sanctuary // george joji miller

thirteen

Monday afternoon. I let the curtain open and watched as the sun lit the kitchen. The golden light is giving me nostalgic movie scene vibes and I'm here for it.

I sip on my hot cocoa and turned the page of the book I was reading. I got my new book from the bookstore that just opened last week 20 blocks away from the Miller's house. I walked past it while I was on my way to the grocery store.

Its title is Women Who Love Too Much by Robin Norwood. The pages of the book are almost yellowish, giving it an antique vibe. 

"Where's Ezra?" Joj entered the kitchen with that question, I was a bit surprised but recovered quickly.

It feels like we haven't talked in a long time.

"He's busy with school, I guess." I replied. "Why?"

"He's always here, I'm just surprised he isn't with you today." He said, there's something in his tone but I can't quite decipher what's the tone he's giving me.

I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Why, don't you want him around?"

He didn't reply right away to me, he walked towards me, across me at the counter. He lifted my cup of cocoa and took a sip himself.

That's my cup.

I gave him a look and he looked straight back at me, making me blush for absolutely no reason.

What the fuck is wrong with me?

"I just don't feel safe in my own house when there are people I'm not close with." He said simply, taking another sip from my cup.

I nodded my head, kind of understanding where he's coming from. But wait...

Does he consider me as a close friend?

I didn't say anything back to his statement and just quietly continued to read, he just stood there, drinking my hot cocoa.

I have no complaints though, I can always make myself another one.

But I don't know why I'm being a little bothered that he's drinking on my cup, does he know that's my cup?

Nah, maybe he doesn't. I don't think he's the type that would do that.

"How are you?" He initiates a conversation and I looked up to him, he's already looking at me and I immediately looked the other way.

"I've been good, well, I don't know, Uhm, I finished 2 books this month," I rambled, he just chuckled at my response. "What?"

"I missed talking to you." He said straightforwardly. "You're all I have here."

I was taken aback by the sudden expression and choice of words of George. I was left stunned, I shifted my eyes to him and now he's the one looking away.

"You can talk to me anytime, Joj, I'll always be here for you." I reassured him. "You don't have to believe me, just let me show it to you."

He just hummed as a response.

"Do you want to do anything today?" I asked him, closing my book and fully putting all of my attention on him.

He sipped on the cup again.

"This tastes really good, you're so great at making hot cocoa." He commented. "Make some more, let's drink it while we watch a movie."

"So we're watching a movie? Okay then, sure." I chuckled. "What are we watching?"

"I have a Forgetting Sarah Marshall DVD, let's go with that."

"Who still keeps DVDs at this time?" I scoffed. He gave me a glare.

"Uh, me?"

"So you're like, one of those guys huh," I nodded to myself standing up, getting the cocoa powder container, and putting it on the counter. I turned on the electric kettle to heat up some water.

"I'm cool." He stated confidently, putting his chin on the palm of his hands. "I'm not your typical kind of guy." He said, adding a sarcastic tone to it.

"Yeah, okay," I laughed. "By the way, I heard you sing like last week? What's that song?"

"What?"

"With lyrics that goes like, 'don't you know I love you'," I tried to sing it, he raised his eyebrows.

"So you can sing?" He said, sounding impressed. "And yeah, that song was... I don't know, random."

"I like it, it sounds nice." I smiled at him. "You should like, make a Spotify account or something."

He didn't respond after that. I just got two new cups and added cocoa and the other stuff.

I sat across him again, he is still in his position earlier and his eyes were closed. I looked at his hands and just started to admire how beautiful his hands are.

"Wait, is that a cut?"

"What, where?" He said, opening his eyes and looking at his hands.

I pointed at his finger, there was a small cut, and it looked quite fresh.

"Oh."

"Let me get the bandaids," I told him and he just nodded, sitting still on the stool.

What happened to him?

I got the bandaids from the upper compartments above the counter and opened the first aid kit.

"Give me your hand." I told him, I put the band-aid on the finger that has a cut. "What happened to you?" I continued, looking up to him to see that he's already looking at me. He casually looked away, then to his finger.

"Maybe it was that time I was writing some lyrics on one of my notebooks, probably a paper cut." He answered. "I can be pretty clumsy and dumb sometimes," he chuckled.

"You're such a child."

"I'm 23." He laughed. "You're like, 20, you're the child."

"Excuse you, I'm 21," I argued, we laughed loud afterwards, the sounds of our laughter echoing.

This feels nice.

It's one of those times again, we will talk for a long time then not talk for a month again or so.

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sorry i keep forgetting i have wattpad but i have until chap 18 in the drafts! love u all

i also made a jojitwt acc recently, let's be mutuals! i'm WANTEDYUO in jojitwt 🤍