Listen With Your Heart [May Continue in Future]

Chapter 8

Sorry this update took so long, my life has been insane this past month. First I had writer's block and then I started working and then family drama happened and then Liam's fiacso...I'm exhausted

But as they say: the show must go on!

Henry's POV

"So you're seriously going on a date with this guy?" Tommy asked Oliver as Ollie was cutting tomatoes.  "A date with who?" Dad asked since all of us were in the kitchen.  "This douche who they met at the beach" Tommy sighed and Ollie just chuckled and shook his head "He seems to be sorry so what's the harm?" he signed to Dad, one handed.  Dad just nodded and went back to washing the vegetables "Dad force him to take one of us with him, I don't trust this guy" Tom signed.  "You don't even know him, and trust me, first impressions can be very misleading" Dad signed back. 

We all looked over as we heard Pops open the front door and our uncle Niall stood there with his family, with his wife holding a large bowl.  Uncle Niall's daughter smiled at us as she started to sneak up on Ollie who still had his back turned since he couldn't hear the door open.  She jumped on his back with a yell and Ollie just turned before kissing her on the forehead, not even fazed by the jump scare.  "Why weren't you scared?" Sophia asked, pouting. "I live with two brothers, sorry" he spoke, with his fingertips on his throat, since she didn't know sign. 

Rana, Niall's wife, walked over to the kitchen and set the bowl down on the counter before she hugged all of us.  Rana was an Indian girl, her parents were actually from India; thus Sophia, their daughter, had a beautiful copper skin tone, a mix between Rana's dark brown skin and Uncle Niall's pale skin.  Sophia was like our little sister since she was only five years younger than us; more than once we've had to chase off boys from Sophia. 

"Let's eat" Dad said, placing a hand on Oliver's shoulder and nodding to the cabinet where we kept the plate and dishes so he could set the table.  "So how's the cafe doing? Uncle Niall asked as we all sat down before Dad and Pops served all the food to everyone, giving me an extra big helping of Rana's famous curry. 

Ollie, as usual, unfortunately, quickly became lost in the dinner conversation and it wasn't long before he was playing with his phone.  Oliver couldn't lipread for very long so it was impossible for him to try to follow a spoken conversation for more than a few phrases from each person.  We usually sign whenever we're around Oliver but since Uncle Niall liked a beer and would always drag my parents into drinking with him, signing was usually forgotten among the drinks and laughter and jokes.  Tommy and I tried to translate but there was so much overlap and interrupting and joking that we just gave up with an apologetic smile.

After we finishing eating Ollie stood up "I'm leaving" he signed and Dad nodded, Pops looked at Dad since he didn't know where Ollie was going "He's going on a date" Dad said outloud.  Pops nodded and turned back to Uncle Niall and continue the conversation.

As Ollie went to go get ready in our room, Tom stood up and jerked his head toward our room, telling me to follow.  "I still think that you shouldn't go" Tommy signed as we walked into Ollie changing his shirt "It's been awhile since we did anything as brothers, let's do something together instead". "Tom we spend almost all day every day together, you realize that right?" I teased.

"Let's go surfing! We haven't been in forever!" Tommy signed excitedly, ignoring me. Uncle Liam taught us how to surf a long time ago for the family trip to Hawaii that we went on around Christmas every year; and by family I meant our uncles: Liam, Niall and Zayn, we didn't talk to any of our actual family for some reason.  We had no idea who our grandparents were and Dad has only mentioned his sister a handful of times.

Ollie reached into his pocket as his phone buzzed but Tommy plucked his phone from his hands and tossed it to me.  "Bros and hoes come and go, but family is forever" Tom signed.  "Wow that's deep, did you read that on the back of a cereal box?" Ollie asked.

"The beach closes at sunset, if we leave now we can surf for about an hour" Tommy signed, ignoring him as well "Let's go, Henry text Romeo and tell him the plans have changed" Tommy said.   Oliver didn't put up a fight and followed Tom out of our room; I tried to be nice to Ollie's date as I texted him that "I" couldn't go anymore.

"Plans changed, we're going surfing" Tommy said as we walked back into the dining room "I wanna go to the beach!" Sophia whined. The adults all looked at each other "Sure why not, we can get ice cream at the pier; Tommy you should take the dogs, they haven't been for a walk today yet" Dad said. "Henry, can you? I'll go get our wetsuits and surfboards" Tom asked before tossing me their leashes.

We all crammed into the car, Salt and Pepper sat on mine and Tommy's laps; Ollie had to fend off Pepper's eager face as she tried to lick him repeatedly.  When we arrived at the beach, I handed the dogs to Dad as my brothers brought down the surfboards and wetsuits, before walking to the bathroom to get changed.  Oliver chuckled and ran back to our parents, taking off his hearing aides as he ran and handing them to Pops before catching back up with us at the restroom.

It was always a struggle to try to zip up the wetsuits because of the big bums my brothers and I had which we blamed completely on Pops.  When my brothers and I were around two or three, our family took our first trip to Hawaii and there are pictures of Pops and Uncle Liam as they surfed. When my brothers and I stumbled across the photos we actually thought they were pictures of us from last year's trip, but we couldn't remember when they were taken; it was a shock to learn that it was actually Pops from his early twenties.  We always knew that the only physical differences between us and Pops, were our green eyes and the fact that we couldn't grow any hair on our faces or our chests like Dad, but it was still kinda crazy to realize that we're Pop's exact clones.  

Because of our bums, we needed to help each other zip up the wetsuits, especially on our lower back.  After Tom and I got zipped up, and Tom was helping Oliver with his zipper, I looked over as I heard a yelp, like a small dog getting stepped on. All I saw though was Ollie holding on to one of his ass cheeks as he chased Tommy out of the bathroom; I rolled my eyes and dragged the surfboards out, toward the water as Ollie chased Tom up and down the beach for apparently pinching his butt.   Tom tried to flee into the ocean but Ollie, being the swimmer in the family, easily caught up to Tom and they started wrestling in the water, trying to force each other's heads down into the water.  By the time I reached them they called a truce though, I missed all the fun.

The three of us paddled out a little way from the shore and sat upon our surfboards, bobbing on the ocean, waiting for a surfable wave. "I feel a little guilty, I usually don't flake on people" Ollie signed. Tommy looked at him for moment before paddling closer to Ollie "You didn't flake on him you just decided family was more important" Tommy signed.

"Says the nympho that ditches his brothers on even the chance for some action" Ollie teased.  Tommy laughed "Variety of the spice of life" he said before turning more serious "But I'd never choose someone over my own brothers". Ollie just shook his head and let the conversation drop as I tapped his shoulder and pointed at a wave that was forming behind us.