Gil studied the signs on his phone over and over again. He wished he understood more of the hand signals, but there was only so much he could learn in one night. It wasn't just the signs he had to remember, but also the manners in starting a conversation with someone who was deaf.

He was so concentrated, he almost didn't notice when she walked in. Almost. It was getting harder and harder for him not to notice her. When their eyes met, she looked away more quickly this time. No smile. Instead of a faint blush, her face seemed to flush entirely.

Gil rubbed the back of his neck. He could tell she was embarrassed this time. What he needed to figure out was if she was embarrassed by him.

She took a long time trying to find a seat. She slunk into a booth and seemed to make herself smaller. Her eyes met his and then looked away again. So, Gil inferred, she wasn't completely avoiding him.

Well, Gil figured, he might as well get this over with. Either she was going to like him or she wasn't. The best thing he could do for both of them was make a move now and act accordingly.

So, he approached her table once more. She was decidedly not looking at him, so he tapped her shoulder, letting her know that he wanted to talk. She looked up, almost scared.

"I think you're really pretty," Gil said aloud with the signs. He read that it helps to say the words when they're signed.

The girl stared at him, the fear melting away. It was almost as if she was looking at him in awe. Gil could feel himself starting to blush.

"I don't know much ASL. Can I have your phone number?" he asked. This was the moment of truth. Those were all the sentences he had memorized so far.

It looked like she hesitated for a moment. She reached into her purse and pulled out a notepad. She scribbled on it, tore off a sheet, and handed it sheepishly to Gil.

Gil scanned it and couldn't help but grin. Not only had she written down a phone number, she put her name as well. Maddie. She had dotted the "i" with what seemed like a tiny, perfect circle.

He reached into his pocket and got his phone. He entered in her name and number right away.

"My name is Gil. I didn't mean to embarrass you the other day. I was just trying to introduce myself."

He sent the message and heard her phone buzz. She must have felt it because she took her phone out of her purse and read it quickly. She indicated for Gil to join her.

He sat down across from her and watched her type.

"It's nice to meet you, Gil. Sorry if I seemed weird. I thought I was the one who embarrassed you. You had left so quickly. Thank you for the coffee. I would have said that before, but I'm really shy about meeting new people. Sorry about what happened to your jacket. "

"It's alright," Gil replied. "I get that now, and don't worry about the jacket. This is my first time meeting someone deaf, so I wasn't quite sure how to communicate with you the best."

"You can talk to me. I can read lips pretty well, but I'm kind of self-conscious about my voice. I also carry around a notepad, and texting works too. I'm really impressed that you're learning ASL."

"Yeah, I've been meaning to learn it," he half lied. He didn't want to reveal that she was the sole purpose behind him learning ASL. "Now, I have a good excuse."

He saw her blush after she read the message. She tucked that stray curl behind her ear. One of the baristas delivered their coffee to the table. Maddie took a sip, trying to disguise the color on her face.

"So besides being deaf, I really don't know anything about you."

Maddie looked at her phone without typing. Her brows came together slightly.

"Not that you have to tell me anything. I mean, we are strangers." As much as Gil wanted that to change, he really didn't want to scare her off now. He wondered if he was coming off too strong.

"I was just trying to think of where to start. What did you want to know?"

"I noticed you're on your laptop a lot when you come here. What are you doing? If that's not too personal."

"Writing. I'm a novelist. I like to go out for a change in scene every once in a while, and the caffeine definitely helps. What about you? What do you do?"

"I'm in a band." As he was typing, an alert popped up on Gil's phone. He needed to leave for practice.

"Speaking of my band, I've got to go, but I really enjoyed talking to you. Do you mind if I keep texting you?"

Maddie smiled into her phone. "I enjoyed talking to you, too, Gil. I don't mind if you text me. When we see each other again, maybe I can help you learn some ASL."

"When." She had typed "when." Gil grinned, looked up at her, and nodded. He waved goodbye and made his exit. His heart was racing ahead like the greatest baseline. If he could just manifest this feeling into his playing...

Gil approached the other band members with a swagger in his step. He twirled in place as he got to the foot of the stage.

"Dude, did you do it?" Toni asked.

Francis did a drum roll. Gil dramatically pulled Maddie's phone number out of his pocket and displayed it proudly. "I've still got it!" he announced.

"Hey!" Francis did a cymbal crash. Toni ripped some congratulatory chords. Arthur just rolled his eyes.

"Very mature," Arthur said. "If you're done, we'd all like to get practice started."

"Oh come on, when was the last time you got a pretty girl's phone number?" Gil said, stuffing her number back into his pocket.

"Last night," Arthur said, casually tuning his guitar.

"Groupies don't count," Gil huffed.

"Don't be jealous just because you don't have any," Arthur said with a smirk.

"He's got one," Francis said, backing him up.

Gil hooked up his bass and his fingers plucked out a killer bass line.

"Wooh!" Toni cheered him on. They all listened as Gil finished off his riff and went straight into the opening part of their most difficult song. For the first time, Gil didn't trip over the first few notes.

Francis counted in, following Gil's lead. Toni found the groove and joined in as well. Once Arthur started singing, they were really rocking.

"Nice work," Arthur said, satisfied with practice for once in his life. "I know we've already been booked, but we'll really build up our reputation if we keep up practice like this. We can use this time to sharpen our skills."

Gil was already on his phone. He had found an app for learning different signs. He wanted to hold a decent conversation and understand what Maddie might say to him. It also didn't hurt to look up the different ways that deaf people flirt.

"Gil... Gil!"

Gil finally looked up, expecting either an offhand or direct insult. "What?"

Arthur shook his head. "I was going to say that you did alright today. If you weren't so distracted, you might make a decent bass player someday."

Gil rolled his eyes. Offhand insult it was. As he was putting his bass away, he got clapped on the back by Toni. "Hey, you're actually not that bad!"

"Not you too," Gil complained. "Why do you all think that I can't play? And Toni, if you thought I was so terrible, why did you even join?"

"I could you were passionate about the music, even if your talent wasn't quite so apparent as mine," Toni bragged.

"I've always had faith in the guy," Francis said, half hugging Gil.

Gil was starting to get really uncomfortable by the unwarranted touching. "Bullshit. I've always been awesome. You guys are just mean."

"But hey, Arthur was right. We should try to harness your skills. If you ever need help practicing, hit me up," Toni offered.

"Hey me too. I'm down to extra practice if it means we can play more like that."

"Just not too early. I don't do anything before noon," Toni said like the true rock star he was.

Gil blew them off. He could tell when he was getting made fun of. Still, he couldn't really deny the little bit of pride growing his chest. Maybe, just maybe, he could get recognized for his musicianship. Maybe now was the time to get a little bit more creative.