deaf | halsanie

two

mel went back to the diner on friday.

this time she brought her friend tyler with her. he wouldn't make her leave like her mother did.

as they waited for someone to come take their orders mel tapped her now blue nails against the table. ever since her last experience at the diner she had abandoned her old habit of staring off into the distance and daydreaming while she waited. today she was the opposite of her usual calm, mellow self.

secretly, mel was hoping ashley would be her waitress again. she liked ashley. she liked the way her electric blue hair contrasted with the pastel yellow dress all the waitresses wore. she also liked the way the dress showed off her long, pale legs.

mel caught a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye. tyler was waving his hand at her, trying to get her attention. she turned to him.

"what's wrong?" he signed, a concerned look on his face.

"what do you mean?" mel questioned.

"you seem nervous." he told her.

mel shrugged. she was about to respond when she felt a presence beside her. she looked up eagerly, expecting to see the girl with the blue hair standing there. instead there stood a boy with red hair. he glanced at mel and she was almost positive she saw a look of recognition cross his face. but it was gone in a second and then his attention was on tyler. mel obviously couldn't hear him but she could tell when someone was stuttering. tyler was smiling from ear to ear and mel was biting her finger to keep from laughing.

as tyler talked to the waiter, who's name was josh, according to his nametag, mel moped over the fact that it wasn't ashley. she also wondered why ashley hadn't been wearing a nametag.

eventually, tyler placed their pre decided orders (mel ordered the fries again since she hadn't gotten to taste them last time) and turned his attention back to mel, the ecstatic look on his face returning to it's original concerned state.

"are you going to tell me why you look like someone just ran over your dog?" he asked mel.

mel sighed. "yesterday i met a girl," she signed. "she fucked me up."

tyler looked both amused and intrigued. "details?"

mel explained all about ashley and their encounter a few days earlier and how she had really been hoping to see her again today.

"she was tall and she knew sign language and she was hot as-"

suddenly, mel felt a tap on her shoulder. she jumped about a foot in the air and turned to face whoever had poked her. an overflowing box of golden fries was plopped down in front of her.

"did someone order fries?" ashley signed.

mel couldn't keep the smile off her face.
she knew she looked exactly like tyler had just a few minutes ago while talking to josh.

ashley was grinning proudly. she had traded the yellow dress for a pair of ripped skinny jeans and a black muscle tee.

"i didn't think you were working today." mel signed.

"i'm not," ashley signed. "it's my day off today but i stopped by to grab my jacket." she held up the maroon leather jacket that was draped over her arm.
"when i saw an order of fries sitting on the counter i decided i'd bring them to their rightful owner."

mel bit her lip to keep from smiling like an idiot. she couldn't believe ashley had gone out of her way for her like that. "thank you. i was getting worried about my babies."

"did you just refer to those fries as your babies?" this was tyler. he spoke the words out loud as he said them so that josh, who had just appeared behind ashley, could understand. if mel wasn't mistaken, josh seemed to be trying to burn a hole through the side of ashley's head with his eyes.

"he's mad that i took his job." ashley said and signed.

josh said something that caused ashley to retaliate and him and ashley started arguing. by reading their lips mel got something along the lines of josh complaining that it was ashley's day off and that she shouldn't be working and ashley calling him a buzzkill while exchanging a look with mel.

both mel and ashley knew it wasn't ashley working on her day off that had set josh off. he had wanted to be the one to bring them -- or more specifically tyler -- the food. tyler, of course, was oblivious to this. he sipped his pink milkshake innocently as they argued.

"anyways," ashley said once their little fight was resolved and josh's angry scowl had been reduced to a childish pout. "i actually came here to ask you something."

"what?" mel said curiously.

"there's this concert in town tonight," she wiggled her fingers around in what was the sign language equivalent to the word um. was she actually stuttering? mel hadn't known this girl for long but she seemed like the kind of confident, articulate person that rarely messed up her words. "i was wondering if you would want to go with me. i already bought an extra ticket for josh before i remembered he doesn't have fridays off."

mel's heart fluttered in her chest. partially because there was a possibility that ashley had just asked her out on a date and and partially because she had never actually been to a concert or anything like it, really. it wasn't because she was deaf, though. she loved music, even if she enjoyed it differently than other people. so no, it wasn't concerts she didn't like, it was the social interaction. mel was what you'd call an advanced introvert.

she realized she hadn't given an answer yet. she felt both ashley and tyler's eyes on her, ashley with an expectant look on her face and tyler with both eyebrows raised and a smirk.

"i've never really been to one." she admitted. "not that i wouldn't want to go with you!" she added quickly.

did that sound desperate? that definitely sounded desperate.

ashley giggled and looked at the ground. "if it makes you feel better, it's just a small outdoor indie thing. nothing huge."

mel smiled gratefully. "okay. i'd love to go then." she turned to tyler and gave him a look that was both pleading and apologetic. she felt bad just leaving him here.

"go ahead." tyler assured her. "i'll be fine."

"thank you!" she signed, jumping out of her seat and following ashley towards the parking lot. she glanced over her shoulder and signed "you're the best!"

"and don't you forget it."

___________________________

i wasn't even planning on joshler but shit happens so enjoy your cheeky side order of tøp

little author's note whenever anyone is speaking around mel and someone who's not deaf they're both speaking out loud and signing at the same time but when its just mel and ashley they're just signing to each other

i hope that wasn't confusing

- mak xx