Cut Off

Chapter 14

"So," Emily starts after she comes back from hiding my phone. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. You're the one who is keeping me here. You come up with an idea" I say.

"Fine. Tell me more about Zach" she says.

"I thought you said he could wait until tomorrow."

"Yes, well, I just meant he can't talk to you. I didn't say we couldn't talk about him."

"Whatever. What do you want to know now?"

"Everything. Family, favorite things, whatever. I literally barely know anything about him and you've been dating for a while now."

"Okay then. Um...he has an older brother and has only a mom. He likes to draw and he likes playing video games. I don't really know what else to tell you" I say.

"How did he become deaf?"

"Born that way," I say.

"Cool. So, are you any good at ASL now?"

"I guess. Simple words at least. He's been teaching me some and then I've been learning some on my own."

"Could you teach me?" she asks.

"Sure. Like what?"

"I don't know. Something easy."

"Okay."

So for the next 30 minutes, I teach Emily some simple signs. Just the ones I thought she might want to use and aren't too hard to remember. After a while though, she gets bored.

"Okay. I got it. I'll try next time I see him. Let's do something else now. You pick" she says.

"Okay. We spent time talking about my boyfriend. Now it's your turn. Let's talk about your fiancé."

"But you know Josh."

"True. So tell me more. How did he propose?"

"He took me on our first date again. Dinner and a movie like when we were in 8th grade. It was actually really cute."

I could tell she really liked talking about this. I smiled at her response.

"Cute. Okay, what else do you want to do?"

"No idea. Paint our nails? Pillow fight? Be the girls in cliché movies?"

"Sure. Sounds fun."

So that's what we do. We are cliché drama movie girls for the rest of the night. Then we go to sleep, and I am happy. I almost forget about everything else.

----

When I wake up I see Emily's face right in mine.

"Holy crap!"

"Sorry. Zach kept calling you. I got annoyed. Here" she says while handing me my phone.

I facetime him back and he picks up immediately.

"HEY, SORRY TO WAKE YOU UPP" he signs.

"IT'S FINE" I sign back. It's nice to be able to have a conversation now. Emily was watching too and I think she picked up on a little from what I taught her last night.

"WHAT'S WRONG?" I asked him.

"WHERE WERE YOU? RYAN SAID HE NEEDED TO TALK TO YOU."

"RYAN? WHY?"

"DON'T KNOW. CAN YOU COME OVER?"

I turn to Emily.

"Can I go over there? I mean, do you need me here?"