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Chapter 7:

He sits next to Jackson, watching the cheerleaders dance to the beat. It makes his chest vibrate and his feet move. For a hearing person this might be overwhelmingly loud, he thinks and pictures Bay cringing as she works hard on not putting her hands over her ears thinking it could be offending. He never really thought about hearing people much, always surrounded by people from the Deaf community, unlike some kids who grew up with hearing parents or siblings. And talking of hearing parents and siblings, Daphne is back, she ignored him when she walked in and he waved. Now she is standing with the team, looking rather grim, not at all the smiley friendly girl she usually is. The anger is still there, escaping through her eyes, visible through her clenched jaw line, through her slightly too upright posture. What did she do during last period? Jenna is also on the team and she was in class, so it wasn't a team meeting. Where could she have gone? He lifts his hands imitating the crowd and shakes them in their toneless applause as the sports teams walk into the centre of the gym. This was only fun when Daphne would do silly dance moves for him, without that pep rallies are a drag.

She stares at the billboard, at her cut up hands, they feel tender and pulsate in an achy manner whenever she thinks about them. And she thinks of the way he looked when she saw the billboard, of the way he blew on her bleeding hands when they sat down in the car, carefully but with a smile in his eyes. He is the sweetest guy she has known, Liam was fun and cute and a football player… people looked at her differently when she was hanging out with him. Her first real boyfriend. Ty was… well older and mysterious and cute and made her parents want to rip their hair out which was pretty awesome. But Emmett is interesting and a challenge and sweet. And he likes art. She looks up at the billboard; and he would do THAT for her. Then her gaze falls back onto her hands, at the crusts forming over the many little holes and she remembers another time her hands were cut up.

She was 7 or 8 and still learning to tie her shoelaces (she could never remember what the hell to do with the lace once she had formed both bunny ears, was it over or was it under? It made no sense), whining to her mom daily that there was no reason for laces when Velcro worked so well. She had just been asked to play an native American girl in the thanksgiving play with the two girls who had come to Kansas from Guatemala and a few kids from school were making fun of her, shouting "You're adopted, you're adopted!" She got so mad that she started seeing red and so she ran, fists raised and hit the smallest of the bunch, Clover, on the head, knocking her over. The other kids started chasing her and she ran faster and faster, trying to get away and just as she was getting to the far end of the school grounds she stepped on a shoelace and went flying. Nothing major happened, her hands got badly scraped, as did her chin, and when the other kids saw her bleeding and crying they ran off. She cried alone probably for about 5 minutes (though it felt like an hour) until her mom spotted her and picked her up, dried her tears and cleaned her hands and chin. And she remembers a story she heard recently of another little girl being tortured by her classmates. A little girl who could not come back with a retort the next day and have everyone laugh and like her again. A little girl who finally found a friend and a way to express herself. A little girl who could have been her. And who was now asking for something that was hugely important to her. Bay sighs. There is no doubt, she will do the right thing. Because after all, this could have been her asking.

His mom left for her girls' night with Regina, movie and dinner or something, and he is glad she is, because he knows she would not have been happy to see Bay coming over. Pigheaded woman she is. He looks at his watch and sees that it is 20 past 8. She should be here any moment now. The whole day has been a mess, he can't wait for her to be here and just to relax, make out maybe, look at some more photos. He took about 70 photos at the golf course the other day, really funny ones. He framed his favorite picture, Bay half smiling as she watches her brother and Daphne play, the light making her eyes look like liquid honey on a spoon, her hand in her hair, brushing it back casually. He loves it, because that is what she looks like when she thinks she is not being observed, fully relaxed, happy even, something she is not all that often.

The light blinks in his room and he goes to open the door, the girl at the door could not look more different from the picture he was just looking at. Her eyes dark and cloudy, her hair tied back severely, tension everywhere from her hands to her brows. "Hey" she says and he ushers her in, she walks swiftly to his room. "What's wrong?" he asks as soon as they are in his room and she has turned to look at him. She talks as if it was a race, her lips moving faster than the wings of a hummingbird, he doesn't get it. She signs very few words, Daphne and school and car and he stops her. "I am sorry, I don't understand anything…" confused look… damn she doesn't know the sign anything… which one does she… oh ok "Nothing! I understand nothing!" She looks around his room and sees his phone, grabs it and starts typing away, after a few minutes, she hands it over. He reads it, twice. Daphne wants them to break up. He shakes his head. Daphne didn't say a word to him, literally, he understands where she is coming from but it is none of her business, she has no right to ask them to and both him and Bay have had a really hard time lately as well, she didn't break up with Liam when he disliked him, she maddens him. He childishly writes "I don't want to break up" and hands the phone back. Bay smiles, but it doesn't reach her eyes. He pulls her closer and starts kissing her, he will give her something to make her properly smile.

He is not making this any easier, she thinks as she sighs into his kiss, but he sure is making it all better. Her resolve is waning fast. Oh well, a few hours more or less won't change anything she reckons, they can talk this out later, and lets him pull her flat onto the bed, lets his hands wander over her t shirt, into her hair, loosening it, taking the elastic out. The tension from the day is slowly leaving her body, she didn't even realize how tense she had been until his lips wander down her neck and she unclenches what feels like her entire body for the first time in 12 (or maybe even 24) hours. She puts her hands inside his t shirt, touches his skin, warm and dry and peachy like a baby's bottom, finds the wound on his tummy and puts her hands over it, her scabs matching his. Right now this is all that matters she thinks and kick off her boots, settling more comfortably into his arms. This goes on for quite a while until his tummy rumbles so loudly she hears it. Cracking up she asks sarcastically "are you hungry?". He grins sheepishly and nods, so they go to the kitchen, make sandwiches, eat in silence. Their legs are entwined like a grapevine, hands touching on the table, afraid that if they ever let any space come between them, then this spell will be broken, then reality will be back and they will have to face the fact that their best friend and "sister" can't live with them being together. They hold hands as they go back into his room and she sees the framed picture, she looks at it for a few seconds, admires how he caught it in just the right light, wonders how often he looks at her when she is not looking, before turning to him and kissing him again, twice as forcefully. They end up sitting in his bed, wrapped up in his sheets, facing each other in the low light of his little bedside lamp, talking. He tells her that Daphne kissed him and although she initially feels the tension of the day rush back into her body mixed with jealousy and with a pinch of anger stirred in, he is fast (and emphatic) explaining how he didn't feel anything, how it only made him wish it was her, how he stopped it immediately and told her how he feels about Bay and the honesty in his face makes her relax again, almost involuntarily. And she tells him about Daphne sharing with her the incident when she was being bullied and how important that friendship is for her, tells him how Daphne has put her feelings, or the strange family unit they form, first. And how important that unit has become for her, despite the drama, despite the jealousy. And they don't have to say it but she knows they agree, that right now is not the time, that they can't hurt her, can't risk destroying a family that is pretty fragile as it is. He smiles at her sadly and when she looks at the time, sees it is midnight and gets up to leave he signs "please stay. Just tonight." And she can't say she wasn't kind of, maybe, hoping he would say that, delaying the goodbye for another few hours. She takes off her jeans, a little embarrassed that this will be the first time he'll see her in her underwear, but forgetting all about it as she turns to see him take off his jeans and t shirt. She blushes furiously when he looks up and sees her watching him, then he lifts his eyebrows and grins, hops into the bed and signs for her to join him. She lies down, pecks him on the lips, then turns around and he wraps his body around her, like a warm human cocoon keeping her safe tonight.

He smells her shampoo, feels her warm legs against his, thanks his lucky gods that he is too tired and sad to get really… excited by her soft skin, by the curve of her bottom against him.

He understands why she needs to end it, he is torn, of course he wants to salvage his friendship with Daphne and he appreciates that she asked Bay to end it rather than him, though he also thinks that she had a better case with Bay and he is pretty positive that may have been the reason rather than her wanting to do Emmett any favors. But he would have liked to get both, have the cake and eat it too… have Daphne in his life and keep Bay. Keep her right where she is right now for example. And he knows that having her stay the night is stupid but the alternative, letting her drive away knowing that he would not have her this close again, was not really attractive. Carpe diem. Or rather noctem. So tomorrow he won't have her to talk to, he won't need that speech therapy after all, his mom will be happy (oh how this angers him, how is the woman always right?). And maybe, hopefully Daphne will slowly find her way back to being his best friend, maybe just the cake will have to do. He kisses the back of Bay's head silently, she might be asleep already, and feels the tiredness wash over him like a wave, dragging him under, his lids too heavy to lift them.

Melody does this most nights, but nobody knows, not her ex-husband and especially not her son. He is a big boy and she isn't supposed to anymore, but he will never be too old for her to check on him. The evening went a lot later than planned, Regina had a lot she needed to talk about and they ended up on her couch talking for hours, now it is nearly 2 and she will get 4 and a half hours of sleep if she is lucky. She opens the door slowly, tiptoes into the room afraid that if she treads heavily he will feel the vibration and wake up. She smiles a big smile as she sees his naked back poking out of the covers, that beautiful boy of hers, but her smile freezes when she realizes that he is not alone, that the pattern on his arm isn't the shadow from the curtains but rather a couple of long dark curls. Curls she recognizes. She backs out of the room feeling a million things at once; angry, sad, disappointed. She is definitely not getting 4 and a half hours of sleep tonight.