Page 11 of Tender
He wanted to laugh in her face because why wouldn’t he be worried about it?Her dads knew her personal trainer before they knew her boyfriend?
He knew what this meant. He wasn’t a fool. But he had no idea what to do about it except offer his hand to Emmett and tell himself he’d figure this all out when this awkward as hell lunch was over.
“Nice to meet you, sir,” he eventually managed.
Emmett’s eyes widened as he took Miles’s hand in a very soft, almost comforting grasp.“We don’t do sir here.”He gave Miles’s arm a careful pat, then stepped aside.“This is my husband, Cosimo.Don’t let his face fool you.He’s an absolute grumpy asshole.”
“Jesus, can you be normal for ten seconds?” Selene asked, huffing as she sat.
Miles looked at her, then at the table.His deaf ear would be facing them all.“Can we swap places?My processor’s broken, and?—”
“Just sit,” Selene snapped.“Fuck’s sake, why is everything such a chore with you lately?”
Miles’s cheeks heated, flushed with color.“Right. Sorry.”He started to sit when Emmett caught his elbow, then he gestured at Cosimo who walked around the table as Selene scoffed.
“You really don’t need to make a big deal for him,” she insisted. “He can just read lips or whatever.”
Emmett shifted over so Miles could take his abandoned seat.“Are you being serious right now? If the air was blowing the wrong way, you’d have a screaming tantrum until the host reset the A/C vents with his bare hands.”
Miles almost choked on his own tongue at how true that was.She’d walked away from several meals in their two years together just because she didn’t like the way the grains of pepper looked on her plate.
Emmett winked at him as he said, “We can swap seats so your…boyfriend,” Miles didn’t miss the way Emmett’s voice hesitated on that word, “can hear us.”
He felt a little too much like he was imposing as he took his seat, and he could feel Emmett’s gaze lingering on him.He shifted and reached for the glass of water, taking a long swallow as he absently touched his working processor just to ensure it was still there and the magnet was holding.
“That thing is a fossil,” Emmett said.
“Amore,” Cosimo hissed, speaking for the first time. “Really?”
Miles didn’t need to ask Emmett what he was talking about.He touched his processor delicately again.He’d only gone without the both of them a few times in his life and it had been hell.Every time, he cursed himself for not knowing sign language and told himself it was next on his to-do list—but that damn thing just kept growing.
“It’s fine,” he said quickly.“They are super old.My other one is kind of on the fritz right now, so I left it at home.”
Emmett hummed. “You don’t want to get a new one?”
Feeling his cheeks heat, Miles tried for a small grin. “Well, I have university insurance, and they don’t cover upgrades, so I need to make do until I graduate and get a job.” Not that it was a guarantee any insurance would cover it, but he could hope.
Emmett frowned, then lifted his hands and signed something at him. He’d picked up a few signs here and there over the years and recognized a bit of what Emmett was saying, but not enough to understand the context.
‘You…something something something…want…something something something…now.’
Miles was once again forced to explain himself.“Sorry. I, uh…I never learned.I wasn’t taught.”
Emmett dropped his hands into his lap sheepishly.“Sorry.I forget most deaf kids with hearing parents aren’t introduced until a lot later in life. We had a hell of a time getting Selene’s audiologist to find a referral for us to learn when she was born. He insisted that she learn to speak first, but all the research said it was?—”
“Emmett,” Cosimo warned again. “You’re babbling.”
For the first time at the table, Miles saw Emmett’s gaze flash with something…powerful.It was enough to get Cosimo to duck his head for a brief second.
“Sorry,” Emmett said, offering a small smile. “I tend to go on tangents. Please tell me if you need me to repeat anything for you.”
Selene finally looked up from her phone.“Ignore my dads, okay?Besides,I want to talk about the trip to Ibiza I’m planning right now.”
Miles’s chest went cold. That was the first he was hearing of it, but it also wasn't the first time she'd dropped something like this in his lap.“What? I can’t take time off for Ibiza.”And he couldn’t afford it.There was no way.
Selene rolled her eyes and scoffed.“You're not invited. It’s just for me and some friends.”When her dads gave her looks of offense, she scoffed.“What?It’s not like he could afford a ticket anyway.He’s getting a doctorate in English literature.”
“History,” Miles muttered. “My program is ancient history.”Something tightened in his chest.He’d gone around and around with Selene about how little she paid attention to him.But it always ended with him apologizing and letting her have her way.He didn’t know why things felt like they were shifting now though. He'd never found it in him to care enough, but something in his chest felt like it was cracking open.
