Distant - || [LRH]

.5

I gasped, "Luke! You said something!"

He nods and I give him a big hug.

"That must have been really hard. I'm so proud of you," I smile.

"Thank y-you," he responds.

"What accent is that? Australian?" I ask.

He nods his head.

"It's cute," I say.

He interlocks our fingers, and I bite my lip from happiness.

"Do you want to go down and get something to eat from the kitchen?" I ask.

He nods and I lead the way down the stairs. When we reach the bottom, I break the hold.

"Do you guys need anything?" Mom asks when we walk into the room.

Luke shakes his head and I say no.

I walk to the pantry and ask Luke what he likes. He points to a container of Oreos and I grab them. I also pull out Cheez-its and walk out of the kitchen with Luke following close behind.

"Hey, do you wanna watch a movie?" I ask.

He nods.

"Okay, which?"

Shrug.

"How about.. a horror movie?"

Nod.

"Okay. Lights Out? Hush?"

He holds up two fingers.

"Hush it is."

I click on the movie and we're greeted by the beginning. Oh. She's deaf.

Luke squirms a little on his side of the couch when the scary parts come on.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

He nods quickly before returning his attention to the screen.

Once the movie ended I casually try to make small talk with him.

"So.. What's up?"

Shrug.

"Are we going back to this?"

He looks around the room quickly, "no. s-sorry."

"It's okay Luke," I reply, "you don't have to talk if you're not comfortable."

He smiles.

I throw a Cheez-it at him and he laughs, picking it up and throwing it back. It lands in my mouth and we were now laughing hysterically.

"What time is it?" I ask through laughs. He shows me his phone screen and it reads 7:23.

"Do you have to go home?" I ask.

He nods and I offer to drive him home. He agrees and we hop in the car and I drive to his house as he points the way. Literally.

When we pull up, it's a nice looking house and it has a middle aged woman standing outside looking a bit worried. She's frantically looking around, and is confused when I pull into her driverway–following Luke's instructions.

She is noticeably relieved when Luke opens his door and steps out before her. I also get out of the car and walk up to greet her.

"Hello, I'm Lydia," I say to her as I reach my hand out for her to shake.

She shakes it, as she says "hello Lydia, I'm Liz."

She looks over to Luke and he gives her a reassuring smile to which she smiles back.

"Where were you, Luke?" She asks.

I wonder if he will answer his presumably mother's question with words. But, alas, he doesn't. He points at me, and she nods.

"Did you have fun?"

He nods.

"Okay. That's good. Come inside, dinner's ready. Nice to meet you, though, Lydia," she says kindly as they walk inside.

"You too, Liz!" I reply happily.

I walk back inside my car and drive back to my house, before taking a shower and getting ready for dinner.