After moving to a small town for a semester and a half, Camilla Adams is relived about how great the new place and school seem to be, and how nice some people were.
But then she notices the way students treat one particular quiet guy, some horribly...
Unlocking the front door to the two-story grey house, Ethan trudged in before kicking his tennis shoes to the side, and he could just smell that it was time for dinner.
Making his way to the kitchen, he sought out his mother setting the table and figured that his sister and father haven't come down yet. His mother just spotted him as he walked to her, a warm smile taking over her face as he kissed her head. But as he looked at her blue eyes, his stomach twisted at the sympathy that filled them and he lost all appetite he had for the dinner he inhaled just seconds ago.
"Where were you?" She asked.
"With a friend" he signed.
His mother's eyes brightened, and he just about rolled his eyes when she asked if it was a girl, but nodded anyway.
It's not like he was fond of sharing his life with his family, but he thought it wouldn't do badly if he just gave her short answers until she would drop the subject and that was that.
But when he saw his mother beaming and asking what was her name, well, he knew he had probably been mistaken.
Spelling the letters to her name, his mother beamed even more, if that was even possible, "Camilla! What a beautiful name!".
He nodded, stiff and unsure of what to do next, before grabbing a glass and filling it with water, when his father and Shelly walked into the kitchen and he sighed in relief, knowing the conversation was over.
But unfortunately, that relief didn't last long when his Mom caught his attention while they were having dinner and said, "Why not invite Camilla over sometime, honey?"
Ethan stopped chewing halfway, not wanting to choke on his food, or spit it back out. And he almost glared at his mother.
The keyword being almost.
"You two could watch a movie or something" his mom continued, and he just didn't know if she was trying to hook them up or looking for an excuse to meet Camilla.
Ethan swallowed, before clearing his throat and taking a sip from his glass of water.
He wanted to say no straight out, but one look at his mother and he saw a glint of hope in her eyes that he would start letting people back into his life and not push them away.
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"SATURDAY NIGHT WE IN THE SPOT, DON'T BELIEVE ME JUST WATCH!" Kaylee hollered madly as she slammed her fists into the steering wheel. And I couldn't help but worry that we might crash, but nevertheless laughed as I shook my head at her.
The girl sure was a handful.
We'd been out to the mall this afternoon, and now it was nine pm and Kaylee was driving me back home, but even I knew she was just driving around while singing crazily to the radio. Although my body was vibrating along with the car from the loud music, I could still feel a buzzing sensation on my higher thigh and I slipped my hand into my pocket to retrieve my phone and found a new text message.
One look at the sender's name and I could feel my heartbeat quicken abnormally and I opened it, reading the text.
Ethan:Are you free?
My hand moved against my phone's keyboard and I sent my reply.
Camilla:Not exactly, I was out with Kaylee but I'm heading home now though. Why?
His reply came after that immediately and my stomach flipped as I read it.
Ethan:I'm outside your house.
Grabbing Kaylee's arm to catch her attention, she turned to me and one look at my face, she lowered the radio, "What?"
"I need to get home. Now".
Before Kaylee could even stop the car, I was out and already walking up to Ethan's parked truck. And I could hear Kaylee speeding up the road after yelling something along the lines of "goodbye, lovebirds". Which I mentally cursed her for because it got me red at the face. But I didn't care the least as I strode to Ethan's truck.
I haven't seen him in four days. You couldn't actually blame me.
Knocking twice on the car window, he squinted at me, before motioning for me to back up so he could climb out and I did.
"Hey" I breathed and thanked God he couldn't hear how my voice had come out just now. I could tell my hair was a mess from getting crazy with Kaylee and my breathing was not short of erratic, and the blush didn't help but worsen it all. In other words, I looked like a mess.
"Hey" he mouthed. After last time at the park, he had been mouthing more to me even when I miss-lipread half of it, making him crack up in laughter at me. But I knew I was getting better. And about the sign language I had been secretly learning since I'd met him, now I was much better and could sign a little and catch on if he signed to me.
"What are you doing here? I mean, it's not like I don't want you here, but you know, it's at night and it's actually weird that-" I sucked in a breath, my face red. I was rambling. Again.
"Just answer the question, please?" I said, now my voice low, afraid of embarrassing myself further on.
He smirked, his grey eyes twinkling in the moonlight, and I could just tell he was enjoying my flustered state. Finally elaborating on answering the question, he shrugged, "I wanted to talk to you" he signed.
"About what?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. He wanted to talk to me, in front of my house, at nine pm. Why didn't I find that quite reassuring, I don't know.
His bottom lip was between his teeth now. And I tried to focus as hard as I could on his signing hands instead of looking at it.
"Do you want to come over to my house?"
My mouthed popped open into an 'O' and he continued, "My mom actually wants to meet you... We could watch a movie?" He sounded hesitate, unsure. And I couldn't tell if he wanted me to come or not. His mother was the one who asked him to invite me over after all, right?
Biting on my lower lip, I shifted on my feet, now unsure myself. I knew I wanted to. But I also knew I was suddenly nervous. So inhaling a long breath, I decided.
