Louder than Words | I'm Not Okay with This Fanfiction

The Party

Phoebe wished that she could erase the image of her crush having sex with another girl from her memory, but it was kind of hard. It almost made her feel stupid that she didn't see that he obviously had feeling for Syd. She sat behind the desk at the vinyl record shop after school, looking through a Seventeen magazine when the sight of Stanley walking up to the counter caught her attention. "Hey", he greeted and she greeted back.

"Where were you last Friday night? Me and Syd didn't notice you were gone", Stanley asked. Did you really?, she thought. "I just..had a family emergency", she replied, blatantly lying.

"Is everything okay now?"

"Yeah"

"Well, next time that happens, just tell me, ok?"

"Ok"

There was a bit of silence for a moment and Stanley casually tapped his shoulders against the counter. "Can I tell you something?", he asked her. "Sure", replied Phoebe. He looked around to see if anyone's
around before he faced Phoebe. Luke was already in the back room and luckily, there weren't a lot of customers coming in that day. "I had slept with Syd that night", Stanley told her.

"Seriously?", Phoebe asked, pretending that it was new to her.

"Yeah. Actually, it was my first time, but.it was nice", he said. "What do you think of Syd?"

"She's cool"

"I think I'm in love with her"

As much as it hurt hearing him confess to liking her, Phoebe knew that she had no choice, but to be happy for him. After all, it was the right thing to do. "You should tell her", she told him.

"Yeah, I'm going to. I was actually planning on asking her to homecoming".

She slowly nodded her head in response. "Ricky Berry's having a party at his house. I was wondering if you'd like to go? I mean, as friends, of course", he asked.
"Sure. I'll have to ask my parents"

Phoebe hardly went to any high school parties, but she didn't mind going either way.

~~~~~~~

Later that day, Stanley arrived to Phoebe's house to pick her up. She wore a yellow floral dress, a white cardigan, and white tennis shoes. "Well, you look dapper", she told him, referring to his baby blue suit. 

"Thanks. You look good yourself ", he smiled.

"Just good?"

"Fine, you look amazing"

She grinned, "Thank you".

Once Stanley and Phoebe arrived at Ricky's house, he put his sunglasses on and glanced at Phoebe. "Shall we?", he asked.

"We shall", she replied.

The house was filled with chattering teenagers crowding around the living room and the kitchen, the slight smell of beer, and music loud enough to vibrate through the floor. "Stan!", Dina called out as she sat on the couch with Syd.

"Hey, Phoebe", Dina greeted the blonde girl. The four of them mostly spent the first half of the night chatting on couch.

"Where did you get that?", Dina asked Phoebe, referring to the rose decorated on the processor of her cochlear implant.

"It was ordered online", she replied and Stanley translated.

"Oh. I think it looks cute"

"Thanks", she smiled.

"So, Stan, I just feel like you and I have ever really talked", Dina shifted her attention to the boy.

"I guess not", he slightly chuckled awkwardly.

"So you and Syd, are like, neighbors. Like close neighbors, right?"

"I mean, we're like a few blocks away from each other so I'd say we're moderately close"

As the conversation went on, Phoebe sat in between Sydney and Stan feeling awkward at the discussion over his and Syd's romantic connection. "Sounds pretty close to me", Dina suggested, laughing.

"Just ignore her, okay?", Syd asked him.

"Holy shit, that's Jenny Tuffield?", Dina asked, spotting a dark-haired girl in black clothing, pouring liquor in to her cup. Jenny used to be in Phoebe's psychology class and she remembered one occasion where Jenny showed up to class drunk and had to be escorted out by an administrator and the school resource officer.
"Didn't her mom just send her to rehab?", asked Stan.

"Yeah, but I guess because she's here, it totally worked and she's all better now?". Jenny started chugging a shot.

"Yeah, I'm sure she's pretty sobered up now", Phoebe said sarcastically.

"Jessie's Girl" by Rick Springfield started playing in the background. "Oh my god, I love this song, we have to dance to this, like right now", Dina pulled Syd up from her seat and led her to the dance floor. As Phoebe watched the two girls dance, she scooted a bit closer to him. It was close enough to where she could smell cologne on him.

"Are you enjoying the party?", Stanley asked her.

"Yeah", she replied. Even though some of the people were doing activity that she wasn't interested in, it was still a fairly decent party. She noticed that he seemed to look

"Is everything okay?", she asked.

"Yeah, it's just.. I'm a little nervous about asking her"

"Don't be, just go up to her and ask after they're done. I know this doesn't sound too helpful, but you're a great guy and she seems to like you the same way, so I don't think it would hurt to just build up some confidence and ask. I mean, the worst that could happen is if she says she's taking someone else".

Stanley nodded his head. "I guess you're right", he said.

A little while later, Dina went off with Brad somewhere and Syd walked outside. He glanced at her and she gave him a look that was saying, "go ahead".

"Ok. I'll be right back", he gave a small smile before following Syd outside to the backyard.

Even though she encouraged Stanley to ask Syd out, a part of it still hurt seeing the way he would look at her and talk about her. Phoebe didn't hate Syd, but she didn't want to. She thought that maybe there was something about Syd that he wouldn't have liked anyway. No matter how hard it was, she knew that she eventually have to come to the conclusion that Stanley, the boy she couldn't have, was only in love with Sydney.

A/N: I'm aware of how bad this chapter is. If I wrote Phoebe as a bad misrepresentation of a deaf person, I apologize, but I'd appreciate it if you could give me some advice or tips on how to get better as a writer.