Page 13 of Mara
“What the fuck?” I glared at my phone screen.
“Uhh,” Alex said, scratching their faded hair. I looked over to them, stuffing my phone in my bag and trying to ignore the weird encounter.
“Sorry, Alex. My sister was just messaging me about…” I thought about my answer for a minute. “A spot on the wall or something.”
Alex laughed and made a sign with their hands. Spider. “Maybe it was a creepy crawler? Gigi didn’t look the type to want an eight-legged companion as a pet.”
I snorted at that. Gianna would scream at Daddy Long Legs as a kid. I wore spiders on my shoulders and arms like fuzzy trophies, giggling as they crawled on my skin. Gianna hated anything that wasn’t a cat or dog.
“I’m sure her boyfriend will get it out of the house, no worries,” I said dismissively.
Alex made a strange face that I couldn’t read, but turned away from me.
They spoke, but all I heard was muffled tones. I groaned in frustration over my disability and tapped their shoulder. “I can’t understand you with your back turned.”
Alex looked guilty and shook their head. “Oh fuck me, I am so sorry. I am still learning how to communicate properly.”
I shrugged. “I am pretty good at reading lips. I don’t rely too heavily on my cochlear implants, but if I can’t see you, then it’s all guesswork. If there’s other noises around, I’m fucked.”
As if on cue, the building vibrated, a sure sign it was raining.
“Thunder,” I said, pointing to the roof.
Alex opened their mouth in surprise. “Whoa! You can hear that? That’s so cool.”
I shrugged again. “Like I said. Guesswork. I use a combination of a lot of things to figure out what’s being said around me.”
Alex thought about that for a second and then deadpanned. They weren’t voicing when they mouthed the next words slowly.
“You either said fuck you or vacuum. I’m assuming vacuum unless I pissed you off by ditching you today,” I laughed.
Alex laughed with me, shaking their head. “Nah, I made some new friends. Where did you run off to?”
I couldn’t help the blush spreading down my neck and across my cheeks.
Oh, ya know, just coming in my sister’s boyfriend’s mouth on the bathroom sink of the yogurt shop. No worries.
“I got lost.”
Alex looked me up and down, then shrugged.
“Gianna seemed nice.” They zipped up their bag and closed their locker.
“She can be. She liked you.”
After my sister’s asshat boyfriend left, we found Alex and had some yogurt while chit-chatting until our break was over. Gigi kept looking at her phone more than talking to us, so Alex and I got to know each other more.
My phone vibrated again, and I eyed my pocket but didn’t make a move to grab it.
Alex watched me with amusement over my internal battle.
“Oh, so it was porn then.”
I rolled my eyes and chucked a pen from my scrubs at them.
“Oh, c’mon, Mara. You have to be getting some. You can’t fuck your patients…” Alex trailed off and then laughed, “Well, I’m sure it’s frowned upon.”
I cringed at the thought of fucking anyone at Wellard. There were the typical douche bag doctors and psychiatrists here, but none I would fuck. The patients? Yeah, no, I valued my life, thank you.
