Page 14 of The Love Duet
Then stepping back to give me some space, he signed, “Good.Now, get your books, so that we can go.”
I couldn’t stop my smile, even if I’d wanted to.When I went to grab my book for class, Pepper came racing around the corner, and when she spotted us together, her smile matched mine.
Sauntering up to us like she had all day, she came to stand next to us, her eyes flying back and forth between us.“So...”
Royce looked down at her, still smiling.“Roxie’s agreed to be my girlfriend,” he tried to sign, though it was a bit of a mess.
“You agreed to be his girlfriend?”Pepper signed slowly, correcting his mess.
“Yes,” I signed back as I nodded.“We’re official.”
After dropping that little gem, I went back to getting my stuff, and after shutting the door, we made our way to Royce’s locker.Pepper already had her stuff with her, so we just needed to get Royce’s stuff, then head on to class.I wasn’t sure if Royce realized that Pepper was in all of my classes, so there’d be no privacy between us.However, something told me that he wouldn’t mind.
When Royce finally delivered me and Pepper to our first class, he stopped me from going inside as he let Pepper on by.“I’ll give you and Pepper our breaks, but I get you at lunch,” he voiced.“Is that okay?”
I nodded, then signed, “Okay.”
Royce grinned.“Good.Okay,” he signed before he leaned down, then kissed me on my cheek, adding, “I’m going to start speaking to you in sign more, so be patient with me, okay?”
My heart thumped again.“Okay,” I signed again.
Another kiss, and then Royce was on his way.I watched him jog off because the second bell for class had already begun.He might be late, and that realization just warmed my heart again.Royce was putting in some considerable effort to do this thing with me, and I couldn’t lie and say that it didn’t make me feel special, because it made me feelveryspecial.
~
Royce~
I hadn’t wanted to give her our two breaks to be with Pepper, but I hadn’t wanted to scare her off, either.I’d gotten a major win this morning when Roxie had agreed to be my girlfriend, so I didn’t want to undo the progress that I’d made.However, truth be told, I wanted to be with her every second of the day.I’d wasted so much time waiting to ask her out that I was annoyed that we couldn’t just speed things along.While this was all new to Roxanne, as far as I was concerned, I’d been dating her since last year when I’d first gotten here.
“That was one hell of a kiss this morning.”
I turned to see Hudson making his way towards my locker, and the asshole had the biggest smile on his face.It was our first break of the day, and Hudson and I always hung out together during breaks and lunch.After all, we were super close and teammates.
“Saw that, did you?”
“Everyone saw that,” he smirked.“You’re lucky it’s not going viral right now.”
I winced.“It was just a kiss,” I murmured.“It’s not like we’re the first teenage couple to ever do it.”
“True,” he agreed as we made our way to the courtyard.The courtyard had two snack kiosks, and we usually grabbed something to hold us over until lunch.“But it’s the first time that Royce Cameron has been seen kissing a girl at Yosemite.Plus, it’s also the first time that Roxanne Rafferty has been seen kissing a guy.”
“They’ll get over it,” I replied dryly.
When we got to the courtyard, Hudson nudged me.“Looks like someone is waiting to talk to you,” he muttered low enough for my ears only.
Glancing in the same direction that he was, I noticed Kaley Frost and Simone Lewis waiting by the kiosk that Hudson and I usually frequented.Granted, they could be there to buy some snacks, but I doubted it.I’d never seen them here before today, so itwasodd.
As soon as we got within hearing distance, Kaley pounced.“So, is it true?”she asked.“People are saying that you’re dating Roxanne Rafferty.”She crossed her arms over her chest.“But...that’s impossible, right?”
“Excuse me?”I asked, and because Hudson knew me well enough to know the tone of my voice, he stayed quiet.Simone also had enough sense to understand that my love life was none of her business, nor was it any of Kaley’s business as well.
Kaley dropped her arms.“Well, I mean...how do you even talk to her?”she asked like a complete idiot.“Why would any guy want to date a girl who can’t hear them?”
It took everything in me not to go off on this girl.I tried to be respectful at all times, especially if it involved a female, but my heart was racing inside my rib cage, and not from excitement.Rage was steadily coursing through my veins right now.
However, this went beyond defending my girlfriend.This was about defending a girl who couldn’t defend herself.Sure, Roxie could probably kick Kaley’s ass, but this wasn’t about that.Kaley had the advantage of being able to go around and talk all kinds of crap about Roxanne, and Roxanne would just have to take it because not enough people knew sign language enough to hear Roxanne’s side.There was also the risk of Pepper going off half-cocked, and it was up to me to protect both girls.Roxanne, because she was my girlfriend, and Pepper, because she mattered to Roxanne.
“Not that it’s any of your fucking business, but Iamdating Roxanne,” I snapped.“Also, something else that’s none of your fucking business, is the fact that I’ve been taking sign language classes just so that she’d say yes when I did finally ask her out.”Kaley’s eyes widened at that.“I’ve been wanting to ask her out since I first transferred here last year.”Straightening to my full height, I stared the girl down.“And just for the record, I’d rather date a girl who can’t hear me talk, than one who doesn’t know when to shut the fuck up.”
