“Uh…hi,” I then said, like the dumb sloth that I was, and unfolded the blanket before offering it to her.
Something in Carina’s eyes flared, like the fire in front of us, and she stepped closer to me instead of taking the blanket from me.
So, I guess it washerwho’d made the first move, then.
Should I be relieved, or should I be frustrated?
The answer was a gamble on my mind.
I moved even closer to her, and when she blinked up at me with wet, snow-sprinkled lashes, I smiled and wrapped the golden cashmere around her.
She hastily grabbed the hems and pulled the blanket snug against her body, and then plopped –actuallyplopped – onto the sofa. She canted her head, silently asking me to join her.
I did, obviously.
“Hi,” I said again, then scratched the back of my head when Carina chuckled softly.
“Sorry,” I muttered, and grabbed the catalogs from next to me before placing them on my lap. “So, what do you wanna start with? We can pick a basic theme first, and I can then coordinate it with appropriate shades, materials, any special item or style request, etc.”
She brought a hand up, asking me to wait, and then grabbed her purse before pulling out her phone, a notebook, and a pen from inside it. She then tapped around on her phone, and after a few seconds, turned it so that I could see the screen.
I looked down at the picture, at the rustic library. The floor was most definitely Elm – sanded and polished to give it a textured feel. There were wide shelves on either side of the library, with the center bare, save for a dark, wooden study table at the very end – right above a tiny, namesake window. There were period frames on either side of the window, and the roof was an upside-down V – with a tainted glass in the middle and Oakwood plies on either of its side. It was simple, yet intricate. It was…
“Gorgeous,” I whispered, and then looked at Carina. “You want it exactly like this?”
She nodded excitedly, and I don’t think she did it on purpose, but she shifted closer to me, and our knees bumped.
“Can you send me this picture?” I asked her. “I’ll need it for reference.”
She nodded again, pointed at me, and then pinched the fingers of both her hands before touching them together and twisting them once.
I shook my head, and my brows furrowed. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
She gave me a thumbs up, then picked up her pen and notebook, and it’s the first time Iactuallysaw the two items properly. Her pen was shaped in the form of a watermelon slice, and her notebook…
It took me a moment to realize what it meant. Both the front and back of the book had Makkari fromMarvel’sEternals, the movie, on them. Makkari was portrayed as a deaf character in it, and I’d seen her signing her words in the movie’s multiple trailers. Her condition was different from Carina’s, yet their manner of communication was exactly the same.
“Nice notebook,” I remarked.
She smiled and signed,Thankyou.
I knew how that was done; I wasn’t completely stupid.
She flipped open said notebook and wrote something in it before showing it to me.
Give me your number so that I can send you the photo.
“Oh yeah, of course,” I said.
We quickly exchanged numbers, and a few seconds later, my phonepingedback-to-back with two new messages from her.
Carina:Hi:’)
Carina:sent a photo
I saved the picture on my camera roll, and then showed her the layout and color scheme Mr. Ribeiro had decided on for thekitchen. Carina consented to everything, and once we were done, I jerked my head at her notebook.
“You going to watch the movie?” I asked her. I told myself that I was curious, but the truth was: I didn’t wanna go home. Not yet.
