Page 5 of The Love Duet
Rather than try to talk to her like I was fluent in ASL, I voiced the truth of my knowledge.“I’m still learning,” I admitted.“I’ve only been taking classes for a few months.”The girl smiled at me, and I just wanted the ground to open up and swallow me whole.“Are you sure that you’re okay?”
She repeated her gestures.“I’m fine.”
Giving her a tight nod to let her know that I understood, I said, “Well, I better let you go.We’re already late for class.”
With her purse hanging on her shoulder again, she hugged her books to her chest.“Okay,” she mouthed.
I smiled my best non-crazy-person smile at her, then went to head to class.However, a few steps in, I turned back around, then jogged back towards where she was already walking away.
Once I was standing back in front of her, I went for broke.“Are you going to the game tonight?”I signed.
She blinked in surprise, either impressed that I was good at signing, or else mortified that I was butchering her beautiful language.Still, she nodded her head, signing, “Yes.”
Sticking with signing, I asked, “Alone?”
Roxanne shook her head, and slow enough to not send me reeling, she signed, “With Pepper.”
I let out a breath that I hadn’t even realized that I’d been holding.While I’d never seen Roxanne with a guy, I had no idea if she had a boyfriend or not.We were seniors in high school, so there was no reason that she couldn’t be dating someone in college; a childhood sweetheart situation or something like that.
Not knowing how to sign what I wanted to say next, I voiced, “I’ll save you a seat in my section.”Her eyes widened again, so I quickly added, “If that’s okay with you.I mean...if you want.”
A few torturous seconds later, she finally signed, “Okay.”
My brows jumped up in excitement.“Yeah?”
She nodded.“I’d like that,” she signed, or I was pretty sure that’s what she had signed.
“Uh...okay,” I stammered like an idiot.“I’ll see you tonight.”I signed that last part.
“I’ll see you tonight,” she signed back, and I almost jumped up and down when I noticed that I had signed it correctly.
I shot her a quick smile before I took off for class, and suddenly, being benched for being late to class didn’t seem so terrible anymore.
~
Roxanne~
My heart was still racing, and I couldn’t keep the goofy grin off my face.Even though Royce hadn’t specifically called it a date, it had to mean something that he’d offered to save me a seat in the players’ section, right?
At any rate, even if I could hear, I was pretty sure that I still wouldn’t have heard a damn thing that the teacher was saying; that’s how giddy I felt.Granted, I could have done without getting mowed down and knocked on my ass, but it was all worth it if it meant having Royce Cameron notice me.
It wasn’t until I saw people standing up that I realized class must be over.Looking over at the clock that hung over the chalkboard, I quickly began gathering my stuff, eager to get the day over with.For the first time ever, I was excited about going to a freakin’ football game.
As soon as Pepper and I cleared the doorway, she was on me.“Okay, what gives?”she signed.“You haven’t stopped smiling since you got to class.Late, by the way.”
Because it was hard to sign and still pay attention to where you were going, I jerked my head towards the end of the hallway, letting her know that I wanted to wait until we were at our lockers.Usually, Pepper was aware enough to expect it and wait, but that zesty characteristic of hers got the best of her a lot.Pepper wanted to go to college to get her degree in agricultural science, but I just couldn’t see it.I’d always thought that she should go into public speaking.She’d be an amazing motivational speaker.
Once we reached our lockers, she didn’t even bother with opening her locker first.“Okay, so what’s going on?”she immediately signed, her arms carrying the brunt of her stuff.
I opened my locker, then traded my stuff out.Because my next class required my laptop, I grabbed my book bag, then tossed everything inside it.
When I was done getting everything situated, I turned to her, then finally told her what had happened.“I ran into Royce Cameron.”Her eyes immediately sparkled wide.“He was rushing to class and accidentally ran into me.”
“Oh, my God!”It was rather remarkable that I couldn’t hear but that Pepper was animated enough that I could feel the emotion behind her signs.“What happened?”
Knowing that we only had a few minutes before class, I quickly signed to her everything that had happened.I’d also made sure to let her know that he’d said that he was going to save a seat for us in the players’ section for tonight’s game.
Now, while I knew that I could be reading way too much into that one sentence, why else would he offer that when he didn’t owe me anything?We didn’t even know each other.Sure, I knew who he was, and he probably knew who I was because I was the only deaf girl that went to school here, but we weren’t friends.Royce Cameron had no reason to extend such a courtesy unless he wanted to become friends.However, that little bit of hope sent my teenage female heart racing and excited for something more.
