Love is Soundless (Discontinued)

Chapter Two

Hi readers!

I am speechless that so many people have liked this story so far! I apologize for taking so long to post this chapter, my summer has been filled with lots of travel. I am planning to update once a week, on the weekends. Please enjoy, and let me know what you think! Please leave comments, votes, fan, and message me :)

~ Sophie xxx
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Chapter Two

I froze, the rest of my sentence feeling heavy on my tongue. I took a deep breath to steady myself, and Luke cocked his head to the side, regarding me carefully. Everything seemed to slow down for a few beats, before snapping back to normal.

"I'm sorry- I'm- um, I'm Luke," Luke breathed out, extending his hand to me. His nervous stutter made me smile. God, did I mention how gorgeous he was? Because, if I didn't, then I'm going to say it now. God damn, he's like an angel, with all the beauty and appeal.

I reached out and shook his hand. "Calum. I mean, my name's Calum," I said. Wow. Way to be suave about that. We just stood there, our hands locked together. I couldn't bring myself to let go of his hand, and he seemed to share my thoughts.

Luke finally coughed nervously, and dropped my hand. He pulled his lip ring into his mouth and started to chew on it out of nerves. Holy shit. If that wasn't the hottest thing I'd ever seen, then shoot me now.

"Did you- erm- help. Shit. I mean- did you need any help... with the guitar I mean. Not with..." he broke off, shaking his head. "I'm not normally this incoherent, I swear."

I flashed him a grin. "I'd say I'm not always so deaf, but that'd be a lie, because I am," I tried cracking a joke, but as soon as I said it, it fell flat, leaving the space between us awkward and heavy. Way to fuck that up, dickhead.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't- I had no idea. I didn't mean to be so rude," Luke replied.

I shook my head, as if to disregard what he said. "You weren't rude. That's how people normally treat me. It's no big deal. What I meant to say was, I'm deaf in my right ear. I can only hear with my left, so it's better to be on my left side if you want to talk to me," I said, smiling to reassure him.

He seemed uncertain. I internally sighed. This is why I hated my disease more than anything. No one wanted to get to know me, like they were terrified of me. Or like they'll somehow catch my disease and lose their hearing, too. I was going to lose any chance I had with Luke because of my hearing loss.

"Anyway, no, I don't need any help, I was just looking. Thanks for the offer and all. I should go see if Tony's ready for me. It was nice to meet you, Luke," I said, excusing myself.

I took a step forward, when the onset of an attack hit me with full force. My balance tipped immediately to the left, the sudden screeching and ringing reverberating within my ear. The dizziness caused me to slam my eyes shut tightly, as I let out a small gasp.

"Calum? Calum!" Luke said urgently, rushing to take the few steps between us so he was by my side. He reached out and grabbed my arm, and I immediately shoved him away.

"Stay away from me," I said, my voice coming out harsher than I intended. I let my body sink to the floor, dragging my knees up to my chest and resting my back up against the display of guitars. I let out a ragged breath, and Luke came forward again, crouching in front of me.

Out of nowhere, Steve rounded the corner and came up to me. He dropped to his knees and handed me a bottle of water, pressing it into my hand. I squeezed my eyes shut again, and brought the bottle to my lips to take a swig.

"Luke, I need you to back up, please?" Steve directed. I could pick up the sounds, but they sounded distorted. Luke was arguing back, asking what was wrong with me, and how he wouldn't leave until he knew I was okay.

What kind of stranger says those things? He didn't know anything about me, why was he so concerned? I didn't hear what Steve said in reply, the ringing getting louder.

I felt Steve's hand pushing the water bottle closer to me again. He was trying to get me to drink more. I took his advice, and forced myself to take a couple more sips.

I swore Steve was batman or something. This wasn't the first time I'd had an attack while in the store, and every time it happened, Steve swooped in out of thin air and supplied me with water and company until the attack passed.

I felt Luke's hand reach out and gently touch my left knee. The most cliché thing happened, of course. I felt my attack start to ease off. As if his touch was calming it.

Steve moved to back Luke up again, but I stopped him by moving my hand to rest on top of Luke's, holding him in place. I thought I heard Steve chuckle, but my ear was still ringing so I couldn't be sure.

"Drink," Steve said again, his voice sounding a little clearer. I forced a couple more gulps of water back, more for Steve then for myself.

I let my head rest back against the display, taking deep breaths like the doctor had taught me. A couple more minutes passed before I felt the edges of the attack ebbing away.

I opened my eyes to see Luke propped down on the floor in front of my left side, his hand still resting on my knee. Steve was just a foot away from my left side, standing and looking down at me.

"Better?" Steve asked, his eyes locking with mine. I nodded carefully, trying not to throw my balance off again. "Feeling up for your lesson? I can talk to Tony if you need me to, not that I think you want that though?"

I cracked a small smile. Damn, Steve had me figured more than I thought he did. He knew I wouldn't let a stupid attack stop me from going to my lesson.

"I'm up for it, just tell Tony I'll be there in a few minutes," I replied. Steve nodded and started to walk away. "Steve?" I called, causing him to turn and look at me. "Thank you, again," I said to him

"It's no problem at all, Calum. Let me know if you need anything." With that, he continued on his way to Tony's office.

I turned to look at Luke, who was staring at me, as if he was scrutinizing me. I took a deep breath before I spoke. "Sorry about all that. I have these attacks quite often, they're nothing serious. Steve's pretty good at helping me through them these days," I said, trying to explain without saying too much.

"Are you okay? What happened, exactly?" Luke spoke up, glancing away briefly, before looking at me again.

"I'm fine, really. It was nothing. I'd rather not talk about it," I snapped, my tone too harsh. Luke jerked away, his hand slipping away from my knee. I sighed. Why couldn't I just act like a normal person for two seconds?

"I'm sorry, Luke. I didn't mean for it to come out like that. It's just- personal stuff," I said, the excuse sounding lame to my own ears.

"No, I get it, I'm sorry. As long as you're okay, I guess," he said awkwardly, looking away from me again.

I stood up, my hand resting on the display to give me extra balance. "Great first impression, huh?" I said, chuckling and rolling my eyes at my own stupidity.

"I won't be forgetting it any time soon," Luke said, joining in my laughter. Before I could say anything else to Luke, Rebecca walked up to me.

"Hi, Calum. Tony's waiting for you," she said with a wide smile.

Rebecca wasn't much older than me, and she was a sweet girl. Tony was teaching her how to play the piano. She suffered a lot of mental disorders, the poor girl. She needed Tony because her hearing was disappearing. too. She was kind though, regardless of all the struggles she faced.

"Thank you, Rebecca," I said, patting her arm softly and giving her a warm smile. She blew me a kiss and skipped away.

Luke's eyebrows rose, his forehead crinkling in the most adorable way. "Is she your girlfriend or something?" he asked, a hint of a growl in his voice.

"What, Rebecca? Oh, no. She's a friend, but that's it. She just suffers a lot, and anything I can do to make her day, you know? Seeing her happy is probably one of the most beautiful things in the world to witness. She just deserves to always be smiling," I explained.

Luke's lips turned up into a gorgeous smile. "That's actually one of the sweetest things I've ever heard," he said, pulling his lip ring into his mouth to chew on it again.

I kicked the floor and grinned. "Well, thanks. Anyway, I should get to my lesson. It was nice to meet you, Luke," I said.

"The pleasure was mine, Calum. I hope to be seeing you again real soon, babe," he said, flashing me a wink, before he turned his back to me and walked off further into the store.

That did not just happen. Did he just flirt with me, or did I imagine it? I am definitely going to catch him later. Even after finding out I was hard of hearing and seeing me have an attack didn't put him off. I've got to grab him before someone else does.

Shaking my head, with a grin on my face, I picked up my bass again and walked to Tony's office. I knocked on the door before I entered.

"Hi, Calum," Tony said from his bench. I dropped myself on the seat next to him, and said hi back. "How are you feeling? Steve told me what happened," he said softly.

I immediately signed my answer to him. I pointed my index finger to my chest. The sign for me or I.

I signed the letters O and K, forming ok.

I hesitated before pointing my finger at my chest again, signing I.

I then moved my index finger to my head, with my palm facing inward, and placed it just behind my forehead. The sign for think.

The signs came together to form the sentence, 'I'm okay, I think.'

"Why the hesitation?" Tony asked, picking up on my delay. At least he didn't ask the obvious question as to why I answered in signing and not speaking. Tony was smart enough to know I signed when I was feeling off.  I just shrugged in response to the question he asked aloud. Tony patted my shoulder sympathetically.

"Who's the new guy? Luke? Know anything about him?" I asked casually, trying to change the subject. Tony looked me in the eyes, before he raised his eyebrow in a teasing manner.

"What's it to you?" he asked with a smirk, I swatted his arm playfully. For a thirty three year old, Tony acted like a teenager more times than an adult.

"I'm just curious, that's all," I said, shrugging again. Tony chuckled at that. For some reason, he knew I was more than a little curious about the new guy.

"Alright, here's the deal. You do your lesson today, and you do well, and I'll tell you everything I know about the new guy," Tony offered.

"Do you actually know anything about him? Or is that a trick offer? I'm not going through the whole lesson to find out all you know is his name and when he started working here," I teased.

"I swear I have some information about him. Scouts honor," he replied, drawing a cross over his heart. I laughed at his childish antics.

"Okay, you have a deal. Can we start playing now?" I asked as I pulled my bass out of the case.

"Whatever you say, bossy pants," Tony replied, pulling out a couple sheets of music we had been working on the last couple weeks. We started off with me learning music that was written by famous musicians. In the last couple weeks, Tony had been teaching me some music he had created himself. I even got to show him something I had been writing in my last session.

Tony placed the music on a stand in front of me, and we ran warm-ups for the first hour. Every lesson, Tony taught me something different about how to really feel the music. Each time I learnt a new way the vibrations ran down the strings, or how even the slightest movement or placement on the fret changed the way the music sounded and felt.

During the second hour, we moved on to playing some of Tony's original work. After doing so well in the first hour, I assumed everything would go smoothly, but of course it didn't.

It started out with tiny mistakes; misplacing my fingers on the strings or not strumming right. It escalated to the point I was just flat out playing the song wrong. None of it sounded right, and the vibrations didn't feel right either.

When I played it wrong for the sixth time, Tony put his hand into my view to sign to me.

He brought his index and middle finger together and pointed them outwards. His fourth finger and pinkie bent in until they touched his palm, and his thumb rested pointed outwards under his other two fingers. He then brought his index and middle finger down to tap repeatedly against his thumb. The sign for no.

He then made a fist, and then stuck his pinkie and thumb out. He brought his hand up to his chin, palm facing inward, so that the knuckles on his three middle fingers rested against his chin. The sign for wrong.

I sighed heavily, dropping the bass into my lap in frustration. I ran my hands over my face and groaned angrily. "I'm sorry. I never-I'm..." I trailed off.

Tony shook his head. "Everyone has their off days, Calum. You had an attack earlier, it makes perfect sense that your coordination skills aren't what they usually are," he tried to soothe me.

That just made me more angry. "That's not a fucking excuse," I spat. I knocked my bass to the ground, and started pacing back and forth across the room.

"Calum. Calum, come on. Just have a seat, please?" Tony half begged. Sighing, I threw myself back down in the seat.

"Why don't we just end our lesson early today? We can pick up where we left off in a couple days," he offered.

"No!" I half shouted. Tony winced at my tone. "Every day, every second, could be my last of hearing. I might go completely Deaf tonight. And this could be my last lesson that I can hear. I don't want to waste it like this."

Tony nodded in understanding. That was the good thing about Tony. Having been around so many hard of hearing and deaf people, he understood the struggle of losing the ability to hear, even though he didn't suffer it himself.

"Okay then. How about we just stick to some of the easier stuff today? Let's go back to other techniques for bass playing that will be useful when your Deaf," Tony offered.

I knew it was a compromise, but there wasn't much room for argument. I meant it when I said I didn't want to waste the lesson. If just learning and mastering the techniques was all I could do today, then at least it was better than nothing.

I picked up my bass and agreed to Tony's offer, and we went back to some of the basics of playing. He even taught me a new way to press my fingertips against the strings, so that the exact angle sent vibrations through my hands just right. This way I could tell when something was being played well, and when it was wrong and sounded awful.

Before I knew it Tony was signing to me again. He put both of his hands up in front of me, his palms facing inward to face himself. He then flicked his hands outwards so that his palms now faced me. The sign for done.

That was Tony's way of saying our lesson was done for the day. I let out a deep breath through my nose and nodded solemnly. Even when I had rough days like today, it always felt like a sucker punch when the lessons were over. I would have preferred to be sat playing my bass all day everyday.

When I felt a tap on my knee, I looked up at Tony. "How about something to cheer you up? I know our deal didn't quite work out liked we planned, but I'll still tell you about Luke, if you want?" he asked, quirking his eyebrow in a way that showed he knew I would still want to know.

I placed my bass in its case, then turned my full attention to Tony. "Tell me everything you know," I said, positioning myself on the seat so my left side was facing towards him.

"Okay, so, his name is Luke Hemmings. He got a job here 4 days ago, because he's Steve's neighbor. Apparently, Luke is majorly into music, and is a fantastic guitar player. I've never heard him play, but Steve says he's amazing.

"He offered Luke a job here a couple weeks ago, when Luke turned 18. I've talked to him a couple of times. He comes across as shy, but once you start to talk to him he really opens up.

"He actually loves a lot of the same bands you do, now that I think about it. He's a huge fan of Green Day, Blink 182, and All Time Low. He's got two older brothers, but he didn't say much about them. I'm assuming they're in Uni."

"He's been in a couple of bands, according to Steve, but none of them really worked out. And apparently he goes out and plays small solo gigs. And from what I've gathered, he's also a singer, so he sings and plays guitar at his gigs," Tony explained.

I nodded slowly, taking in all the information that Tony was giving me. Everything he was telling me just made Luke seem even more attractive. There was just one piece of information that I still needed to know, and I felt Tony knew the answer.

"And?" I asked, catching the smirk that was plastered on Tony's face.

"From what I can pick up, I think he's interested in guys," he said with a knowing look.

I let out the breath I had been holding on to. Tony grinned at me, and I shook my head.

"Steve might have mentioned some interactions he noticed between the two you. You have a real shot here, kid. I think he's interested in you. I say go for it," he said earnestly.

I flashed Tony an honest smile before I stood up. "Thank you, Tony. I owe you big time," I said.

"Just practice at home and be ready for our next session and I'll call us even," he replied, packing up his things.

"Deal. See you in a few days," I said, grabbing my case and heading for the door.

"See you soon, Calum," he called as I left the office. I walked out with a bounce in my step. I felt even more confident now than I had earlier. Tony's words of encouragement had given me courage.

I set off with a purpose, walking through the store in search of Luke. As I was searching, I ran into Izzy.

"Hey, Iz," I called, grabbing her attention. She turned away from the customer she was talking with to glance at me. "Have you seen Luke lately?" I asked.

"Yeah, he's with a customer in the guitar section," she answered. I gave her a nod in thanks, and walked towards the guitar section. It was probably a bad thing I knew every inch of this store by memory. It came in handy though, so I wasn't complaining.

I walked through the violins and bass guitars, and rounded the corner into the guitar section. I saw the back of a blonde head and I knew instantly it was Luke.

I smiled even wider and started to walk closer towards him. When I got within ear shot, I froze. I took in all the details around me, and it all clicked into place.

It was Luke, and he was with a customer. The other boy, who looked around my age, was standing very close to Luke. The other boy had jet black hair, with streaks of rainbow colors throughout. He was wearing all black with a leather jacket, which gave him this punk sort of vibe. The punk look was completed with an eyebrow piercing on his right eyebrow.

The other boy said something that I couldn't quite hear, and Luke burst out laughing. He cocked his head slightly to the side, batted his eyelashes a few times, and licked his lips, before pulling his lip ring into his mouth to chew on it.

The other boy reached out and placed his hand on Luke's arm, and Luke smiled brightly at the other boy. Luke leaned into the touch, and said something lowly to the other boy. He smiled and chuckled, winking at Luke as he laughed.

The flirting was obvious. So obvious I felt like my entire body could blow up from the sickening feeling it left in my mouth. It didn't matter whether or not Luke liked this other boy. What did matter, was that his flirting meant nothing. He had flirted with me just like he was flirting with this guy. I was nothing special. He clearly felt nothing towards me.

Flirting was just some tactic he used to draw people in, and to convince them to buy something. It was all a damn play, and I had bought every second of it. Why had I been so damn stupid to even think for half a second a guy like Luke would even look at a person like me for more than a split second?

I had been drawn into his flirtatious acts. Why did I believe that I was the only one Luke has his eyes on? Clearly, he was far more interested in this guy than he was in me. Everything I thought was a sign he was interested in me, was just an act he used on everyone.

I guess Tony was wrong.  Sure, Luke was interested in guys, but I didn't have a shot. He wasn't even the least bit interested in me. He was obviously just the player type who would flirt with any guy that walked past him.

Go for it, my ass. I'll tell you exactly what I'm going for, the goddamn fucking door. I spun on my heel and stormed away. Two can play at this game, Hemmings. You won't think for another second that I'm the least bit interested in you. Even though something in the back of my mind was telling me I was.