Read My Lips: Chapter 13

Chapter 13

At the park, I allowed Austin to run around by himself for a while. I sat down on a bench at the edge of the park where I’d be able to relax for a while and think.

About five minutes into my relaxation on an old park bench a set of hands wrapped themselves around my eyes automatically making me jump in my spot. The set of hands left my eyes before the owner moved around to stand in front of me.

Standing in front of me was no one other than Zach Danvers. A smile automatically lit up my face as he looked down at me.

“Hello there.” He grinned leaning down to plant a kiss on my lips before taking a seat on the bench beside me.

“Hi.” I smiled, snuggling up to his side. It was nearing winter which meant that the weather was starting to get colder (wait, when’s it ever warm in England?) than usual. So I was taking advantage of having Zach by my side and using him as my heat source.

Suddenly, my head was tilted up so I could see Zach’s face. “Nice and warm, eh?” He joked, a teasing smile on his face.

“I sure am.” I joked back. I brought my hand up to his face to tweak his nose before settling back into his side, a light giggle erupting from my lips at his shocked reaction.

He squeezed me into his side before we settled into what I could only guess was silence. I was sure that the other children in the park were screaming, but since I couldn’t hear, I guess it didn’t really matter. Whatever peaceful state we were both in before was destroyed as Austin came running over to me.

“Maisie! Maisie! Guess what-” He stopped short as his little head snapped towards Zach. Austin turned his attention back to me; a look of confusion was spread across his face. “Who’s that?”

I pulled away from the comfort of Zach’s side to look at Austin. “That my friend, Zach,” I smiled, pulling Austin onto my knee. “Say hi.”

“Hi!” Austin chirped. He held his hand up to Zach who looked at him in confusion.

“Hi, buddy,” Zach then gestured down to his hand. “What?”

Austin heavily sighed before he reached out to grab Zach’s wrist. He then proceeded to pull Zach’s hand up to his own to give him a ‘high five’. “It was for a high five, silly.”

Zach stared at Austin in shock before he burst out laughing. “I’ll remember that for next time, buddy.”

“Why are you calling me buddy?” Austin asked; a frown fitted onto his little face. “My name’s Austin.”

Zach shook his head at Austin, a grin slowly spread its way onto his face. “It’s a nickname. And because I’ve just decided that you are my new friend!”

“Oh, ok! You can be my new friend too!” Austin chirped. He pulled himself off my knee and shuffled over to Zach so he could sit on his knee.

A look of shock made its way onto Zach’s face. All I could do was burst out laughing at his reaction. Had he never been in contact with little kids before?

“I’ve never been around kids before so don’t laugh.” Zach said answering my question. He genuinely looked terrified having a small child on his lap. It really was hilarious.

----

The project that Zach and I had been working on was all completed and presented. It was now towards the end of the week. Thankfully, we had gotten a grade A on it so that was an achievement. Also, I’m not really sure how we managed that. It honestly shocked me that Zach even did the assessment.

The closer it got to the end of the week, the closer it got to the date for my operation. I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t terrified. Going to school, I literally blocked everyone out. Not that I could hear them anyway but I was pretty sure that I just looked like I was in a permanent trance.

The teasing from Luke and Amy continued which wasn’t really anything new. But I guess that even they could see that I was more distance than usual. Zach and his friends continued to sit with me at lunch as well as Rebekah who I was now really close to.

I still didn’t really understand which Zach and his friends were considered the ‘bad boys’. When you really got to know them, they were just big softies. Especially Zach but I don’t know if that was just aimed towards me or not.

My parents also knew that I was dating Zach and they were surprisingly happy about it. It was probably due to the fact that I never really had friends or anything and now I had someone like Zach who really did care about me.

Right now though, it was Friday evening and Rebekah was staying over at my house for a ‘girly night in’. Would it be weird if I said that this was my first ever sleepover?

There were about 5 pizza boxes spread out in front of us as well as popcorn and all that other junk food, bottles of pop and a large pile of chick flick DVDs. We had moved onto my bedroom floor with a pile of duvets and pillows with us.

Right now though, the topic of conversation seemed to have drifted to boys.

“What happening with you and Jake?” I asked, taking a handful of popcorn from the bowl in front of me. I placed a piece in my mouth, the taste of toffee taking over.

A blush covered Rebekah’s face at my question. She liked him, I knew it already. “I… I don’t know. I mean, we get on really well but I don’t want to push it if you know what I mean. To be honest, I don’t even know if he likes me back.”

I wasn’t one to know much about boys but even I could tell that Jake seemed to like her… and not in the friendly way. “He does. Trust me. Even I can tell.”

She blushed harder at my reply before she grabbed another piece of pizza from the box closest to her. “I don’t know. I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.”

“I always right,” I began, a smirk plastered on my face. “He like you. You like him. It all going to come together.”

I enjoyed teasing Rebekah, to be honest. It was fun to see her been the embarrassed one for a change. Her face was slowly getting redder and she was fiddling with her bracelet that lay on her wrist.

“Stop teasing me!” She demanded, holding her hands to her cheeks in an attempt to hide her blush. “Now it’s my turn. What about you and Zach?”

And just like she said, my face heated up by the mention of his name. It was an automatic reaction.

“Aha!” Rebekah grinned, pointing a finger in my face. “What’s going on between you two?”

“Well, we together.” I grinned sheepishly.

“I knew it! I ship it!” She giggled, pulling me into a hug. When she pulled back, a frown was on my face. “Why are you frowning?”

I raised my eyebrows at her. “You ship it? Really? You watch too much TV.”

Rebekah faked a gasp before lightly hitting my arm. “You watch too little.” She retorted.

A chuckle left my lips as I lent over to grab another piece of pizza from in front of me. Rebekah done the same before we both snuggled back into the duvet. I pressed play on the DVD player and John Tucker Must Die started to play.

---

I sat on my bed with my laptop out in front of me. Dumbly, I stared at the blank word document that was opened on the screen.

Currently, I was supposed to be writing an essay up for English. However, nothing was coming to mind as I sat there. I had absolutely no idea what I was supposed to be writing. No ideas would come to my mind.

The down side was that this was a ‘big essay’ according to my teacher. My teacher was the exact same teacher who’d set me the project with Zach. It was hardly fair that we had just finished a project yet she was already setting us another one that was so important. Well, according to her it was anyway.

Finally, I gave up with my attempt to write my essay and I ended up slamming the laptop lid shut. After deciding to go on a walk, I pulled on my shoes and a coat before grabbing my bag and headed down the stairs. The rest of my family were all sat in the living room together watching the TV.

“I going out, mum.” I announced from the living room doorway. Three set of heads turned around so they could all see me.

“You are? When will you be back?” Mum questioned, crossing her arms over her chest. She shuffled around so she was in a more comfortable position to stare at me at.

“I be back soon. I just going for a walk. Promise.” I assured her. She always was one to panic whenever I was going out. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that I was deaf, I don’t think that she would be so strict towards me leaving the house so late.

“Ok, then,” She smiled. “Just make sure that you have your phone if you need to text me.”

I nodded my head in reply to her and waved to my family before I left the house to go on my little walk. At times like this I really wished that I could hear so that I could listen to music. But no. My life didn't work that way.

Outside was already beginning to get dark as I stepped outside. The chilly wind blew past me making me tighten my coat as an instinct.

Heading off in a random direction, I let my feet carry me. Before I even took notice of where I was headed, I noticed that I was where most alleys were that held the likes of fights and drug dealing. I knew that this wasn't a place that I should be near.

The thing that scared me the most was the fact that I was deaf so I’d have no idea if someone was to sneak up behind me. I wouldn't know unless I was physically touched or if someone stopped dead in their tracks in front of me.

Trying my best to keep my head down but focus on where I was walking, I walked as fast as I could along the pathway. Every now and then I’d let my eyes stray to look down the closest alleyway. As I’d previously thought, drugs were been dealt along with the odd fight. Basically, nothing that was unusual.

Well, that was what I thought until I proceeded to walk past the very last alley opening. I just expected more drug dealing or something. But this time, there was a fight. Nothing unusual? Wrong. Well, right, but it was the person who was fighting that took me by surprise.

It shouldn't have taken me by such a surprise, but it did. As an automatic reaction, I stopped dead in my own tracks as I stared down the alley way. I’d never seen Zach fight before. Hell, I’d never even seen the guy be threatening before.

Yet here he was, right in front of me, pounding the hell out of the guy that he had laid out on the floor. I stood watching in shock. I watched as Zach pulled the other guy from the floor and smashed him into the wall. I watched as he pulled up his fist and began to pound the guy in the face again. I watched as he kneed him in the stomach making his bend over to gasp. And finally, I watched as Zach just pushed the guy to the floor like he was nothing more than dirt.

After the last of the fight that I’d seen was over, Zach made his way over to a man who was stood to the side of him, he handed Zach a wad of money. Zach slipped the money into his jean pocket before nodding at the man and walking off.

I knew right then that I should have turned around and ran so that Zach wouldn't know that I was watching him. But I was frozen in my spot staring at the guy lying on the floor. He looked unconscious and I didn't know if I was supposed to feel sorry for him or not.

I mean, the poor guy had just been pounded by Zach who obviously wasn't holding back his anger and aggression in the slightest. He was hitting the guy as If he was a training bag that was in a gym. And for some stupid reason, I wanted to know why he was beating that person up so badly.

Zach didn't seem to notice I was stood there as he emerged from the alleyway. He was wiping blood from his mouth that I could only assume was from when the other guy had slightly caught the upper hand and landed a good old smack on his face.

Finally, Zach lifted his head and his whole body froze as his eyes landed on me. His eyes slowly roamed up my body before connecting with my eyes. Zach’s face visibly froze as his blue eyes stared into my own.

I allowed my eyes to break contact with his as my eyes dropped to his lips so that I could read what he was going to say; if he was going to say anything.

“Maisie?” He said cautiously as he slowly approached me. Surprisingly, I didn’t shrink back in fear. But I guess that if I wasn’t his girlfriend and I didn’t trust him then I would have shrunk back in fear.

“Zach?” I answered dumbly. Wow, Maisie. Wow.

Obviously noticing my lack of fear, Zach slowly reached out to grab my hands in his larger ones. “What are you doing here?”

“I out for a walk and I ended up here. Then I seen you here and…” I trailed off not knowing what to say. Do I just say that I froze watching him beat the shit out of someone?

“How much did you see?” He asked. Not bothering to wait to for me to reply, he leaned forward and placed a delicate kiss on my forehead.

His action automatically made me smile as he pulled away. “I saw enough.” I answered his question simply. “Can I ask; why were you fighting him?”

Suddenly, Zach looked uncomfortable. This for him was unusual. “That doesn’t matter right now.”

Staring at him, I laid my hands on my hips. “Not important? Bullshit,” I put my hands on his shoulders which made him look at me. “Tell me.” I all but demanded.

Zach let out a breath and allowed his shoulders to fall. “He just owed me some money.” He mumbled, before he wrapped his arms around my waist. He then proceeded to pull me into him and lay his head on my shoulder.

I, also, let out a breath as I lifted my hands. I placed one hand on his head whilst I wrapped my other arm around his neck and just allowed him to hug me. It was nice to be in his arms, just hugging him with nothing to disturb us.

After about five minutes of us just standing there hugging, Zach pulled out of the embrace. However, he left his arms wrapped around my waist.

“Come on, I’ll walk you home.” He smiled, pulling his arms away and grabbing my hand in his. He linked our fingers before he pulled us in the direction that I was originally walking in.

The walk home was silent; which was predictable considering that I had to be staring at Zach’s face to actually see and understand what he was saying. It was a nice silence though, comfortable. For the whole duration of the walk home, Zach never let go of my hand which made me feel safe.

It was possibly one of the best feelings in the world.

As we approached my street, Zach’s speed of walk slowed down. His hand gripped mine tighter. When we reached my gate, we both just stood there staring at each other. It was basically completely dark now. The sky was clear so you could see the stars if you stared at the sky. The moon was whole and bright. It was beautiful.

“Here we go. I’ll see you later?” Zach smiled. He lifted his hand and allowed it to rest on my cheek. His eyes lit up as he stared at my face. Zach really was beautiful.

“I guess you will.” I giggled. After staring at Zach for a little whilst longer, I pulled myself up onto my tip toes and wrapped my arms around his neck in order for me to be able to hug him whilst been in a comfortable position.

I felt Zach’s chest vibrate against my own so I could only assume that he was laughing. His arms wrapped around my waist for the second time that night and we returned to that comfortable position we were once previously in.

After pulling back from the comfort of Zach’s embrace, I bravely lifted my face towards his and firmly pressed my lips on his. He smiled into this kiss as one of his hands lifted up and rested against my cheek. His thumb slowly began to stroke my cheek as his grip on my waist tightened.

My own arms tightened around Zach’s neck as he spun us around and pressed me against the wall beside the gate that led to my house. His whole body was now pressed against mine as our kiss slowly became more passionate. My hands moved from his neck and up to his soft hair as I gently gripped it between my fingers.

After what had felt like hours of kissing, we finally pulled away. Zach’s eyes seemed to be twinkling with happiness as he gazed at me. His gaze looked so lovingly and I couldn’t resist the smile that was playing on my lips.

I don’t think that I’d ever felt as happy as I currently did at this moment in time.

“I should go in. Mum will be wondering where I am.” I sighed.

“It’s fine. You go in. See you soon.” Zach smiled, reluctantly letting go of me.

I copied his actions and walked towards my gate. Turning back, I caught Zach in the same place that I’d left him in. He was still staring. I let out a small laugh before I walked into my garden and closed the gate behind me.

“Go home now, I’ll see you later.” I waved at him before turning around and skipping up the path that led to my door.

The downstairs of my house was in complete darkness which only meant that my family were all upstairs. The bathroom light was on and the door was left open a crack. Normally, when my mum was bathing Austin, she’d leave the door open like that.

Gently knocking on the door, I pushed it open to see my mum knelt on the floor beside the bathtub bathing Austin.

“I back now. I going to go to bed.” I smiled at her. Austin splashed the water in the back with his action figures as he completely ignored my presence. He was whizzing them through the air as if they could fly. That kid really was a strange one.

My mum nodded and stood up before she enveloped me into a hug. “Ok, baby girl. Sleep tight. I love you.” She smiled pressing a kiss onto my forehead. Although I’d never admit it out loud, I loved it when my mum went into her all motherly mode.

“Night mum, love you too.” And with that, I left the bathroom, got changed, moved my laptop and collapsed into the comfort of my bed.

My bed was slightly warmed as if was pressed against the radiator. There was nothing better than getting into a warm bed when it was already cold outside. I always tried to ensure that my bed was warm once it turned winter.

I felt my eyes droop as I slowly fell into a sleep.

And throughout all of that, I was no further forward with my English essay.

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Blah, blah, blah, I have mixed feelings on this part.... again. But I hope you all enjoyyyyy.

I got my exam timetable though and I have 14 exams in a month. Not too bad though considering some people have 16+! Ew. Ha.

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