joe's foster home // fillie

f o u r

chapter four

december 20th, 11:56pm

it was hard to sleep. not just because it was a new environment or the fact that sadie snores louder than a pig--- it was the fact that she felt lonely. she felt more lonely sleeping in the room with sadie than she did when she had alone in her own room with her family.

after they finished dinner and millie learned all their names, joe gave her two melatonin pills to try to get her to sleep, but she didn't feel tired. she had been thinking. much like the past few times she's tried to sleep, she was thinking. about her famliy. and about their happiness and their smiles and their beautiful minds and hearts that were now buried six feet under.

but suddenly, millie heard something.

it was light, and she could barely make it out past the snoring, but there was a strum of guitar chords. the picking at the strings, seeming to make sure it was tuned. millie stood up, the bed creaking when she did. she just stared out into the darkness, listening. she heard the faint chords, and she prayed to god that this wasn't just in her head.

she stood up and walked towards the door, slowly pulling down on the handle so that it would be quiet when she opened and closed the door.

the strums were louder.

millie followed the music down the stairs, and she saw that one of the lamps were turned on.

she scanned the room and heard the strumming come to a stop. she turned around quickly, so see finn, the curly haired boy, sitting in one of the chairs, a black acoustic guitar in his hand.

"oh shit," he whispered, the said louder, "i'm...i'm so sorry. did i wake you?"

millie suddenly felt naked. she looked down to see that she was wearing her dance sweatpants and a sweatshirt, but she felt the need to cross her arms over her chest as she shook her head, "uh. no. i couldn't sleep,"

finn nodded, his eyes trained on hers, "yeah. that happened my first night too,"

millie chewed on her lip, standing near the foot of the stairs. she felt awkward just standing there, her arms crossed over her chest. so, she slowly started walking towards the couches and the chairs as she said, clearing her throat, "um, was that the E chord?"

finn straightened in his chair as millie sat on the couch in front of him, tucking her knees into her chest.

"uh... yeah. yeah. it was. how'd you know?"

millie looked to the side and shrugged, "a lot of my favorite songs have that chord in them. plus, it was my favorite chord on piano. it isn't used in very many songs though,"

"you played piano?" he asked curiously.

millie nodded, "pretty damn well, too,"

finn leaned back in his chair, picking at some strings, "i always wanted to play piano. i always thought piano players were cool because they could move their hands so fast,"

millie scoffed, playfully stating, smiling at her hands, "you guitar guys move your hands way faster than us, believe me. i always wanted to learn guitar,"

finn smiled, tilting his head to the side, "i guess we'll have to teach each other, then,"

his voice was playful, but millie frowned and looked into her lap, shaking her head, "we don't have a piano,"

finn shrugged, "you can ask joe for a keyboard for christmas. they aren't that expensive,"

millie shook her head, crinkling her nose, "i can't do that. i don't deserve it,"