Page 51 of Dreams Come True at the Fairytale Museu
‘It is.’ It’s impossible to hide my delight that hegetsit, and I hadn’t realised how much I wanted him to.
I’m carrying the boxed teddy bear and the package containing the cape, and as we turn the corner at the end of Ever After Street and go through the car park, Warren’s got his phone out and is checking the route on his GPS app, and he quickly realises that I wasn’texactlyhonest about how far away the houses are.
‘I thought these houses were only fifteen minutes away! It’s going to take us nearly an hour to walk there!’
‘I meant fifteen minutes away from each other, I didn’t specify how far from here. Besides, it’s a beautiful evening. Look at the stars! Look at the trees! Feel the wind blowing your cape!’ I look over and meet his eyes. ‘And it was getting a bit… overcrowded inside tonight, don’t you think?’
He gives me that curious look again, like he knows I’m getting at something, and his response comes out as more of a mutter than he probably intended. ‘You can say that again.’
It sounds pained, and I can only imagine what it’s like to be in a room full of people, all talking at once, and to be struggling to hear while also desperately trying to hide it, and more than anything, IwishI’d known. I wish he’d told me, because I would never have put him in that position tonight.
It’s 8p.m. and darkness has long since fallen, and as we get further away from Ever After Street and onto quiet country lanes, Warren double-checks his phone to make sure we’re on the right path and then turns around and walks backwards again so he’s facing me, and now I know it’s because he’s making sure he can see my lips moving, it hurts like a physical blow that he feels like he needs to do it rather than being open.
‘Don’t do that.’ I transfer the box and package so they’re both under my left arm and then reach out with my right hand until he takes hold of it, and then I use my grip on his fingers to pull him nearer again. ‘I don’t have to speak. We can just walk without a word being said.’
He blinks in surprise for a few moments, and then silently falls back into line beside me and drops my hand, and I wonder if I should have given such an open hint, because this is obviously something he doesn’t want anyone to know about, but at the same time, now I know, Ihaveto know all of it, no matter whether he’s ready to share or not.
Time passes as we walk side by side in silence, punctuated only by the occasional falling leaf or call of a fox from the fields on the other side of the road, and I hear his intake of breath a couple of times, like he’s building himself up to saying something but never managing to get the words out, and I keep looking over at him, trying to smile encouragingly, and fighting the urge to reach over and take his hand again, but with him walking normally, I can’t think of an excuse to do so.
‘You know, don’t you?’
It’s almost a relief when he finally faces it head on and I look over at him and nod.
‘Because of Ali’s comment just now?’
‘No. I already knew, but Ali’s comment made me realise what it was that I knew, does that make sense?’
‘No! Not even slightly!’ He looks over and meets my eyes. ‘Which I’m starting to see is part of your charm.’
It makes me blush, and I decide to be honest with him too. ‘And you know about the exhibits, don’t you?’
‘Of course I do,’ he says with a good-natured laugh, sounding glad of the lighter subject. ‘Long before they just admitted it in front of me and forgot I didn’t know.’
I start to apologise for not being open with him about it, but he stops me. ‘It doesn’t matter, Liss. I’m an outsider, I know that, and you’re all very protective of each other. Scarily protective.’
His hand goes defensively around his throat again and he makes a face of abject terror, and I can’t help giggling, but I’m also not leaving the hearing thing there. ‘You know you have to tell me, right?’
‘No, I don’t think I do. I think we could just pretend this conversation never happened and carry on working alongside each other in blissful ignorance.’ He’s smiling and his tone sounds jokey, but I suspect that if I agreed, this would be his preferred plan.
‘That doesn’t work for me.’
‘As I knew it wouldn’t.’ His smile turns into a sigh and he looks off into the distance. ‘When I was twenty-two, I was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease.’
‘I’ve never heard of that,’ I admit, wishing I had more hands because my fingers twitch towards my phone to google it, but I’m going to drop these gifts if I try to juggle that as well.
‘It’s a chronic inner-ear disorder. Causes bouts of vertigo, tinnitus, and hearing loss in my left ear. It progresses with age so it’s getting worse as I’ve got older.’
‘If I’d known, I’d have never invited so many people over tonight.’
‘Yes, you would, because I willnothave people changing their plans to accommodate my failings.’ There’s a sharp look in his eyes and a determined set to his jaw, and when I go to protest that it’s not a failing, he doesn’t let me. ‘But yes, I was struggling tonight. One on one is fine as long as I can see someone’s lips moving, but with so many voices all at once, everyone talking to each other as well as to everyone else at the same time, I got really lost, and then I misheard the name Ali said for the tag and made it so obvious, right there on display for everyone to see, and I just needed to get out of there.’ He steps closer and nudges his elbow gently into my arm. ‘Thank you for recognising that and coming to rescue me.’
‘Says the man in a superhero cape.’
He laughs and does a twirl, his Disney prince cape spinning out around his shoulders and then catching up with itself all at once to thwack him round the face.
‘For what it’s worth, no one else put two and two together. They don’t know you like I do,’ I say, as he straightens it out again. Would it really be such a big deal if anyonehadrealised the truth behind his quietness tonight? If any of my friends had known that he was struggling to hear, they would have made a huge effort to ensure he could, weallwould.
I know it isn’t as simple as sounds, he’s obviously got some issues around this and I feel like I shouldn’t push too intensely and let him talk in his own time, so I venture gently, ‘Is there anything that helps?’
