The Boy Next Door

2

After a few days, the shock wore off and I was able to go about my days somewhat normally. I still watched Leo with awe every night when he played the piano. Sometimes I would play my cello along with him very softly so he couldn't hear.

    October didn't come quickly enough. The end of the fall quarter marked the start of the sign language course, and I was restless. I wanted to be able to communicate with Leo, but I didn't know if I would ever be able to have enough composure do talk to him.

    After school on the first day of the course, I practiced signing while I walked home.

    "Hello" I murmured to myself, signing the greeting. "How are you? I'm good, thanks. You? A, B, C, D . . ."

    I arrived at my house and rushed upstairs, giving a quick hello to my mom as I ascended.

    "Are you sure you don't want a snack before you start on your homework?" my mom yelled from downstairs.

    "No, I'm okay, thanks" I hollered back. I needed to see if Leo was at the window.

He wasn't though, so I grabbed my books and started on my homework. I did end up grabbing a snack. My mom bought cashews, my favorite, so I ate more of those than I probably should have.

    About an hour later I started to practice cello, and about five minutes in, I froze, my bow hovering over the strings.

    Leo was playing with me.

He paused, and I sat there dumbfounded.

Sure enough, when I looked out the window, he was at the piano, his brown eyes staring back at me. We stared at each other for 1, 2, 3—

    I broke the eye contact, exhaling a breath I didn't realize I was holding.

    That night I laid awake, staring at the ceiling

    Did he know that I watched him? I couldn't tell, even by the way he was looking at me. Normally, I read faces very well, but Leo's expressions were a mystery. I was up until midnight thinking about it, until I finally drifted off from the exhaustion of my own thoughts.

A/N: Thank you for reading this chapter!