She sips her coffee, her eyes twinkling in amusement. I see why he was taken with her.
‘We’ve been going on dates,’ I start. ‘Dex has been giving me grades.’
Her smile widens. ‘I know.’
Wonderful. That’s just fucking wonderful. ‘I want to get an A+.’
Her eyes widen, and her mouth drops open. ‘Hold. You mean he’s still grading you? The two of you are boyfriends!’
My jaw ticks almost painfully. ‘Yes. But I’m a B+ boyfriend.’
She laughs again, but I know she’s not mocking me. There’s something kind about her face. The way she looks at me is softer than most people do.
‘I understand. I was the same. I was always the teacher’s pet. Brown-noser,’ she says, theBhand shape moving up and down the side of her nose. Then she pulls them away and wiggles her fingers in thought. ‘How many dates have you gone on?’
‘Three.’ Fuck, is it really only three? True, Dex and I skipped a few steps, so there’s that, but it feels like more.
Sometimes, it feels like I’ve known him forever.
‘Well, we went to a restaurant,’ I tell her. ‘Cat café. Street market.’
Her face falls. ‘I heard about the last one. I’m sorry you had such a bad experience. Sometimes hearing people suck.’
I wave her off. I was pissed at the time, but as an interpreter, Lexi knows that shit happens everywhere. More often than not. ‘It’s fine. Doesn’t matter. But I need something better. I need A+.’
She tilts her head to the side. ‘Why do you keep choosing hearing places?’
‘Because he’s hearing.’
‘You’re not,’ she points out, like I’ve somehow forgotten I’ve been Deaf my whole life. She laughs at the expression I give her. ‘I mean, he signs. You don’t hear. Why prioritize him?’
‘Because I didn’t for a long time, so I want to be fair. At the start, I was mean, and I want to show him I’m not always so angry.’
Was it really anger?
Some of it, yes.
Some of it was exhaustion. And trauma. And a little heartache.
Lexi bites her lip, then nods. ‘Aquarium.’
I blink at her.
‘They have a nighttime walk-through event. Self-guided tour. My brother works there. Marine biologist. He works in the lab. He’s Deaf,’ she adds.
‘That why you went into Deaf studies and interpreting?’
She nods, then pulls out her phone, showing me her screen. ‘You have to make a reservation, but I can probably get you tickets,’ she goes on. ‘They have dinner after the tour. Also, they have some people from the astronomy lab at the university outside on the lawn to do stargazing. Very romantic.’
The way she signs that, two I Love You hand shapes rubbing together, is very apropos.
Do I love him? I don’t know if I do just yet, but fuck…all of thisisvery romantic.
The date she suggested sounds potentially very intimate. Stargazing would require some tactile signing, which would give me even more excuses to put my hands all over Dex.
‘When?’
She wiggles her fingers. ‘Wait.’ Then she pulls out her phone and scrolls for a minute while I gulp down a little more coffee. It’s tepid now, and even more unpleasant than it was at the start. ‘Eight days,’ she tells me.
