Words to Me

1984

Part of me knows we should probably go down stairs but then again it's so nice just to sit here in the calm after everything that happened. Julia stretches herself over both of our laps and lets out a sigh as we pet her. Her tail thumps against the side of my bed and her hind paw is moving in time to it. I smile watching her and look up at Andrew to see him looking at me as well.

"So I know I only met you today and I hope I'm not prying, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to but did you and that waitress know each other? Or?" His words come out all at once and I can see he's absolutely clueless.

The whole of it, looking back now, is absolutely ridiculous, especially considering what it led to and I start laughing causing Julia to look up from her blissful state. "No I've never seen her before but I know her type well enough."

"Her type?" His hands are absentmindedly rubbing Julia's ears and her tongue is lolling to the side as her tail thumping increases.

"Yeah, heavy makeup, no respect for relationships, just uses guys until the next best thing, mean, will smile in your face as she stabs you. That type of girl." Judging by the look on his face he was still lost. "Did you know she was hitting on you?"

"She was?"

I lean back a bit "Oh yeah she was completely hitting on you. Full on war. She payed attention to exclusively you, kept trying to slip her number to you, god she was even flaunting her breasts. And I, being the only other girl, was seen as competition. Her spilling a drink wasn't an accident. You didn't notice any of that?"

He rubs the back of his head rubbing a hand through his hair. "Ehm no, I noticed the tension between the two of you but I was....ehm....thinking of other things so I didn't really notice her all that much." He trails off awkwardly going back to petting Julia in the silence.

The awkward silence continues and I just focus on petting Julia as his eyes wander around my room. I can't help but steal little glances at him here and there and when he speaks up I think I'm caught.

"May I?" He asks gesturing to the dark shelves with various knick knacks, pictures, movies, books, and vinyls on their shelves.

"Oh yeah go ahead." He stands up and walks across the room as Julia's annoyed glance follows him. She fluffs her fur and repositions herself on my lap so I can pet her, her pride offended at having a handsome stranger stop petting her. I can't help but laugh a bit and Andrew looks back seeing Julia in all her offended glory.

He backtracks quickly to ruffle her fur "I'm very sorry Julia I'll be right back." Her ears twitch towards his voice but she gives no other signs of acknowledgment. "She's a very sassy dog isn't she?" He says casually as he walks back to the shelves his fingers skimming gently over books spines.

"Oh yes, but she's also extremely loyal and sweet and smart." I rub her ears in a circular pattern as I watch Andrew.

His attention moves from my movies to the books to the small trinkets to the pictures and vinyls. He's careful with everything making sure it's all exactly as it was. "You're quite the reader. Does Julia's name derive from this?" He asks holding my old beaten copy of 1984.

"Yeah actually it does. I didn't know you knew Orwell's literature that well." Very few people I talked to knew as much about literature as I did, I practically grew up in a library.

"This is one of my favorite books to be honest. He's a great author. You have quite a large collection of literature."

"Oh that's nothing those are just my personal favorites. There's books scattered all around the place." He nods the book already back in place and his hands on a small music box.

"Where's this from it's beautiful."

Sad memories wash over me. "A gift from someone I used to know, we got it in Paris together."

"I see I'm sorry if I brought up something uncomfortable." His tone was soft and kind and his eyes sad. Almost as if he too knew an unspoken pain from stories past.

"It's alright, it was a long time ago. How about we get you something to eat, yeah?" I smile again and stand up and Julia jumps down with me.

***this chapter is brought to you by blackmail!***