Sign Language (BoyxBoy)

Chapter Ten - Merry Christmas

Yes, I know this chapter pretty much sucks, but I love the ending, so cut me some slack and read until you get there, it made me grin :)

Zoe's POV

Nick sounded terribly surprised when I called him on Saturday in the late afternoon to invite him to our house on Sunday. I wasn't sure why he was that surprised, I suspected it had something to do with Lars locking himself in his room ever since he came home from their night out, but I had no idea why that was exactly.

I hadn't bothered to tell Lars I was having Silke and Nick over since I had only seen him for a couple of seconds when he had come out of his room to make a sandwich for dinner yesterday evening. Silke rang the doorbell three times to let me know it was her right when I came back from the basement to get some bottles of coke and lemonade. Nick arrived not long after that and we nestled ourselves on the couch in the living room, soda and snacks within reach and a music video channel playing in the background.

We chatted and laughed for an hour or so before I decided to bring the conversation to the subject I wanted to discuss with them. Our mother had called me the day before to let me know she wouldn't be home for Christmas, it wasn't even that big of a surprise, she was gone more than she was at home and we never really cared much about the holidays. I somehow really wanted to do something for Christmas though, and spending the day with my friends seemed the perfect way to solve that problem. I was pretty sure Nick didn't have any plans, and Silke was up for anything that would excuse her from the big family gathering. It didn't take me longer than a couple of minutes to convince them to come over here for Christmas, cook dinner together and exchange some small gifts while watching cheesy holiday themed movies. Nick and Silke came forward as the cooking experts and were discussing the menu when Lars' deep baritone boomed through the house.

“Zoe!” I wasn't sure why he was yelling, he usually avoided using his voice as much as possible, and it wasn't as if he would hear my reply anyway. He repeated his call a couple of times before finally the door to the living room was thrown open. Nick looked like a rabbit trapped in the headlights when Lars came in, but Silke was unfazed, probably because she had missed the noise he was making.

“Zoe!” he shouted again. As soon as he spotted me on the couch and saw he had my attention, he switched to sign language, making it obvious he was more comfortable with signing. “Can you believe that fucking bitch? She just texted me that she won't come home for Christmas, again. A text. That's how important her children are for her. I can't believe it.” his rant continued for a while before he finally gave me the opportunity to say something.

“I know Lars, he called me yesterday. That's why I invited Silke and Nick over today to discuss the plans for Christmas.” I smiled at him and gestured to our friends sitting on the couch behind me. He obviously hadn't seen them, surprise visible on his face when his eyes found theirs.

“Oh. Hey. Silke. Nick.” he greeted before walking over to where they sat with long angry strides to press a kiss to their cheeks.

Nick still had a weird look in his eyes as he followed Lars until he sat down on the couch and grabbed the paper Silke had been scribbling on.

“Your secret soup, Nick?” he smiled up at him and right at that point it seemed as if I had dreamed the tension in the room. “I swear girls, you are going to love his soup, it's magnificent!”

Lars' POV

It was obvious that Nick was more than a little uncomfortable when I walked in on them that Sunday afternoon. He probably expected things between us to go all awkward again, like when he had kissed Silke, but I decided my best defence was to act as if nothing ever happened, and I would stick with that plan. Classes in December were rather intense, because our exams would start as soon as Christmas break was over, and every single one of our teachers wanted to fill up our heads with as many useless facts as they could, topped off with at least a dozen essays and grammatical exercises. The fact that Nick and I spent pretty much every Thursday and Friday working on it together made it kind of bearable though. I loved the way he laughed at my jokes, the way his eyes crinkled and the way he threw his head back on his neck when he found something really funny. My hands always ached to put them on his chest or even his throat, so I could feel his laughter, feel the vibrations of his voice. I was getting in this deeper than I should, and I was fully aware of it, but I couldn't stop myself.