'Ah,' Riley nudged Maya as they approached the restaurant, nodding to the sign, 'it's called Loco Bueno.' She fingerspelled the name, not sure how to sign Spanish.

Maya nodded, then spotted Tyler leaning against the door. He stood up when they approached, and smiled.

'What's up girls?' He signed.

'Is it not open?' Riley questioned, gesturing towards the restaurant.

'We don't serve breakfast food,' Tyler explained, 'so we don't open until 11.'

'So you were waiting out here in the cold?' Riley signed worriedly. 'I'm sorry.'

'Nah, it's cool,' Tyler signed dismissively. 'You dress for the weather here in New York, am I right?' He laughed out loud and Maya smiled.

'So where are you going to take us, Mr. Escort?' Maya questioned as they began to walk.

'There's a holiday festival in Brown Square Park,' Tyler signed. 'It's only like five minutes from here, so we can just walk.'

'Cool,' Riley smiled.

'So what grade are you in?' Maya asked as they made their way down the sidewalk.

'I'm in 12th at RSD,' Tyler signed. 'RSD is Rochester School for the Deaf. It's day or residential, depending where your family lives.'

'So everyone's Deaf?' Maya asked, raising her eyebrows.

Tyler nodded. 'All the students are Deaf or hard of hearing, but a lot of the teachers are just hearing. They teach in sign language though.'

'That's so cool,' Riley marveled. She couldn't imagine how it must feel to have the teachers signing all their lectures instead of having an interpreter and feeling a few seconds behind the whole class.

'Do they require speech classes?' Maya questioned.

'Most of us take speech, but it's not used in class much. They really work around your individual needs,' Tyler explained. 'Whether you don't wear assistive or wear hearing aids or a cochlear. Everyone learns ASL and Deaf culture and English, just not necessarily spoken.'

'So you speak?' Maya couldn't help but ask, even though she knew it was probably rude to be focusing on that.

Tyler paused. "Yes," he said out loud, still signing. "I've been in speech class since I was a kid, but I don't like speaking."

'That makes sense. You do speak well, though,' Maya signed. She wasn't sure if she should speak the words as well as signing them. It felt weird to not speak back to someone who was speaking, but she knew that neither of them could hear her anyways.

'Do you know anyone who has a cochlear?' Riley asked, catching the other part of the sentence. She wondered if she could talk to someone who had a cochlear, see what they felt about it and how everyone around them treated them.

'My best friend has a cochlear,' Tyler explained. 'He got it when he was a baby, but he still went to a Deaf school; he still signs more than talks. His parents got him implanted before they even considered other options - they and all his sisters are hearing.'

'So why did they put him in a Deaf school if he could hear?' Riley questioned.

'By the time he was school-aged, they had done research and talked to real Deaf people, and realized that even if he could hear with a cochlear, they wanted him to be part of the Deaf community. I think signing is always easier for Deaf people.' Tyler nodded toward the event they were approaching. 'See?'

Riley's eyes widened as she stared at all the people wandering around the park, eating holiday food and playing games, catching up with friends and doing light shopping.

And they were all signing.

Riley had never seen so many people signing at once. There must have been hundreds just that she could see, so many conversations that she could understand.

Maya smiled a little at Riley's stunned expression, and she glanced over the event as well. It was in no way silent; most of the people either spoke English while signing or just made sounds to punctuate their signs. She knew that wasn't abnormal, but almost all of her Deaf experience was with Riley, and Riley was always silent while signing.

'I've never seen so many people signing.' Riley felt like a child meeting Santa Claus for the first time as she looked out over what she felt was a surreal, dream like experience. She knew what she looked like because there were kids waiting in line to see Santa Claus on one side of the park, and they were signing to their parents and Santa Claus was signing to the kids.

'This is so cool,' Maya smiled, as she watched Riley's expression of wonder and felt happy for her best friend experiencing something so amazing.

"Lucas," Lucas's mom addressed him as he came through the door and bent down to unlace his winter boots, "I told you to clean your room two days ago."

He glanced up at his mom through his hair, stepping out of his wet boots. "Sorry, I had to go get Riley's present. We're meeting up tomorrow afternoon when she gets back from Rochester, and I wanted to be ready."

"When are we going to meet Riley?" His mom asked as he followed her into the kitchen. "You've been dating her for a while now."

"It's only been a few weeks," he said.

"You've been dating her since just after we moved here in October," his mom pointed out. "It's been three months."

Lucas stopped, thinking it over. Had it been that long? It felt like time had gone by so quickly - and yet, at the same time, he felt like he had known Riley for entire lifetimes.

"I haven't even asked her to be my girlfriend," Lucas realized.

"Haven't I taught you any manners?" His mother accused. "I want to meet her."

"I'd rather get better at signing first," Lucas pleaded, "so I can interpret for her. She's Deaf, remember? I don't want her to feel left out of conversations, and you and Dad don't know any sign language."

"I took ASL in college," his mom reminded him.

"And how much do you remember from college language classes?" He pointed out.

"Enough to get by," his mom argued. "Sure, I couldn't have a full conversation just in sign language, but I think we could both get our messages across."

"Mom, I love you," Lucas stated, "but I don't think Riley is ready."

His mom pouted. "I want to meet her sooner rather than later," she said, reaching out and ruffling his hair. "Promise?"

"Promise," Lucas agreed, smiling.

A/N: I'm sorry I've been MIA on Anecdoche. I realize it's been over a month since I updated here, but I got caught up in Nodus Tollens and college homework.

I spent wayyyyy to long looking for a name for the restaurant and trying to figure out if RSD required speech, so those parts may be... wrong? (I couldn't figure out if they required it) (I'm not Spanish and I didn't want to offend anyone with a name for a Mexican restaurant, which I admit I should have thought about before I made the place Mexican. I was craving burritos when I wrote that chapter.)

Riley will meet Lucas's family soon, and I have a few major chapters coming up for Rucas. I'm blocked on Joshaya (sorry guys; I know most of you really like that ship. If you have any ideas review or PM! They make a difference). Hopefully, I'll get that ball rolling again after my quarter finals. Here's hoping!

In the meantime, if you're aching for content from me, check out Nodus Tollens. I'm really excited about the Joshaya plotline in that book too :)

Please review! All feedback is welcome :)

Kisses,

C