Switched At Birth

My passion for art started at a young age. I loved to draw when I was younger and painting would always make me stop crying, but I love art for more than one reason. It's not just fun for me. Art gives me a way to express my feelings, it gives me an excuse to lock myself in my garage for hours on end without a single person interrupting me. If it wasn't for art I never would've felt as close to Ty as I do now. When he first saw me tagging that house I thought for sure he'd snitch, but he didn't. He kept my secret.

A few days later I found him at my house helping Daphne and my biological mother move into our guest house. The sight of his muscles straining agains this T-shirt when he lifted those heavy boxes was enough to make me more than interested. Daphne saw, of course.

"So you like Ty?" She asked me in a remarkable voice for a deaf person. I knew that she wasn't stupid and that she was like any other teenager, but it was hard to me to understand just how much she was capable of doing. Reading lips was something I could never master as a child; But then again, I wasn't forced to.

"Yeah, I think I do." I spoke normally, being sure my lips formed each word. I passed Daphne the ice cream that we were sharing and she took a spoon full while she watched the TV, reading the subtitles on the bottom of the screen.

"He's a nice guy. I've known him my life."

Warning bells went off in my head, "You and him didn't… you guys weren't like… together or anything were you?" I didn't want to step on any toes here, especially since Daphne and I were just starting to really get along.

"Oh no, he's like a brother to me. I like another guy, he's from Buckner Hall."

"Maybe I know him, what's his name?" I asked her.

"Don't say anything if you do, promise?"

I rolled my eyes and took another bite, "Of course I promise."

She grinned and happily said, "Liam." My mouth fell open, but I quickly closed it so that none of the ice cream I was eating fell out. My eyes grew wide and she looked a little bit confused. "What's wrong?"

"I know who that is."

She still didn't seem to understand, "So you know him?"

"Know him? Daphne, I dated him. We kind of broke up a few weeks ago."

She finally understood, and I felt a little bit protective and kind of angry that the girl that was supposed to of gone to that school in the first place liked the guy I dated. Maybe she was meant to go out with him. Maybe, in some twisted way, I lived the life she was supposed to live; Only, I screwed it all up.

"I had no idea, Bay."

I stared at the TV, not looking at her, trying to think of something to say. I could tell her it was okay, I could blow up at her and completely over react, but what would that solve? Nothing.

"It's okay, just be careful, okay? Maybe in some really messed up way you were supposed to of dated him. You know? After all, I'm kind of you."

"I understand." She took a bite of ice cream and passed the half gallon to me.

Thirty minutes later the show we were watching was over and it was time for bed. It's always awkward between us when we say good-bye. I never know what to do. I settled for a wave and a quick, "goodbye". I left to go upstairs to bed and I heard the backdoor softly click closed.

Well, I thought to myself, I learned two things tonight. One, I like Ty and it's okay with Daphne if I go out with him; And two, Daphne likes Liam and I might have told her it's okay to date him. But I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with it…

While upstairs I jumped into bed and grabbed the sketchbook I hid under my mattress, the one that nobody, under any circumstances, is allowed to look at. I flipped through it, looking at all of the drawings of the boys in the weight room with their shirts off and trying to get bigger muscles, the football team on the field during a game, and then Ty… the graceful features of his face and the masculinity of his body. I added more to it, shading and drawing lines, until finally the perfect balance of pencil marks was made and my favorite picture was finally done.

Tomorrow was Saturday, and that meant my first live drawing class would begin. I knew that I would be drawing things in front of me, such as fruit, another painting possibly, but I also hoped that I could draw a person.

I was staring at Ty's drawing when my phone buzzed on the side table.

"Hey," the newest text message said. I didn't recognize the number and it wasn't saved in my phone.

"Hi, who's this?"

"It's Ty."

"Oh… hey, how'd you get my number? I'm fine with it, I was just wondering."

"Daphne gave it to me. What's up?"

"Looking at a drawing I did," I replied, "you?"

"Can't sleep. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Going to a drawing class. You?"

"Work until noon. Half days on Saturday."

"My class is from eight to eleven thirty…" I told him. I was hoping he'd ask me out, but he didn't. We continued to talk about our lives. He is nineteen, got his GED instead of graduating, he tries to stay out of trouble, he works for a construction company, he's never been arrested, and he has no girlfriend or any kids to speak of. Sounds like my kind of guy.

When Bay told me that she liked Ty I was happy for her, but a little bit protective of him. He had his fair share of girlfriends in the past, and though he hadn't had his heart crushed, he did crush other girls' hearts. He's a good boyfriend, a protective guy, but he hardly commits to a girl. I don't think he'd ever cheat, but at the first sign something is getting serious he bolts. I can relate to him, since his father abadoned him when he was a baby and his mother didn't do a great job paying the bills. It wasn't his fault that he had trusting issues, but it was his fault that he broke up with other girls because of them.

My mom has always treated Ty like a son, inviting him to dinner, buying him clothes and having him stay with me when she was late getting home at night. The one thing that she's never been able to do, though, is make him realize that not every woman wants to hurt a guy and that not every father abandons their children.

I understood why my dad left, he didn't want to deal with me, and it still hurt, but I got by and I knew that my mom and I would be fine without him.

After leaving Bay's house I texted Ty, asking him what he thought of Bay. He said she was cute, but that she was too yount to even think about dating. I told him he should at least get to know her, and he said okay. I knew that he didn't want to hurt her, and that the three year difference between them was huge and he could get into a lot of trouble for even thinking about being with Bay in a physical way. I was still happy he'd talk to her. Maybe they'd become a couple, and she could get Ty to realize that girls want to love just as much as they want to be loved.

When Bay told me that it was okay for me to go out with Liam I could barely hold in my smile. He's cute, friendly, and funny. I only saw him once after I visited Bay's school, and that was when he came to my school to give me lunch. I thought that it was an incredibly romantic gesture towards me. Emette didn't like it. At all. He's protective of me and doesn't want to see me get hurt.

In the morning, I'll defintitely text Liam and get to know him more. After all, he did leave his number with the food that he dropped off to me.

NOTE FROM ME (THE AUTHOR): This was just an introductory chapter. I know that it's short; I'll try to make the future chapters longer. I have a sort of idea of where I want to take this, but it's just a matter of sitting down and writing. I'm not going to rush through this one and I'm definitely going to take my time. I don't want to write a whole bunch of chapters and have no readers. So... add to story alert and give me reviews and I'll for sure write faster and brainstorm more!

Here's a little spoiler... I 3 Ty so he isn't going to leave my story, and I hope that he comes back intot he show soon instead of staying in the army for THREE YEARS. UGH about broke my heart when I heard that!