The Boy Next Door's Brother

Chapter Three

"Taylor wake up. You are going to be late to your first day of school"

I slam my face back into the pillow. Then I feel a coldness on my back, I turn around to see my aunt Sophie holding a cup of water.

"What the hell?!"

"Downstairs. Now."

I arrive at school twenty minutes before my class starts so I walk around the campus trying to find my later classes. I check my watch and it is 7:50, I still have ten minutes so I walk into my English class and I wait for class to start.

*tap tap*

I turn around to see a guy with blonde hair and blue eyes staring back at me. He had freckles across his nose and the sharpest jawline I have ever seen. He must be at least 6 feet tall. He is wearing a baseball jersey and a pair of tan pants. I smile and wave at the gorgeous human.

"Hi, I'm Tay-"

He cuts me off. "-Hey may. Can you hand me my pencil?" He points to the pencil right next to my foot.

I ignore the fact that he called me May and hand him his bright blue pencil.

The morning announcements fill the school over the intercom "Good morning eagles! I hope everyone had an amazing summer break. We have a lot of fun stuff planned this year including a football game this Friday at night at 7. Be there. In other news Ms. Hartman needs more students for the play Romeo and Juliet so come to room 203 to sign up before September 4th. School pictures is this Wednesday so come to school in your best attire. Have an amazing day eagles!"

The teacher walks towards me and I get really nervous that I walked in to the wrong class on my first day. I did that last year and the entire class laughed at me. It was horrible.

Instead she hands a piece of paper to the guy behind me. It is all of the morning announcements.

The teacher then instructs everyone to get out a piece of paper. We are told to write about our summer. What am I supposed to say about my summer? Should I mention the time I was arrested in June for underage drinking? Or when my friend broke my nose and beat me up so badly that she sent me to the hospital for throwing away her drugs? Or just maybe I should inform my class that I was raped on my birthday?

*bell rings*

Everyone gets up and starts walking to their class. Well, not everyone. The blonde was still sitting there. I stop at the doorway and watch as the teacher walks to the back of the class and taps on his desk. He stands up and they both act like everything is normal. He gives me a wink as he walks past me.

It is finally the last class of the day, art. I sit down in the only empty seat left, next to the blonde earlier. The substitute takes attendance and I find out that the blondes name is Ryan. The sub asks us to come up to his desk and grab the classwork. I stand behind Ryan and say "hey, your name is Ryan right?"

no response.

I repeat myself but he seems to be ignoring me. I roll my eyes and give up.  There's no point if he doesn't want to talk to me. We get back to our seats and the teacher starts playing a video about an artist for us to take notes on.  Ryan waves his hands and says, "can you put on subtitles on?".  The sub nods. I cock my head and stare at him. Then I ask him in the little sign language I know, "are you deaf?"

A smile takes over his entire face and responds with "yes! Do you know sign language?"

"Some. Not a lot"

"That's great!"

"Were you born deaf?"

"No. My hearing slowly began to fall when I turned 4. I was completely deaf by the age of 7."

"I'm sorry"

"It's alright, are you new here?"

"Obvious?"

"Very"

We both laugh and the sub yells, "pay attention you two!" 

"So do you live near the school?"

"About a ten minute drive. I live on a lake north of here"

"On highland?"

I nod.

"Me too! I live in the blue house"

"I live two doors down then"

*bell rings*

"The bell rang"

"Thanks. See you later neighbor" he hands me a piece of paper with his number on it.

I text Ryan later and I ask him if he wants to go on a walk with me around the lake. He agrees.

I walk towards his house and I see him walk out without a shirt on. He has a six pack and a very defined v line. He slips on a black t-shirt while walking down his steps and walks towards me with a smile.

We sit on a log and talk for hours. He has a 4 year old sister who loves horses and a 17 year old brother who lives with their dad in Kansas. His parents divorced when Ryan was 14, two years ago. I begin to doze off and stare into the ocean. I turn back to him when I hear him signing loudly.

"they never stopped. They picked on me every day for being deaf. I would cry every day. It all stopped one day and I was confused on why but I found out when I got home. I walked into my house to see my brothers knuckles bloody and he had a black eye. My brother fought them for me. My brother always had my back. But when my parents got a divorce my dad wanted to take one of us with him. My brother volunteered so I wouldn't have to. My dad is an alcoholic. He used to beat my mom until she passed out. He has only hit me a few times, my brother takes the brunt of it"

Tears start falling and his signing becomes louder.

"I lost my best friend.  He went with my dad for me. And he is probably going to die because of me"

My jaw drops when he starts bawling. I don't know if you have ever heard a deaf person cry but it was heartbreaking to hear. I placed my hand on his back to comfort him. He looks into my eyes and says "thank you". This was one of the few times I heard him use his voice today. A tear drops out of my eye and I sign "you are welcome".

His eyes linger on my lips then the look at my eyes for a split second then they return to my lips. I become self conscious and I tell him that I should probably get home. I begin to walk but I get stopped by him pulling my hand back. He says that he will walk me. I feel his hand graze mine and I turn around to see his face bright red. I felt bad for him. He must have tripped and he feels embarrassed.

We stop in front of my house and I hug him tightly. We separate and his eyes fall onto my lips again. He parts his lips and moves his hand towards my face. I step back and walk inside waving goodbye.

I am so embarrassed so I run to my bathroom. I look in the mirror to check what he was looking at on my face but I must have wiped it off because there was nothing there.