Not Alone

Five

(A/N- Again italics are writing or signing without speaking. '" is signing and speaking.)

*2015*

I had to smile at how young we were back then.  "'Neither of us really knew how to navigate what we were doing at the beginning, but eventually we found our groove,'" I said shaking my head.  "'We wanted to in each other's lives and when we got home that first break of tour after becoming friends, we worked to see in what form we would be there in.  Either as just friends or as something more.'"

*2003*

My doorbell rang alerting me of my guest which caused my heart to pound in my chest.  It was almost a week and a half since I had last seen Eden and once I opened my front door her smiling face was what greeted me.  Immediately my arms wrapped around her bringing her to my body.  Eden's arms held onto me tightly as her head laid against my chest. 
'I'm happy you're here,' I signed to her taking her by surprise.  A finger held up as she pulled a small notebook from her purse. 

'Did you learn that from the internet?  Because that was great!'

"I did," I nodded smiling.  "I've been researching new signs I can use.  I also picked up a couple of books."

'You're taking this very seriously and I appreciate it.  I appreciated you even being interested.'

"I'm serious about learning so maybe one day you won't have to worry about a notebook."

'Thank you' was signed to me teamed with a beautiful smile seconds before another hug was given.  'What's the plan for today?'

"Do you like hiking?"

'I do,'  Eden wrote smiling. 'It's a good thing my sneakers are always in my car.'

"So maybe hiking, lunch and a movie? I know you wanted to be home to put Jude to bed and you live an hour away," I said, reaching for her hand entwining her fingers with mine.  Eden stepped closer so there wasn't a giant gap between us as she nodded.  "Do you want some water to take with you?"

Eden raised her fist that was free in the air moving it twice.  Our hands continued to be held between us as we made our way to the kitchen.  As I grabbed our waters, I released her hand.  'Your house is beautiful.'

"Thank you," I smiled handing her a bottle of water.  "Do you want a tour?"

The woman in front of me nodded.  Room by room and level by level I showed her what my house looked like and what it held.  Each time we went into a room, she would teach me the sign for different furniture or items I pointed out to her.  This has become an everyday thing between us when we were together in person.  I felt as though she was willing to do this because of the fact that I had been taking the steps to learn outside of just us hanging out.  When I showed her the books I had purchased that was on my night stand, she seemed impressed especially when she noticed the notes or page markers.  'So studious.'

"I told you I'm taking this seriously."

'I appreciate it.  It's one of the qualities that I love about you.'

"Maybe one day we'll tell each other all the qualities we love about one another," I told her entwining our fingers again.  "Until then should we head out for our day together?"

A fist knocked twice in the air at my question.  It took us about five minutes to leave my house and twenty ish minutes to get to the path I enjoyed that was near it.  Eden was surprisingly quick with hiking and I was struggling to keep up with her.  Her hand stayed in mine though throughout the time we were on the trail and every so often she would turn back to smile at me.  After a while her free hand pointed to a clearing in the shade.  All I could do was nod because I was out of breath.  'Are you going to make it?' Eden wrote in the small notebook she kept in her back pocket with a smirk.