Page 53 of Brew
“Fuck you, asshole.”
“Or is a certainsomeoneworth prettyin’ yourself up for?”
“You wouldn’t know, you barely have any hair.”
Haze runs a hand over his head and I attempt to slap him, but he’s too fast. “Very funny.”
“Mama’s boy.”
“Speakin’ of which,” Haze says. “She hasn’t surfaced yet with Nova.”
Erica convinced Nova to hear my mom out, and while she was doing that, we drilled it into her that Nova is fragile, so pushing her isn’t a good idea. Mom may be a ballbuster, but she’s also not stupid. The strained relationship between Nova and her mom is for them to work out. Not my meddling mom.
We stand. I’ve got shit to do today, including getting over to Big Papa’s.
“I hate to say it, but Nova needs to learn to stand on her own two feet. I get that she needs time to adjust after gettin’ out of the big house, but if she’s gonna be workin’ here, she will actually have to do some work.”
“The responsibility will be good for her. We can talk to Erica about her duties, and give her more jobs to do once she’s got a little more confidence,” Haze says.
As much as our cousin might annoy the shit out of us, none of us wants to see her struggling with no place to go. What Nova also has to realize is that handouts don’t come for free. This is her second chance, and she can’t fuck this up.
When we get to the reception area, I’m about to head out when Olive comes running in excitedly. She’s in her schooluniform, her backpack quickly gets shoved to one side as she says, “Hey, Brew, guess what I learned today?”
“Shock me,” I say.
Olive talks a lot, but she’s a good kid. Always polite to her mom, and just different from other kids. Probably because she’s only been a couple of years out of that weird cult she was born into, but making friends comes naturally to her.
My words stop in my throat as she starts signing her name.Hello. My name is Olive.
I frown.What the fuck?
“Do you know what I’m saying?” she asks as I take a step back.
The feeling of adrenaline courses through me. I swallow hard as I hear Erica’s gasp behind me. She knows.
“Yes.”
“What, smarty pants?”
I sign back my own name, talking this time. “My name is Brew.”
Olive’s mouth falls open. “You know how to sign?”
I steal a glance at my brother, who’s stopped in his tracks. I haven’t used ASL in a long time, but it’s not as if you forget. “Some.”
“I’m sorry, Brew,” Erica says, her face pales.She knows. She fucking knows Valencia was deaf.“Olive didn’t know?—”
I wave her off. “Don’t worry about it, she’s just a kid.”
“What didn’t I know?” Olive is still bouncing on her toes with excitement. It hasn’t dawned on her yet that I’m rigid and annoyed. It’s not her fault, but it brings back too many memories. Memories I want to forget.
Before anyone can speak for me, or make Olive feel bad, I interject. “I had a girlfriend once, and she was deaf.”
“Oh, wow!” Olive says. “That’s really cool, do you think she could teach me? We don’t get nearly as long in class to learn anything valuable.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
