The Silent ~ l.h

5//Strange

Luke's P.O.V:

'So what did you tell her?'

'Well...'

'Luke...

'Calum...'

'What did you tell her, Luke?'

'I told her she was beautiful.'

Calum just stared at me, dumbfounded. Then he tackled me to the ground and hugged me. I was, to say, at the least- surprised.

'My little Lukey's growing up,' he signed, gushing.

To which I gave him a sign you didn't need to ASL to understand.

He just chuckled and ruffled my hair. I pouted and tried to make it proper.

Calum had been my best friend since as long as I could remember; he was really my older brother. He was actually an orphan, my parents adopted him when I was born.

He was a year older than me. I was 17, but he was already 18, so he moved out and has his own house, just opposite to mine. And of course I spent almost half my time there, since he was the only friend I had who could understand and speak to me. Sort of.

I did have a friend called Michael, but he could understand only a tiny bit of what I was saying. We mainly communicated through video games. Other than that... I didn't have many friends. And I though it would stay that way, since there is almost nobody who speaks ASL like Calum, and my family.

Until.

Until I met her. I remember yesterday when I just smiled at her. She was stunning. When she came over to talk to me today, my heart felt like it was going to escape the earth atmosphere.

The fact that I could talk to her just as well as I could talk to my family, was more than anything I could've asked for. Well, maybe except a set of ears that actually worked. And that was just so I could listen to her voice. Cheesy, I know, but true.

I wondered what she was doing, so I texted her.

'Mate? Be careful, yeah? I don't want you getting hurt, okay?'

'Okay.'

She wouldn't hurt me, she'd heal me.

Becca's P.O.V:

"Bro, calm down, I'm really sorry. I'm leaving. I'll be there in 10 minutes," I told Angie. She hung up without saying anything.

I may have forgotten that I had to meet her at the park at 7, and it was already 7:30. So yeah. She was really pissed.

I took my phone, the keys, and a pair of headphones. You know, just in case.

________

"So, tell the love expert what's wrong," I said.

"Okay, and...go. I really really really like this guy. But he has no idea. It's like the typical love problem. Except...I have become his go-to girl for this girl he loves. He refuses to tell me her name. But he thinks that I'm his go-to person and he tells me everything about her. He thinks she's perfect. He keeps asking me for advice about her. And I don't know what to do. Should I tell him that I like him? Or should I just try to forget him?"

After I helped her out with her problem, she wanted to know more about Luke. Well, I told her just a littler. I may have omitted the part about him being Luke, but it's not like that changes who Luke really is.

After we were done talking, we hugged and she left. I decided to stay there for a while, because it was nice and cool outside, and there was grass to lay down on.

I put my headphones in, and lay down, just pulling out fistfuls of grass absentmindedly as I listened to Shawn Mendes' 'Aftertaste'.

"Turns out that no one can replace me,
I'm permanent, you can't erase me."

I didn't quite understand the lyrics. Because no one is permanent. In the end, nothing is going to be left. Nothing lasts forever. Everything dies.

And no one can replace anyone. Everybody is different. No two people are ever the same.

All of a sudden, I heard a loud noise, like a crash. I heard it over the music. Which meant that it must have been really close, or really loud.

I shot up and looked around, trying to find out who or what it was. There was no one in the park. Well, no one that I could see.

Wait, I could see a hooded figure running. Without thinking, and I don't know why, I got up and ran behind the guy.

"Hey! Excuse me!" I shouted. Damn, this guy was fast.

He didn't seemed to have heard me at all. I looked back to see a huge gang of guys who looked like stereotypical neighbourhood druggies. There were like, ten to fifteen of them, and they seemed to be chasing the hooded guy.

The guy looked at back and at me too. And I would recognise those blue eyes anywhere.

"Luke!"

The druggies just stopped when they noticed me. Crap.

I was literally in a dark alleyway, a girl, alone, with a group of 12 guys. Wow.

'Hey, sugar, you got something for us?'

Before I could do god knows what, something punched him. And that something was Luke. He looked pure angry. He looked at me to make sure I was okay.

I just shook my head. I grabbed his hand and we bolted before they could recover from their shock of Luke punching the guy. And the guy seemed to be bleeding, which seemed almost impossible.

We ran, taking turns, until we reached a supermarket. He ushered me to the last aisle, which seemed to be deserted.

I examined his face, trying to make sure he was okay.

'I'm fine. I'm worried about you.'

'Luke.'

'Becca.'

'You know, we ran out of there just because I was scared you would beat up everybody there,' I signed, trying to break the thick air.

He just laughed, and brushed a strand hair to tuck it behind my ear. I blushed. Like crazy. He noticed, and just smiled, and I could swear that I saw a hint of red on his cheeks, too.

'Well...'

'Am I going to know what happened there?'

'I think you deserve to know.'

'Even though we just met today?'

'Even though we just met today. Because it might seem strange, but I trust you.'

To which I just sighed. And then I hugged him. I don't know why I hugged him, but I was glad I did. Hugging him felt...I don't know; it felt right. It was warm, and i felt safe. I was literally disappointed when we pulled apart. I just looked into his eyes, and I signed back.

'There's nothing wrong with being strange. After all...aren't we all?'