Riker's POV
I ran down the sidewalk, then I noticed I ran past her. She was around a corner pressing her back to the wall. Her eyes were shut and her cheeks were red. I put my hand on her shoulder, she looked scared when she saw me, I said, "It's okay, Renee, I just want to talk to you." She said, "About what?" I said, "I know."
She said, "How? Did Ross tell you?" I said, "No, I saw you run from that guy Ross was distracting. His back was to me, so I don't know who it was, is he bothering you?" She said, "Um, no. I thought you were talking about something else, but no, he's not bothering me." I said, "Renee, I also know you're deaf." She nervously said, "No I'm not."
I covered my mouth, "You can't hear me." I moved my hand away, "What did I just say?" She sighed, "I don't know."
I said, "Can we get a coffee and talk?" She nodded and I extended my elbow, she laughed and looped her arm in mine. I said, "Do you want my coat?" She didn't have a jacket, and it was freezing outside. She said, "No, I think I'm good." We grabbed a coffee and sat at a table at an outdoor café.
She said, "So how did you find out?" I responded, "Well, I got suspicious when Ross said his window was stuck, when really, he just locked it so he could use the dry erase board to talk to you. Then I noticed you and Ross use sign language when you were talking with Ratliff. But what really did it was when you sat by the speakers at the concert. I saw you sit there the whole time. I just never said anything. I saw your hand on the speaker. That was smart. I dragged you away afterwards because I wanted to see if you were gonna tell me or if I was gonna tell you. She said, "I didn't say anything because I didn't want people to know."
I said, "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone, but I gave to ask, why did you run away?" She said, "He wanted to know who I like." I said, "And you like him?"
She said, “I don’t know. It’s doesn’t matter anyways.” I said, “No it’s not, it’s perfect. Do you know how many girls want to be with Ross? You saw how many girl were at the concert. They like him because he’s famous. He’s Ross Lynch from Austin & Ally, or Teen Beach Movie, or R5. You like him as just Ross , a friend, and a neighbor. You’re real, and we don’t get real very often.”
She smiled, “Well, I don’t know what Austin & Ally or Teen Beach Movie is if that helps.” I said, “Really? From Disney Channel?” She said, “Oh, I don’t watch TV.” I said, “You’ll fit right in with our family. We don’t have time to.” She laughed, and saw something past me, “Crap.”
She looked scared, she dove under the table cloth. I said, “Whoa, uh, what are you doing?” Then I realized she couldn't hear me, I turned around, and saw Cameron. He walked up to me, “Hey Riker.” I said, “Oh, hey Cameron.” He said, “Are you meeting someone?” I said, “Nope.” He said, “Then why do you have two cups of coffee?”
I said, “Oh, well, I already met up with someone, she left. “ He said, “Mind if I sit?” I said, “Um, go ahead.” He took a seat. I felt Renee’s hand on my foot, she was trying to move back. I said, “So, when did you move back? Or are you just visiting?” He said, “I moved back a little while ago actually, my folks are getting back together again. They’re getting remarried. Actually I was hoping I’d run into you again. I talked to Ross for a bit, but he had to leave before I could give him these. I had been carrying them around just in case I saw you guys.” He handed me a stack of envelopes. He said, “For your family, Ratliff, Kelly, and Renee.”
I said, “Oh, you know Renee?” He said, “Yeah, make sure she gets that will ya?” I nodded, “Sure thing.” He said, “Cool, I’ll see you around school.”
He kind of tripped over something, and picked it up, “Oh, I guess your friend left something.” He handed me Renee’s purse. He got up and I waved him goodbye, I nudged Renee with my knee. She came back up into her chair. “I like your shoes.” She said trying to change the subject. I gave her a look, “What was that about? Here.” I handed her, her purse and the envelope. She opened it and looked at it, “It’s a wedding invitation.”
A little pink piece of paper fell out too. Renee picked it up and read it. I said, “What does it say?” She said, “Nothing.” She crumpled it up. I said, “So why do you think that his parents are getting back together? She said, “They are?” I said, “Um, yeah. That’s what the invitation is for.” She said, “Oh, I thought one of them was getting married, not remarried. And don’t act like I’m stupid, it’s not like I could hear what he said.” I said, “Oh yeah, sorry.” She said, “It’s late, I’m gonna head home.” She got up and threw her coffee cup away.
She said, “He knew I was here.” I said, “No, he just thought whoever I was meeting left their bag.” She said, “No, he knew. He teased me, he kept stroking me with his foot. He knew it wasn’t like, your leg or something. He knew.” She looked at the piece of paper again. She turned around and started walking down the street. I yelled after her. Then remembered she couldn’t hear me. I ran after her, and stopped her, “Let me give you a ride.”
She was crying. I said, "Whoa, what just happened?" She said, “Nothing, I wanna walk.” It was freezing out, so I put my jacket around her shoulders. She gave a weak smile and started walking again. I drove home in Ross’s car then went up to his room and handed him his keys. I grabbed his elbow and walked him over to his bed. I turned off the lights, he said, “What’s going on?” I joined him on the bed. I pointed out Renee walking up to her front door and going inside. He said, “You didn’t drive her home?” I said, “She was crying, she didn’t want a ride.” The light in her room turned on. Her curtains were open, but not the window.
She took the little peice of paper out of my jacket pocket and kept reading it and reading it. She took off my jacket and nicley set it on the back of her desk chair. Ross said, "Is that your jacket?" I said, "Yeah, it was practically snowing. She didn't even have a sweater." He said, "Well, what's the peice of paper?" I said, "I don't know." The next day Renee returned my jacket to me, I asket her if she was okay, she acted like nothing had happened....
