Read My Lips: Chapter 8

Background color
Font
Font size
Line height

Chapter 8

Thursday night approached quickly and before I knew it, I was waiting outside the school for Zach to arrive so we could go to his house.

Hopefully, his family wouldn’t be in so I wouldn’t have to face talking to them. Because talking to them meant risking the fact I was deaf and having to tell Zach. I knew I had to tell him and I would. When it was crucial.

“Are you ready to go?” Zach asked appearing in front of me.

His sudden appearance made me jump but I nodded my head in reply. I breathed a deep breath as I followed him over to his car. Like a real gentleman, he opened the door and allowed me to get in before he walked around to his side of the car.

The ride to his house was silent. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or not but I never said anything. Zach lived in a nice area. The neighbourhood looked nice and friendly.

His house was located at the end of the neighbourhood. The little house was surrounded by a white picket fence and a drive which led up to a garage. It was a two story house with little squares inside the square windows. The house was cute and to be honest, I couldn’t wait to see what it looked like inside.

I followed Zach up the little path laced with flowers and into his house. Copying his actions, I took off my shoes and waited for him to face me. Which he did. The hall way was painted with white walls and a floored with a beige carpet. The walls were bare and held no photographs.

“Is your family in?” I asked him fiddling with my fingers. It was a habit I’d picked up when I was nervous.

“It’s just my mum and I but she isn’t in,” He smiled hanging his coat on the hanger beside him. Zach reached out for my jacket which I removed and handed to him. “Follow me.”

And so I did. He led me up the stairs and to the edge of the hallway where I’m guessing his room was located.

His room, like his hallway, was pretty much bare. In the middle of his room sat a large double bed with a blue comforter. The walls were white and the carpet was a lovely shade of blue. He had a wall TV on the wall in front of his bed with a set of drawers underneath it which had a few game consoles on top. On the floor beside his set of drawers was a variety of game console games scattered around the floor. At each side of his bed were a bedside table. To the right of his bed there were two doors; both open. One was revealed to be his closet as clothes were scattered on the floor as well as been hung up. The other was revealed to be an en-suite bathroom. And in-between those two doors sat a desk which had a laptop placed on it and a variety of folders and books which I assumed were his school stuff.

It was a typical boy’s bedroom that held nothing unexpected.

Zach led me over to his bed where we both sat down facing each other. For some unknown reason, nerves bubbled up inside me making my stomach erupt into butterflies.

“So what are we starting with? The project or the tutoring?” Zach enquired.

“Project. It need to be done sooner,” I began, pulling my notebook from my bag. “So I thinking, we do a PowerPoint each?”

He nodded his head and pulled his own notebook from his bed. I watched him as he got up and made his way over to his desk where he retrieved his laptop. After sitting back down opposite me, he placed the laptop to the right of his leg so the laptop was in a position where we could both see the screen.

After it had loaded, he pulled up a PowerPoint.

“I’m not entirely sure what we’re supposed to do on the presentation.” Zach chuckled, running a hand through his hair and rubbing the back of his neck.

Which was something he seemed to do a lot.

“I not sure. Just notes?” I asked making sure to keep my eyes focused on his lips.

“Sure then.” He chuckled once again before starting on his presentation.

         Half way through the time Zach was doing his project, his head snapped up and he looked behind me. I stared at him in confusion. What was wrong with him?

Watching his lips, I waited for him to say something. “H-hi mum.” He smiled.

I swear at that moment I felt my heart stop in my chest. His mum was here? I couldn’t exactly pretend I had zoned out if one of them spoke to me whilst I had my back to them. It was getting to the point now where it was getting harder and harder to keep it from him.

Maybe I should just tell him and get it over with. Then he’d know. But at the same time, I didn’t want to tell him. I didn’t want him to know in case he didn’t want to talk to me anymore and I couldn’t lose the only friends I had.

So, I was stuck in the middle of two choices.

Shuffling in the position I was sat, I turned around to look at his mother. Who somehow looked nothing like Zach… Except for their eye colour. That was the only thing they seemed to have in common with each other. So taking a wild guess, he looked more like his father.

But she was beautiful though. Her brown hair was tied up in a messy bun and she had a bit of makeup on; not coated. However, she looked tired. There were small bags under her eyes which you could only make out if you stared at her intently.

“Who’s this?” She smiled, nodding at me but looking behind me to Zach.

I turned my head back to Zach so I could see what he replied. “This is Maisie. She’s my new friend.” He smiled.

As quickly as I could, I turned back to his mum. “Oh, nice to meet you Maisie. You can call me Emma.” Emma smiled.

“Hi.” I answered quietly and as simply as I could. Too much talking could lead to suspicion about why I talked the way I did. Surely his mum would pick up the ‘accent’ I had on my voice.

Zach must have said something that I missed because his mum began talking again.

“I got off work early. There wasn’t anything left to do so they let me go.” She replied to Zach.

Whatever he answered, I didn’t catch again as she nodded her reply to him and walked out the door, closing it half way behind her.

Well, if that wasn’t awkward then I don’t know what is. I turned back to Zach to see him staring at me.

Zach smiled awkwardly at me, fiddling with the papers on his knees. “I thought she’d be at work. She normally works nightshift.”

I bit my bottom lip awkwardly as I nodded my head at his reply. How was I supposed to answer that?

“Listen,” Zach began, fiddling with the papers he was holding. “Since it was bonfire night just the other day, there’s a firework display on tomorrow night… and I was wondering… if, well… you’d want to go with me?”

And just like that it felt like I was part of a romance novel; butterflies were erupting in my stomach and I swear it felt like my heart had stopped in my chest.

Because things like this didn’t happen to me. People didn’t talk to me- especially not boys. I didn’t have friends and I didn’t get invited to places.

Without even thinking about the fact Zach still didn’t know about the fact I was deaf, I nodded my head anyway. “Sure! I love to!” I grinned.

Well that didn’t sound too enthusiastic. (Note the sarcasm).

“Great,” He grinned back at me. “I’ll come pick you up around 5 and we can go out to dinner before the display.”

He shut his laptop down and placed it on the floor with his notes on top. I shoved mine back in my bag and copied him before sitting back up and looking at his face.

“You want study now?” I asked, turning my bracelet around so it was facing the right way up. I made sure to look back up at his face as quickly as I could though.

“Nah. Not now anyway. Let’s do something else.” Zach smirked. He had an evil glint in his eye. Not a one you see in movies when the character’s pure evil. More like a mischievous, evil glint. And this did not look good.

“Wha-” I started before I was cut off with fingers digging into my waist.

Laughter erupted from my lips before I could even grasp what was happening. I was been tickled. By Zach.

“Stop! Zach, stop! Stop!” I cried, wiggling around on his bed as he continued to tickle me.

I looked at Zach’s face, his smirk was gone and it was replaced with a grin; his eyes were gleaming. His face was getting even more blurry as tears filled my eyes from laughing so much.

“Zach! Stop! You’re gonna make me pee!” I squealed, more laughter bubbling from my mouth. I was so ticklish it was unreal.

He finally stopped making me realise the position he was in. Zach was in between my legs, his hands on my waist as he stared down into my eyes.

Before I knew what was happening, his face was getting closer to mine. Was he… was he going to kiss me?

I could feel my breath picking up as his face was slowly inching closer to my own. He was so close to me, I could feel his warm breath on my lips.

And just like that he was gone. He jumped back making me jump up myself. I looked up at his face realising he wasn’t looking at me but towards his door. Was his mum there?

Panic welled up in my chest but as I looked towards the door, I realised I was wrong.

Someone else was stood there, someone I didn’t expect.

Ryan.

I watched his face as I waited for him to say something.

“Woah!” He cried dramatically putting his hands over his eyes. “Horny teenagers! Stop!” 

A pillow flew over my head and his Ryan straight in the face. His hands dropped as he stared over at Zach.

“Really? You’re really gonna go there?” He demanded, walking over to us. He dropped himself straight on Zach’s lap.

I turned to look at Zach. “Get the hell off me!” Zach moaned pushing Ryan off him and onto the bed beside him.

They had such a cute bromance. Although, I knew they’d hate been called cute. I giggled at them as they proceeded to play fight.

“What?” Zach asked looking over me from the headlock he had on Ryan.

“Your bromance cute!” I giggled even more, I had to grab my stomach from laughing so much. This wasn’t even funny.

Zach looked at me strangely before laughing himself and letting go of Ryan. Ryan sat up himself, rubbing his neck as he faked a hurt look. He smacked Zach across the head before turning to face me.

“So, what were you two doing before I got here?” He smirked, pointing from me to Zach and back again.

“N-nothing… I… We…” I stuttered not knowing what to say. I could feel my face burning making me drop my gaze to the bed. I stared at it like it was the most intricate thing in the world. It wasn’t.

I looked back up to the boys to see them fighting again.

“Stop teasing her.” Zach ordered, pulling his friends back into a headlock.

I don’t think anything would be more entertaining than watching them two fight. Now, that sounded pretty sad. But maybe I was just a sad person.

         After staying another hour and a half at Zach’s house, I finally left. He had asked me to stay for tea but I declined his offer. I didn’t want to risk it. Anyway, my mum had picked me up on her way back from the supermarket.

When I got in from Zach’s, I went straight into the shower whilst my mum made dinner. It felt so nice to relax with warm water pouring down.

I changed into my pyjamas and dropped down onto my bed. One question ran through my mind; what would I wear for tomorrow with Zach?

After searching through my closet for a while, I dropped down on the floor in defeat. Nothing. I had nothing to wear.

Sometimes, I just hated been a girl. It was so stressful trying to find a decent outfit that would make me look presentable.

My little brother had come into my room to tell me dinner was ready. He grabbed my hand and led me down the stairs. This little guy was just far too cute.

As soon as we sat down for dinner, I decided to tell my mum about the firework display tomorrow.

“Mum,” I began playing with the food on my plate. “Er, Zach asked me if I want to go to a firework display tomorrow.”

My mums face instantly brightened and her eyes gleamed. I knew she liked Zach… maybe a little too much. “Like a date?” She grinned.

I choked on the food I was currently eating and slammed my fist onto my chest. “What? No!” I cried, continuing to thump my chest. Was she serious?

“Are you sure?” She asked, her bright look fading a little.

“I sure.” I said confidently. But I wasn’t.

“Oh,” She said sounded defeated. “You can go though. It’ll be good for you to go out with someone other than us.”

I smiled at her happy face and continued eating my food. She knew I didn’t have any friends, and she pitied me for it. But I liked it. I liked to be left alone.

After dinner was over, I went straight up to my room. I needed to find something to wear.

However, when I was looking through my clothes, my mums words were swirling around in my head.

Like a date?”

I didn’t even know myself. Was it a date? I was almost positive it wasn’t.

But what if it was?

If I don't upload before Christmas then... Merry Christmas!:D <3

Vote, Comment and Follow?<3

You are reading the story above: TeenFic.Net