what i have thus far...

the comic sans font is from the guys point of view, the arial is from the girls... just to explain!

 

THUNK.

The dumpster lid slammed shut, the sound reverberating off of the shallow valley behind the kitchen and out over the open field sloping gently away from the front doors. I sloshed through the ankle-deep mud back into the kitchen, the torture chamber as I liked to call it, to finish cooking. That was my job, short-order cook for the summer camp near my house. I’d had this job for the past seven years, since I was thirteen. I had never really traveled anywhere. As a kid I had always come here for summer camp, as a teenager I worked here through the summers as a lifeguard down at the pool and as a short-order cook for retreat groups throughout the rest of the year when camp wasn’t in session.

Pathetic, I thought to myself. What kind of a life was this? A twenty year-old who had never so much as been to Disney world, let alone out of the country. The farthest away I had ever ventured was to school upstate for college.

It wasn’t like I didn’t want to get out of here and see the world, to venture out on my own. I was just a little limited on funds. My parents had died when I was six, so I became a ward of the state getting shipped from foster home to foster home for the next twelve years. Holly and Joe, my adoptive parents, didn’t make a lot of money. Holly taught kindergarten, and Joe worked as an editor at the county newspaper. Me going to college was a gift from the state- as a foster kid I was given a free ride to any state school of my choosing.

And as if that didn’t make me stand out enough, I am deaf. Maybe that is why in the span of one year I had gone through six different foster homes. Nobody wanted me. It’s not like I was a horrible kid or anything. No one knew how to communicate with me, nor were they willing to learn.

All these thoughts and memories flew through my head as I trudged through the screen door into the back of the kitchen. The lunch rush was over, so now all that I had in front of me were the dishes. Stacks of dishes sat on the counter in front of the dishwasher seemingly glaring at me with a mocking attitude.

As I started up the water to fill the dishwasher I could feel someone’s eyes on me as I moved around the kitchen. Trying to ignore them, I went about my work as if I were all alone in the large commercial-sized kitchen. Surrounded as I was by stainless steel it wasn’t hard for me to catch the reflection of the person in the kitchen with me.

To say that this man was gorgeous would be the understatement of the century. He was tall, towering over my 5’10” frame, with tousled blonde hair that was darker at the roots than it was at the tips. His eyes were hard to describe, blending from midnight blue at the edges of his irises to a deep emerald green at the centers around his pupils.

“Hello.”

I could only tell he had spoken because as soon as I noticed him looking at me through his reflection on the stainless steel; it was all I could concentrate on. I was rooted to the concrete floor by what felt like a thousand steel cables. Slowly, I put down the pot I was scrubbing, and turned to face him.

“Can I help you?” The words felt all wrong coming out of my mouth. I hadn’t always been deaf. I was born with a chronic condition where the canals in my inner and middle ear were narrowed. The doctor had told my parents that as I grew, it would only get worse. I’ve had over ten years of practice, and I had only been able to speak so that others could understand me since I was seventeen. I was still working on my clarity.

“Yeah, I was looking for the Martin cabins. I take it that this isn’t them…” I could imagine how his voice would sound. The way his lips moved when he spoke hinted at a smooth voice, almost like silk. I would assume that he would have a low voice, judging by how tall he was.

“No,” I said, as I signed my words along with speaking them. It helped me make the sounds come out more clearly because I was focusing on whatever idea or thought I was trying to get across. “But if you follow the road a quarter of a mile, you should see them on your right.”

He only stared. His gaze had me rooted to the ground yet again, unable to move even if I had wanted to. It was like he could tell what I was thinking, embarrassing as that was. All coherent thoughts had left my mind, and all I could think of was “There is an amazingly cute boy standing in the kitchen less than two feet away from me, and I am covered in leftover chili.”

“Oh. Ok. Umm, thank you.”

And with that, the mystery man turned around and walked out the back door of the kitchen without so much as another word.

As I ran the dishes through the dishwasher I thought over what had just happened. The thought scared me; someone could just walk in the kitchen while I was working alone. I would never hear them coming. I had enough self-preservation to keep from running to lock the doors that second. I would have to be sure to lock them after serving hours later.

To get my mind off of what had just happened I went back to my daydreaming. My favorite fantasy is sort of a Cinderella type of deal. In my dream world, my Prince Charming would come in and sweep me off my feet one day, saving me from this humiliating existence…

Alright, so my life isn’t as horrible as I make it out to be. I have parents who love me, even if we aren’t biologically related. Minor detail. Joe and Holly were the first people to see past the fact that I was deaf, and look at me as a real person.

I was sixteen when I came to live with Joe and Holly. Our tiny cottage set about a half a mile back from the road was situated in the middle of the forest with a winding gravel drive leading up to it. The seclusion from the road and the rest of the houses didn’t bother me. I was used to living in my own world.

It took Joe and Holly two weeks to decide they wanted to adopt me. They were real nice about it, sitting me down on the living room couch one night and asking if I would be okay with it.

Holly knew how it felt, not having a family. She had grown up the oldest of three, with parents who loved her tremendously. She was the pretty and popular cheerleading captain in high school. Homecoming and prom queen. Then her freshman year in college her family was on their way to visit her when their station wagon was hit head on by a drunk driver. Her parents and younger brother were killed instantly, while her sister was put in the ICU and listed in critical condition. Holly sat in the hospital with her sister Marie, praying that she would recover. After two days, Marie slipped into a coma and never regained consciousness.

Maybe that’s why I agreed to letting Holly and Joe adopt me. Not that I wouldn’t have anyhow, it’s just nice having someone around who understands what you feel like.

Living with Joe and Holly was comfortable. They didn’t try to act like my parents so much as they tried to understand me. They didn’t want to replace the family I lost, they just wanted to be a safe place for me to stay. It was nice.

I still remember the look on Holly’s face when I first called her mom. It was about two weeks after the adoption was final, and I finally felt like I belonged somewhere. I wasn’t afraid that they were going to get sick of me and ship me off to another house with another family in another town. Holly had come into my room to see if I needed help with my homework. All I had said was “no thanks mom.” But her eyes had welled up with tears, and she had sat with me on my bed the rest of the night just talking.

I liked living with Joe and Holly. They understood that I was an adult and I wanted my independence. But they also knew that I wasn’t ready to live on my own yet, that I might always need to live with people who could look out for me in ways I couldn’t do myself.

That thought brought me full circle to what had just happened in the kitchen this afternoon. Thankfully I had finished the dishes, and was ready to walk home. Hopefully the mile and a half walk would clear my head. Maybe I could get back to the daydreams I loved so much…

As I drove the winding highways that stretched across northern New Jersey I pondered a few things. My life for one; and my career for another. I had never expected to be what I was today. One day my friends and I were playing a gig at the community center, the next thing I know we’re getting signed.

I’d had two years to adjust to the screaming girls, the photographers following us all over the place, and the nosy reporters who would do anything for a story. I hadn’t gotten used to it; which was why I was on my way to northern New Jersey to River Valley. There is a retreat center there that I had rented a cabin at. It was as far away from LA as you could get, just about. I needed a few days away from the madhouse.

I turned off of the main highway onto Corral Dr just like the directions told me to. The campgrounds were supposed to be three miles straight ahead. I could feel my shoulders relaxing the farther away from the main highway I got. The peaceful neighborhood was made up of moderately sized houses, most of which were set back from the road to give them space for a front lawn. There were a few driveways that looked as if they led to tree houses instead of real ones, just winding back into the woods until they were lost from view.

The white picket fence gate that framed the entrance to the campgrounds was welcoming enough, and the gravel road that led through the property was picturesque. Most of the land was wooded, with a few clearings for what looked like sports fields and a parking lot. I was staying in Martin Village, cabin number eleven. Somewhere in my car I had a map of the camp, but I was in too much of a hurry to finish my trip and unpack. The road twisted and branched off a few places, but I couldn’t tell which was led up to the cabins.

A tall redheaded girl had just dumped a bag of trash into a dumpster behind what looked like the kitchen or dining hall. Rather than rummage around for a map that I might not be able to understand anyhow, I pulled in the short driveway to the kitchen and planned to ask someone who worked there.

I walked in to a commercial sized kitchen, with large stainless steel sinks lining one wall and ovens, stovetops, a griddle and a deep fryer lining the opposite wall. In between there was a counter that cut the kitchen in half length wise, and another that separated a small open area from the functional part of the kitchen. On the other side of the counter, in the front corner of the room was an industrial sized dishwasher, the kind where you loaded the dished onto racks then loaded the racks into the dishwasher and two minutes later you have however many racks of clean dishes.

The girl I had seen outside was standing in front of the dishwasher loading dishes into the racks and the racks into a row to get run through the washer. She had a few stacks of obviously clean dishes, but many more stacks of dirty dishes cluttering the stainless steel tables that enclosed the dishwasher. I wondered for a split second how long it would take her to wash all of those dishes.

No sooner had I walked up to the dishwasher then she turned to face me. I hadn’t been prepared for the sight of the face that now looked at me with a mixture of apprehension and suspicion. I wondered what on earth she could possibly be thinking. No sooner had the thought entered my head than I shoved it aside.

What on earth a girl like that would be working in a kitchen covered in old food for was beyond me. She was stunningly beautiful, with glossy auburn curls that hung down past her shoulders and bright blue eyes set above a spattering of freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks. Her skin was a pale creamy ivory that was tainted pink on the apples of her cheeks under the freckles. She was tall, and built like a dancer with long, lean muscles. Seeing her from a distance I hadn’t been expecting her to look like a supermodel. But here she was; perfection in the flesh.

Then she spoke. At first the sound of the mumbled words confused me, until I noticed her hands. She moved them as if that was helping her talk, as if I was supposed to understand what she was showing me rather than what she was telling me. It was like she was talking with her hands…

She was deaf. That explained the hands. But if she was deaf, how had she known what I had said?

Not that it mattered. She hadn’t noticed who I was, which was a relief. For once, I wasn’t Robert Thomas, the guy that all the girls swooned over and followed around in screaming hordes. I was just a regular guy. It felt nice, in a very simple and uncomplicated way. I didn’t even have to pretend that I was someone that I’m not. It just happened to be a coincidence that a gorgeous girl was deaf and had no idea that I was one of the biggest singers in the music circuit lately.  Or that I had been offered the part in a movie that would set my career on the fast track to being an A-List celebrity.

I was looking forward to getting away from all of that, to just having time by myself with no one else around to pester me about schedules or contracts or rehearsals. A few days away from the hustle and bustle is exactly what the doctor prescribed. Maybe this restlessness I’ve been feeling will subside as I leave the fast paced world of L.A behind me.

Sure enough, I found the cabins right where she had told me they would be. Each cabin was tucked away in the side of the mountain, almost as if one missing pebble would send it sliding down to the bottom like a runaway snowball. The wooden structure was tucked half into the side of the mountain that the whole campground was situated on and around, with a deck wrapping around the front of A-frame building’s large front window. The trees that surrounded the wooden structure were bare, their empty branches glistening with ice.

The whole sight looked like something you would see in a snow globe in one of those tourist-oriented souvenir shops. When I had told my manager Zach I had to get away, he had planned this. It was perfect. He had taken care of every last detail; the cabin was rented in his name, I was as far away from LA as you could get, and no one here knew who I was.

As I moved my stuff into cabin 11 I thought back to our brief conversation. Since she hadn’t stared and gaped as every other girl who I meet does, I wondered what she thought of me. I had no right to wonder about what the strange, beautiful deaf girl thought of me. Yet for some reason I still did…

For once in my life I could be who I wanted to be, without the worry of people mobbing me every time I turned a corner. Feeling slightly liberated and up-beat I decided to go for a walk around the lake that was crusted in ice around the edges.

I couldn’t shake her from my mind. This wasn’t right. I had no claim on this girl what so ever, for goodness sake I didn’t even know her name! But there was something about her that kept drawing my mind away from the scenery back to the way the sun has glistened off of her copper colored ringlets, or the way her eyes seemed to sparkle with an unseen electricity. I could imagine how she might turn to smile sheepishly at an admirer, a blush tainting her cheeks peach colored against cream skin with a spattering of freckles that only intensified the color of her eyes.

Glad to be left alone once again, I let my mind wander as I finished the dishes. The man who had just left seemed oddly familiar, but I was sure I hadn’t met him before. If I had, he would have known I was deaf.

I replayed the short conversation looking for any clue, any sign of who he was. His sneakers looked new, his jeans and long sleeve black t-shirt were exactly the right size, hinting at the muscles underneath without being skin-tight. His brown leather jacket looked expensive just in the cut of the material alone, but that wasn’t a big surprise. Anyone who could afford to rent a cabin here in the middle of the winter had to have some sort of money to their name, or else some very generous friends.

Nothing. I was coming up empty on this guy’s name. Abruptly I caught a glimpse at my reflection in the window. My auburn curls glistened in the sunshine that filtered in through the window that was covered from the outside in dust and pollen that never seemed to come off, no matter how hard or how much it rained. My blue eyes narrowed as I speculated about who my visitor was.

Walking home from work, my mind was no less occupied by the man from earlier today. I planned to use the mile and a half walk through the brisk, clean winter air to clear my head.

A hand was placed on my shoulder. Abruptly I whipped around, ready to defend myself against whoever had decided to follow me.

I found myself gazing into the face of the man from earlier today in the kitchen.

“I’m sorry I startled you.” His words were slow and deliberate, as if he were trying to help me understand him. “I couldn’t help but notice you were walking by yourself. Do you mind if I join you?” He shot me a pleading look.

With a face like that, how is a girl supposed to refuse? His eyes glinted more emerald than blue in the afternoon sunlight, which almost exactly matched the color of his hair. He was looking at the road, sneaking a few hopeful looks at me through his eyelashes.

“Yes.” My voice faltered slightly. He couldn’t have known that it was because I was nervous, even intimidated by this tall, gorgeous man who had just offered to walk me home.

“Where are you headed, if you don’t mind my asking?” His eyes burned with curiosity, at what I could only imagine. I was suddenly embarrassed at the idea of this model-like man with looks that belong in a movie instead of real life seeing my house. Not that he would be coming inside… but the idea of getting to know him was terribly appealing.

“Home.” I couldn’t trust my voice to remain even, especially since I couldn’t hear it. One-word answers seemed safe. Less time for me to give anything away.

Again, I marveled at him. He had me dazzled, speechless. His eyes sparkled in the watery late fall sunshine. As if he could tell what I was thinking, he broke into a crooked grin that stopped my heart. All of a sudden all I could think about was how closely he was walking to me. Surely he could move away slightly, give me more space. The same time that thought entered my mind I banished it. For the time being, this man who looked as if he could be Zeus himself seemed to want to spend time with me. I wasn’t about to tell him no. At that moment he could have asked me to run away and jet to Antarctica with him and I would have agreed.

“Do you mind me asking what your name is?” He looked my way, again speaking slowly and deliberately.

“Madison Brown. But my friends call me Madi.” It was nice, not having to look at him when I spoke. My over-active imagination had no problem imaging how his eyes would light up with this piece of information. I realized I had no idea what his name was. “What’s your name?”

“Robert.” His one word answer left me puzzled, but contented that I at least had a name to call him by. He was no longer the mysterious man, he was Robert. It was nice to have a name to go with the perfectly angelic face with the piercing blue-green eyes.

He looked pleased that I had accepted his short answer without question. It made me wonder what he was hiding. I chanced a peek through the curtain of curls that had fallen over my left shoulder. He was smiling to himself; the breathtaking perfection of him melted my heart. He looked perfectly sincere and serene. How could I have believed him capable of hiding something? It’s not as if I knew him or anything. I had met this man two hours ago.

We walked along the tree-covered road in silence for the most part. Robert didn’t push me for information, and I focused on trying not to let him see the blush that had yet to fade from my cheeks.

We were nearing my house, only a few hundred feet away. I toyed with the idea of just simply continuing on, hoping to elongate our time together. But I couldn’t. I shouldn’t. I had no more claim over this person next to me than I did to a million dollars. Foolishly, I thought of what it would be like.

Stop that, my conscious argued with me. He was simply being a gentleman and walking you home. Why on earth would a guy who looks like that choose to spend time with someone like you? The truth of the words cut deep.

“Well, this is it.” I said as I stopped in front of the driveway leading to my house, set away from the road with a small cropping of trees in front of it. Most of the houses in the neighborhood were situated this way, some set even farther into the woods than mine.

“Oh. Alright.” He seemed disappointed to have to say goodbye.

Get a grip Madi.

I turned to start up my driveway. Robert just leaned casually against my mailbox, as if he were waiting for something.

“Will I see you back at the camp later?” he asked. As if he wanted to see me again. My imagination soared with the thought.

“If you plan on eating dinner you will.” I giggled nervously, not comfortable with this awkwardness that seemed to have been my constant companion on the walk home.

He nodded once, and then turned to walk back to the campgrounds. I continued up my driveway until I was safely in the blanket of trees where I could watch him without being caught.

Even from behind Robert was gorgeous. His long legs stretched as he walked back down the road. For such a tall man, he seemed very poised, graceful even. As he turned the bend in the road, I resigned myself to walk up the remainder of the driveway to the house.

My parents weren’t home- both of them were at work. My mom had left a note on the fridge telling me that she was going to the store after work and wouldn’t be home till later. Perfect; that meant that I could sit and daydream all I wanted without anyone noticing.

I booted up my computer to see if my best friend Kara was online. I wanted to video message her and tell her what was up. I needed some girl talk, and serious guy gushing, and fun loving, spontaneous Kara was the one I went to.

Kara’s shoulder length, thick chocolate brown hair framed her pale oval shaped face and warm hazel eyes as the video message window started up. Since I can’t call my friends like a normal person, I had made sure to buy a laptop that had a webcam built in so that I could video message them instead.

“MADI!” Kara’s face lit up when she saw that it was me messaging her. She broke into a smile that made her look like a supermodel. Just a few inches shorter than I was, Kara was a lean mass of muscle. A person didn’t mess with Kara unless they wanted a fight to break out. She fenced, and fenced well.

“What’s up? You look like you’ve been out in the sun all day. You’re cheeks are bright red…” Kara rarely missed anything. “You’ve got something to say. Spill.”

I started in with my story, starting in the kitchen at work and finishing with him waiting by my mailbox. I wasn’t quite ready to admit that I had stooped to watching him walk. But I did retain enough sanity not to give her details about him; like his name, or the way his hair had blown across his forehead in the wind, or how his eyes seemed to show me the very depths of his soul…

“Oh!” her bright eyes sparked with curiosity. “So what do you think of him?”

“Besides the fact that he has a perfect body and is so gorgeous that he could pass for a model?”

“Well duh. I mean do you like him? Because it sounds like he likes you. Why else would he have followed you home? I’ll bet…”

I let her voice fade out of my mind as what she had said registered. Kara thought that Robert liked me. That thought made me happier than it should have.

“Madi? Madi!” Kara’s waving frantically to her webcam caught my attention. “Are you still there? You totally zoned on me. Ok, forget answering me. You do like him.” Her accusation was not meant to be harsh, she was simply pointing out the blatantly obvious.

“Yes,” I signed, then ducked my face and blushed. I hurried on. “But it’s not like that. Why would he ever like me? It’s not like I can ever carry on a normal conversation with him. And anyway, I’m sure he’ll be gone in a few days. Then my life can go back to normal, or at least as normal as it can get.”

Kara knew when to not push a topic farther with me, and this was a prime example. So she let the subject of Robert drop. We moved on to talk about other things, like college and what we were going to do next weekend.

Looking at the clock, I realized that I only had a half-hour to get back to work, so I said goodbye to Kara and signed off. I grabbed my bag with my copy of Twilight in it, and headed for the door. I headed down the driveway, and tried to fight off the small wisps of hope that suddenly fought their way to the center of my thoughts. Of course Robert wouldn’t be waiting for me. He had no idea when I left for work. Why would he be waiting for me? It’s not like this was the only thing to do around here. We were only about 20 miles away from New York City. He could easily take a train in and go sightseeing for the afternoon. I was letting my imagination get away from me…

As I rounded the bend in my driveway where it broke through the trees, I stopped dead. Leaning with his arm resting on my mailbox, as if he had been waiting for me to appear, was Robert.

Following Madi home had been a mistake. Just like watching her all afternoon, waiting for her to leave the kitchen, had been. She was bound to have a boyfriend. She was beautiful; any guy who didn’t see that had to be blind. Her entire being seemed to radiate confidence, from the roots of her bronze curls to the tips of her ratty Converse sneakers.

After leaving her in the kitchen this afternoon and moving into my cabin, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking of her. Every time I closed my eyes her face floated behind my eyelids, once again taking my breath away with her beauty. I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Giving up, I decided to watch for her to leave the kitchen, so I could try to talk to her again. It was sheer luck that after she left the kitchen she started walking down the hill towards the road, and didn’t get into a car.

Madison. Having a face to put to her name only added to the beauty. It drove me insane with longing. I reasoned that I had only walked her home to make sure that she would arrive safely. And of course I had to make sure that she would get safely back to work later. I didn’t care that it spoiled my afternoon. I knew I wouldn’t be able to think about anything but her anyhow. Rationalizations were my friends, for the time being.

After I made sure Madi was safely home, I had gone back to the campgrounds and picked up my car. I proceeded to drive to the closest Borders and I bought a book that taught people how to sign. My rationalizations kicked back in.

If you’re going to be around for a while, you might as well be able to talk to her without making it harder for her…

Frantically I shut the voice in my head up. I was NOT going to stick around here longer than I needed to. I was here hiding out while my agent argued logistics on a movie contract. Once that was worked out, I would go back to L.A. And stay there.

My resolve faltered as soon as Madi walked around the bend in her driveway. Dressed in old Converse, tattered and paint stained jeans and a leftover food free green sweatshirt she still looked stunning.

Real-estate is a good investment. Maybe I could buy a house up here…

I shoved the thought aside. I was going to enjoy the time that I was here. That was it.

Madi stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw me. I grinned as her mouth fell open and she snapped it closed again. Knowing she was too far away to tell what I was saying, I waved her forward. Repressing a frown, I wondered where her boyfriend was. Then again, maybe she was single…

Stop that. You’re pushing your luck just being here, the practical side of me argued.

To push your luck, first you have to have luck. Maybe she’s so stunned to see you because she was hoping that you would be here. Enjoy this, the idealistic and selfish side of me argued.

“Hi Madi,” I said as she walked closer, now only a few feet away from where I stood leaning on her mailbox. “Do you mind if I walk you to work?”

She stood and stared at me.

Back off. Maybe she doesn’t want you here…

“I was out for a walk, and I saw you heading down your driveway. I figured I would stop and see if you wanted some company on your walk back.” I formed my words deliberately, hoping that she could understand what I was saying, and not notice the hope and longing behind my words. Or the little white lie.

Still shocked to see me standing there, she merely nodded. Pleased that this had worked out, I grinned and began to walk. Madi followed silently behind me while I continued on with my silent arguments.

You’re being dumb. What if she doesn’t like you? All you are going to accomplish here is that you’re opening yourself up to get hurt if she doesn’t like you, my more practical side challenged.

But you never know if someone is going to like you until you go out on a limb and take a chance, the idealistic side retorted.You have just as good of a chance as any other guy would have with her. You might even have a better chance. I mean, what girl wouldn’t want to date you? You’re famous for crying out loud!

Neither side was winning, but they continued to battle each other as we walked back towards the camp grounds. I debated the sanity in reaching out to take her hand. There was so much I didn’t know about her. It was wrong of me to want to know more. Like is she was an only child, where she went to school, what she studied.

If she has a boyfriend… The thought creeped uninvited into my head. And just like all other uninvited thoughts, it was 100% accurate. I DID want to know if she had a boyfriend. If she did, it might change my plans. If she didn’t, well, then maybe I WOULD look into real-estate out here…

“How was your afternoon?” Her words startled me out of my thoughts, back to the real world.

“Good. I drove around, found a bookstore, sat and read for awhile in the café there, and then I headed back here. How about you? Did you enjoy your few hours off of work?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t press me about what I had done… most of that was true. I did go find a bookstore. But then I came straight back here to wait for her.

“I talked with my friend Kara.” Her response was short and to the point. As if she understood the look on my face, she went on. “We video message each other. That way we can see what the other one is saying. Kara isn’t deaf, but I’ve known her since I was twelve. She learned sign language so that we could talk. Writing notes back and forth every time we wanted to talk to each other got really old really fast.” She chuckled at the look on my face. Her laughter sounded likeave

That was the longest speech I had heard her make all day. I wondered if it would be alright if I asked her questions, if I got to know her. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that the more I was around her, the harder it would be to leave. Eventually. For now I decided that I would just relax and let whatever might happen, happen.

“Do you make a habit of following girls around?” Madi didn’t sound angry, just curious.

“No,” I answered truthfully. And it was the truth. Up until now, I had never followed a girl around. It was the other way around, hoards of girls following me.

“Oh.” Though her speech was slow and slightly muffled, her voice resonated like a bell. “I didn’t mean to imply anything. It’s just that you and I seem to keep running into each other today. I had wondered if it was coincidence or not.”

“What if it wasn’t?”

My question caught her off guard. She dropped her face, her cheeks flaming with color. Had I embarrassed her?

“It’s not any of my business.”

Ugh. She seemed…hurt. I was messing this all up. I looked over at her.

With her auburn curls shining in the sunlight and quivering as she shook her head she looked almost vulnerable, like a child who was separated from their parents. Instinctively I wanted to protect her from whatever was hurting her. She looked up at me, with her expressive blue eyes full of confusion.

“I’m sorry that I am being so rude. I’m just… confused, I guess.”

So I hadn’t upset her. That made me feel slightly better.

“It’s fine. I didn’t mean to upset you.” I still felt the need to apologize. Just in case.

“You didn’t,” was her quick response. “I’m just in a bad mood lately. Work does that. It gives me headaches when I have to concentrate hard of what everyone is ordering.”

“Maybe I should stop talking then…”

“Oh no, please don’t. I didn’t mean you. It’s just that in the kitchen people don’t know I’m deaf, so they speak like they normally would- very fast and very mumbled. I have to concentrate to understand them. Doing that for hours every day starts to wear on you.”

“Regardless if you want me to stop or not, I probably should.” Madi looked confused, so I continued. “We’re here.”

Something that looked like regret flashed across Madi’s face for a brief second before she composed herself.

“Thank you, Robert,” she said with a grin. I couldn’t trust my voice not to betray my feelings, so I simply winked. Then she turned around and walked into the kitchen to get ready for the dinner hour without a glance backwards.

It took me all of half a second to make up my mind. I liked Robert, tremendously. But I couldn’t be sure how he felt about me. I agonized over what I would do all through dinner. It wasn’t until I was leaving the kitchen after work that I saw him again. He was waiting patiently by the back door, almost as if he were waiting for me. I couldn’t help it when my heart started beating frantically, racing forward at a volume that I’m sure he could hear from where he stood. Thankfully this time I wasn’t covered in leftover food.

“Hi,” I said, waving sheepishly to him. His grin in response served to set my heart off on an even more erratic rhythm. Surely he was able to hear it. He had to be able to, yet he gave no indication that anything was out of the ordinary.

“Hi yourself.” He held out a bottle of aspirin. “I thought you might need this.”

“Thanks.” I reached out for it, and he poured two into my waiting palm. Then he closed the bottle and put it in his pocket.

The curiosity of what he was doing here was eating at me, tearing me up from the inside out.

“Care for some company on the way home?” He looked as if he really wanted nothing more than to walk me home. Despair rooted in the pit of my stomach. Maybe he was just being nice. Or worse yet, what if he felt sorry for me?

I wrestled with the decision for a second. My selfish side won out. I nodded my acceptance of his offer, and we began walking down the hill towards the road. I wanted so badly to reach out and take his hand.

Chicken. Take a chance, my impractical side argued. I was too rational to listen to it for the moment, though, and so I kept my hands to myself. Just to further resist the temptation I crossed my arms in front of me as we turned onto the road and began walking towards my house.

I had pulled my unmanageable curls up into a ponytail while I was at work, and now that I pulled the rubber band out of my hair my curls erupted into a mass of ringlets that glinted off the sunset.

Robert and I walked along in comfortable silence for a bit, neither one of us feeling the need to fill the void with conversation. I watched the end of the sunset as we walked down the side of the road, sighing at the beauty of it. Robert seemed to hear my sigh, and he looked at me and raised his eyebrows.

“I was just looking at the sunset.” He seemed to accept my answer, because he nodded and smiled. Immediately my heart began a frantic pounding rhythm against my ribs, trying to escape its cage of cartilage and tissue to no avail.

“Do I make you nervous?”

“Not exactly,” I responded.

“Care to explain that a bit more?”

I debated the sanity of that. The truth is he did make me nervous, but not because I was scared of him. I liked him. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to tell him that, or to even truly admit it to myself.

“Do you care to explain why every time I try to go someplace you’re waiting for me? Not that I mind, I’m just curious.”

Now it was his turn to duck his head, turning slightly away so that I couldn’t see whatever his face was betraying. This only served to make me even more curious. I looked up at him expectantly, patiently waiting for him to explain.

“You really want to know?” I nodded. “First you need to answer me one question.” I nodded again. Robert took a steadying breath and continued. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

My jaw dropped. Maybe, just maybe, it was possible he liked me. I mean, he had just asked me if I have a boyfriend. The idea that it was even a remote possibility that he liked me made me giddy. I tried to stifle the giggles that erupted from my mouth like a bubbling fountain as I shook my head no. No, I did not have a boyfriend. The giggles continued to bubble over.

“Well I didn’t think it was that funny…” he sulked.

I held a finger up, trying to convey that I needed a moment. He waited patiently with a scowl on his face all the while.

“That isn’t what I was laughing about, honest.”

“So then what were you laughing at, if it wasn’t me and my honesty?” the scowl deepened, turning into a frown.

“What are you trying to say Robert?” I needed to make sure of what he was trying to tell me before I went and spilled my guts, possibly making a fool of myself in the process.

“Well, I thought it was obvious… but then again maybe I’m going about this wrong.” His words came more quickly now. “I like you Madi.” Robert looked about ready to bolt in the opposite direction.

“Well that’s handy,” I began, watching his face the entire time I spoke. His eyes narrowed, trying to figure out where I was going with this. “Because if you liked me and I didn’t like you, well, that would be a problem now wouldn’t it?” He nodded cautiously, so I continued. “If I liked you and you didn’t like me, well that would be another problem. So I guess it works out then.”

“What works out?”

“The fact that I like you too.” I grinned.

In that second, Robert’s entire face broke into a heart-stopping grin, and he took my hand. We continued on like that, holding hands, both of us grinning from ear to ear, until we reached my driveway.

“This is where I get off,” I said regretfully. Robert released my hand, only to reach up and brush a stray curl from my face.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” he said with a grin.

“Good night.”

“Good night.” Robert turned and began to walk back down the road towards the camp grounds. I watched him go until he rounded the bend in the road and was lost to the darkness.

Bursting with the news, I hurried up the driveway towards the house. I had to tell Kara. As soon as I got in my room, I had the video chat window open. It felt like I had just drank a very large bottle of seltzer water, like the need to tell someone was just going to bubble right out of me if I didn’t release it soon enough.

Sure enough, I didn’t have to wait very long for Kara to get online. As soon as the icon popped up telling me she was online, I was opening a new window to talk to her; bouncing out of my seat all the while. When Kara’s face popped into view, I absolutely exploded with my news, like a volcanic eruption everything I had been keeping inside spilled out in one giant rush of words and movements.

“Slow down, child. You’re going to hurt yourself talking that fast.” The criticism was said with such a laughing tone and amused expression that I knew Kara was just as thrilled about what I had just told her as I was. “What’s his name? Where did you meet him? And are you going to see him again anytime soon?”

“Ugh, I just told you all this! Weren’t you watching?” My euphoria was slipping slowly back into reality, and my annoyance at losing my own personal cloud nine was slipping into my attitude.

“I was watching, but you went too fast for anything to make sense to me. I caught the general jist of it all, and the fact that you’re bouncing out of your seat.” Kara laughed so that her eyes twinkled with amusement at something I did not know about and grinned at me. “I’m waiting for you to bounce right out of your chair and fall on the floor.” She burst into full on laughter at that.

I had to admit, it sounded like something I was capable of. It had happened before.

“Ok, his name is Rob. He’s tall; and not just tall in general, like me. He’s a giant, somewhere around 6’5” I think. Honestly, he makes me look short. His hair is kind of long, but not like it’s supposed to be that way. It looks like he had gotten it cut, but hasn’t trimmed it in awhile. He’s got blonde hair and blue-ish eyes.”

“Wait, what do you mean blue-ish?”

I sighed, trying to find words to describe them.

“I guess you could technically call them blue. They’re dark blue on the outsides, but they morph into this amazing emerald green color near the middle.” I let my voice trail off as I lost myself in the image of Rob’s face that was floating in front of my eyes where only I could see it.

“Madi. MADI. MADISON!!!!”

I jerked back to awareness of what was happening at the sound of my name, only to find Kara laughing at me as I tried to catch up on what was going on around me.

“You must really like this guy, Madi. I haven’t seen you so gaga over anyone… well, ever!” She laughed. “But it’s ok. If anyone deserves to find a great guy to be happy with, it’s you.”

“Well, the only thing with that is I don’t know if he really likes me.” I looked away from the screen as I said this. I could feel myself going red, a trait I hated yet my friends loved to exploit at the worst possible moments.

Author's Note

i'm still writing this, it's mostly just parts of what i know i want to happen so far, and i'm going back adding in more as i dream it up!

Reviews

[Vaishali..^_^]

ohh its a beautiful piece....!!nice one..!

[Bhavya Kaushik]

Oh wow! What a great piece of writing it is...so very well penned!
I simply loved your writing style and with the way you flowed the entire story....
can't wait to read more :)
Overall, a great piece of writing...
Thanks a lot for sharing it here,
Keep writing :)