Title: When You Say Nothing at All
Author: thestandardlines
Rated: T
A/N: I don't own anything.
Pairing: Clarke Griffin, Lexa
Summary: Lexa works as a translator for a company that relays calls for deaf people, and had an interesting call from a beautiful blonde.
Chapter 1
Lexa tapped her fingers on her office desk, waiting for calls to go through. It had been months since she had gotten the job translating calls for deaf people; and at first it was just a summer job in transition from graduating with an audio production degree to "adulthood," but it had been fun and easy job that she had forgotten about the Craigslist posts that she was going through before the last semester ended.
She had gotten used to time flying by in the busy morning shifts, but getting voluntold into the overnight shifts wasn't as bad as people said it would be. The usual bustling of the office was left to her just her and her coworker in another cubicle, whom she was sure was taking calls but not for work; and the night supervisor, Marcus, who had been watching YouTube videos about cats and how to make plants grow in a dark office. And all she could hear the slow humming of the office radio playing oldies and light rock, and the occasional obnoxious laugh from her coworker.
She had not received any calls since her shift had started at 9pm and was starting to get really bored and sleepy, that even after three cups of coffee, it only made her want to go to the bathroom more often than being awake. And there were only so many levels of Candy Crush Saga that she could handle before the first light of day came around. At least she was getting paid to be bored.
She was swinging her chair from side to side when she watched a notification on her screen appear. She was stretching her facial muscles, rubbing her cheeks with her palms when the computer automatically answered the call, and she had frantically waved at the screen in surprise, "Welcome to Video Relay." She said, slightly flustered, signing as she spoke.
There was a few seconds lag on her computer when the blonde girl appeared on her screen, smiling and looked quite amused. "Wow." She said to herself, forgetting that she was on a live video call with the girl. It was the first time she had gotten her as a caller, even though she has heard her coworker, Monty, swoon over a gorgeous blonde girl with sparkling blue eyes and a smile you cannot easily forget.
"I, uh, am sorry." She whispered as she signed, smiling sheepishly; and after clearing her throat, "Please tell me the name and the number so I can connect your call."
The girl gave her the number, which she had dialed. She held her hand in front of her to indicated hold, and then extended her pinky and thumb while making a rocking motion to indicate ringing.
"You've reached, For a Good Time, Call.., 1-855-MMM-HMMM, My name is Melanie.. what kind of pleasure are you looking for tonight?"
Lexa stared at the screen, bewildered, as she listened to the attempt at being sexy by the girl on the line, "I beg your pardon?"
"You did dial our number, For a Good Time, Call..?"
"Can you please hold.." she pushed the headset to her side. "I think its the wrong number?" Lexa signed to the blonde, "The number was for an adult line. It's for adults.."
The blonde smiled before replying, "I am an adult."
"Yes, I know, but it is for phone sex, I think."
The girl winked and raised two thumbs up at her, "Then it's perfect."
"Hello?" The voice in her ear said a little irritated, "What kind of pleasures are you looking for? Hello? Is this a pra-"
"Hi, yes, um," Lexa closed her eyes for a moment, feeling her cheeks become warm, before quickly saying, "My name is Lexa and I am calling through the Video Relay Company.."
"Sweetheart, I don't care who you are. Who do you want to speak with?"
"Who do you want to speak with?" Lexa mouthed and signed to the girl, who shrugged.
"What are my options?" The girl said, in which Lexa repeated to her mic.
"We have straight, lesbian, gay, roleplay, only anal, threesome, bdsm.." Lexa's face were stricken, her mouth were slightly opened as the woman listed the options available that she didn't even knew were possible to acquire through an adult line until that moment and was wondering how to translate foe the girl. As the woman continued to list things like "tentacle" and "German dungeon," she held up her hand and motioned to say "straight sex, blonde, and brunette.."
"That's all?" The girl looked at her in disbelief. Lexa shrugged, replying with "Yeah, that's all."
"No big boobs or hot young MILFs?"
"Is that what you're into?" Lexa's mouth opened slightly in surprise, as she was expecting the girl to choose straight without question.
"Is a cute brunette an option?" The girl asked, moving her head closer to the screen and pouting.
"I'll ask." And as soon as she had mentioned "brunette," the hotline woman quickly and irritatedly said to hold as she transferred the call. Lexa thought it was eerie that the person on the new line sounded like the same person attempting an Eastern European accent under the name "Petra," but didn't want to start an argument.
"Hi, this is Petra, who is calling?"
"Hello, Petra, my name is Lexa, and I-"
"Lexa, I don't normally do girls, but I'm so horny right now, I may just-"
"No, no, no, no, sorry, um," Lexa said no multiple times and rapidly that it almost came out as just a long syllable, "I am calling from Video Relay, my name is Lexa and I have a caller on the line that I will be relaying your conversations to."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Well, if you talk back to me, I will be signing to the caller, and she will sign back and I will translate for you," Lexa tried to explain how this situation is supposed to happen even though she hasn't fully grasped the idea that this conversation was happening.
"She's deaf?" The girl asked, surprise and confusion was clear in her tone.
"Yes, that is correct."
"So, she can't hear me?"
"No, she won't be able to hear anything," Lexa said, watching the girl on her screen watching her patiently with a questioning look on her face.
"But she can see and sign back?"
"Yes, sign language is the way we are going to communicate."
"I don't think I can, I don't know many sign languages aside from 'Do you want tea?' and.." she paused, "And 'comeface.' Oh! And sunrise.. Wait, can she see me?"
"No, but she can see me," Lexa raised an eyebrow and bit her lip in frustration, "how can she see you, you're just on a regular phone..?" Lexa shook her head and made motions that she was banging her head on the table.
"Well, what does she look like?"
"Uh," Lexa looked up at the screen to the girl, and softly said, "beautiful."
"Is she really? Because if she were as beautiful as you say, why would she need a phone sex operator?"
"I don't know, I haven't discussed that with her, but.. can we just get on with it?"
"Someone's eager." Lexa could hear the woman giggling on the other line.
"I beg your pardon?"
"What's her name?"
"It'll be easier to talk to me as if I'm her, so I can translate faster." Lexa said.
"Okay.. so, what's your name?" Lexa was surprised that she had gotten this far and the operator stayed on the line. At a dollar a minute, she was milking it.
Lexa signed to the girl, who looked startled that she was getting acknowledged after a few minutes, even though Lexa felt like she was going to burn a whole on her screen from staring.
She smiled before signing back, "Clarke."