few days following the L.A. concert, finding herself snapping out of a daze after getting lost in Markus' music for longer than she'd thought.
Millie didn't say anything, even refrained from humming along. She didn't want to break the trance. So she just let it happen, with a big smile on her face. It seemed like her mother's shell was finally cracking and something new was getting through to her.
They drove like that for another ten minutes―Markus' music filling the car, Trisha no longer arguing, no longer resisting. Millie could swear her expression even seemed eager now. It was also the longest time she had spent with her mother without a word between them.
By the time they pulled up near the rally and Millie turned the music off, Trisha blinked like she was waking up from a dream. Millie parked on a side street, away from the main crowd. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to her mother.
"We're here. Time to get out." Millie said.
"Um, where― where's 'here'?" Trisha asked, rubbing her eyes.
"Downtown. At a
Black Lives Matter
rally," Millie stated firmly. "You're coming with me to see it."
Sure, her mother may have zoned out during the drive, but surely what Millie had said would elicit some kind of fresh protest from her. Instead, Trisha looked like a deer caught in headlights. She was staring straight ahead, her fingers gripping the hem of her dress. For the first time all night, she looked unsure of what to say or do.
Millie smirked. "Nervous?"
Trisha scoffed―but it wasn't convincing.
Millie stepped out of the car, pulling on her baseball cap and sunglasses for a disguise. After a long pause, Trisha followed her with slow but deliberate steps. The sounds of the rally felt like a roaring lion, vibrating through the ground. But to Millie, it was a siren's song, pulling her ever closer.
They didn't walk directly into the rally―Millie knew better than to throw her mother into the deep end all at once.
Instead, she led her to the sidelines, near the edge of the square, where they could watch without drawing attention.
The scene before them was electric.
A sea of people stood together, holding signs high, their voices unified in powerful chants. Some raised their fists, others waved banners with messages of justice, unity, and change.
Despite the intensity of the movement, the atmosphere was not chaotic. It was organized, passionate, but most of all―alive.
Even so, Millie noticed the police nearby, standing warily between the BLM activists and some white counter-protesters, who were frankly acting far more unruly than their counterparts. She heard several of them hurl threats and insults at the
Black
members of the protest, ones which should have stirred some kind of response from the officers, but it was plain the police had no intention of intervening unless a BLM member got reactive.
Millie could see the way her mother's eyes darted across the crowd, her expression flickering between apprehension and intrigue.
She was afraid―not in the sense of danger, but in the way that only someone who had never truly stepped outside their bubble could be.
But there was something else, too.
Something like... curiosity.
Millie noted that her mothers eyes continued turning toward a
Black
man standing next to them―not one of the protesters himself, but possibly a family member or friend to one. Trisha was giving the tall, athletic man several 'once'-overs, something Millie could not recall her mother ever having done before.
Millie folded her arms, watching Trisha watch him.
The energy of the rally seemed to be growing ever more electric, pulsing through the streets of downtown Nashville like a living, breathing force.
Millie had never seen anything like it.
The crowd had been large when she and Trisha arrived, but now it was growing, swelling―bystanders, once hesitant, started stepping forward, joining in, raising their voices in unity.
People chanted, fists raised high.
The rhythmic, powerful call vibrated through Millie's chest, and before she even realized it, she was chanting too.
But then―
The crowd surged forward like a stampede.
A wave of former bystanders flooded around them and into the street, some holding signs, others simply linking arms with strangers, drawn in by the undeniable momentum of change.
Millie felt herself bumped, jostled―and suddenly, she was being pulled one way, while her mother was pulled another.
"Mom?!" Millie called, twisting to see through the mass of people.
She caught a final glimpse of Trisha―her mother's wide, startled blue eyes flicking toward her, mouth parting as if to call out. The tall
Black
man was still beside her, turning to look in Millie's direction, a sudden understanding dawning on his face. He pulled close to Trisha, his strong frame trying to hold steady even as the crowd shifted, like a boulder in a river. Even so, it wasn't enough.
Millie tried to push through the sea of people, but it was impossible―the sheer number of bodies moved like a tide, sweeping her forward, further from her mother. Millie's last glimpse was of her mother standing beside the
Black
man, their arms accidentally brushing as they were carried away from her in a different direction.
Millie's heart pounded.
In her anger, Millie had brought Trisha here to prove a point, a little wadding in to the reality of
Black
America to bring her down off her pedestal. Instead, Millie had thrown her in deep.
For the first time in her life, Trisha Lucas was truly surrounded by something bigger than herself. This movement for
Black
lives,
Black
souls―Trisha was immersed in it, consumed by it. Whatever she encountered there, Trisha couldn't run away from it like she always did when faced with an uncomfortable truth.
Millie swallowed hard, feeling guilty but also realizing she had no control over what happened next.
She had to trust that, wherever Trisha ended up, she would finally see what Millie had been trying to show her. Millie would just have to look for her once things settled down.
For now, Millie turned in the direction of the flow, letting the crowd carry her into the movement.
Millie had never felt anything like this. Even when she was performing, she had never been shoulder to shoulder with the massive crowd of her fans, keeping a healthy distance from them up on the stage. She imagined this might be comparable to jumping off the stage and into that crowd―something she had thought of doing more than once―and letting the arms of her fans lift her up.
Millie became keenly aware of the heat of the bodies pressing against her as they marched, the thrumming pulse of something bigger than herself. She had never been part of something this raw, this real.
The crowd grew denser, and she found herself sandwiched between a couple of
Black
men, their muscular forms moving rhythmically with the chant. Her heart raced―not from fear, but from a sudden, unexpected thrill.
The way they looked at her―those dark, hungry eyes―it was as if they knew she was here as a white ally. Here for them. It sent a shiver down her spine.
Her thoughts grew more daring, imagining the strength of their hands on her body, the feel of their skin against hers. The way they moved in sync down the street, the confidence in their stride―it was intoxicating.
Millie found herself leaning into their touches, brushing up against them 'accidentally'. Each contact sent a jolt of excitement through her, making her breath hitch. She knew what she was doing was risky, but she couldn't help it―it was like an invisible force was pulling her in.
The men didn't miss her subtle cues. They returned her glances with smirks, their hands finding ways to linger just a moment too long on her hips, her shoulders.