Read My Lips

Read My Lips: Chapter 10

Chapter 10 

We arrived at some posh looking restaurant on the outskirts of the town we lived in. Like most posh restaurants, Zach had a table booked for us. The waiter led us to a nice secluded table at the back that was away from the chaos at the middle and front of the restaurant.

Since Zach had found out about me been deaf, he had made sure that he was always facing me when he talked; which I found sweet of him. And although I had feared it, he didn’t treat me any differently. I appreciated that so much.

“So, what do you want to order?” Zach asked. He had the menu in front of him and he was casually scanning through it.

“Erm…” I started. As I looked down the menu, I made sure to skip the poshest sounding meals because they cost a lot. “Do you come here much?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of most of these meals.

He nodded his head whilst looking down the menu once more before he looked up at me. “I do sometimes. Whenever I visit my grandparents, we normally come here. It’s their favourite place to eat.”

“I not heard of most meals.” I answered, shaking my head. I felt stupid. Who hasn’t heard of these meals?

Zach laughed at my reply as he stared into my eyes. Unfortunately, I had to turn my focus to his lips so I could see what he says. “Don’t worry. Just tell me the name and I’ll tell you what it is.”

Unsurprisingly, it took me a while to actually decide what I wanted to eat. In the end, I went with what Zach was having, which was steak with vegetables. He ordered our meal and drinks from the waiter, and then turned back to me as she left.

“So, turning the conversation back to earlier today, does anyone else know that you’re deaf?” Zach asked. It honestly confused me how neither he nor his friends knew I was. It was fair enough that Rebekah didn’t know considering she was new but those three?

“Everyone. How you not know?” I asked, playing with the hem of my shirt. There were loads of things I still wanted to know; mainly why everyone in the school seemed to be afraid of him, Ryan, Dan and Jake.

“I don’t really know. I guess because everyone stays away from us so I guess that’s why I haven’t heard. We all knew there was a new-ish girl but, that’s all really.”

“Ok. Erm, why everyone scared of you?” I inquired. I really wanted to know. What’s that saying? Oh; curiosity killed the cat.

The waiter returned shortly after I asked Zach the question. We thanked the waiter and Zach waited until she left before he turned back to me to answer. “They’re sacred because I get into a lot of fights. I fight too much, but I haven’t fought recently because I’ve been too busy.”

And by his reply, I knew that him been ‘busy’ meant me tutoring him and the project we were doing together. I couldn’t find the words to answer him with so I simply just nodded my head and took a drink of the fresh glass of coke the waiter had left.

When I looked back up at Zach, he was staring at me. It was like he was waiting for me to finish drinking before he spoke to me again. I couldn’t help but think that it was because he knew I was deaf; not that it bothered me though. I actually found it sweet… For some strange reason.

“Can I just say… I feel like all of this is moving too fast; admitting that we like each other after a small period of time. But, something drew me too you the first time I saw you. I don’t know about you but I felt a connection with you. Also, I guess I’ve gotten to know you really well because of the project. I’ve learnt things about you and you the same with me. It’s weird and I’ve never experienced anything like this before, but I feel really drawn to you.” He explained. By the time he’d finished his speech; he took in a deep breath and let it out. Almost like he was afraid of what I’d reply with. Because damn that was a long speech.