Words of the Heart

by ShadowGrace

Emily Bryson was a head-turner with her beauty and musical skill. One accident, though, changes her life forever. She can no longer hear anything that is spoken to her. Now, she believes that she is damaged, and that no one could want her. In the windy city, she meets a rock star wannabe who could, very possibly, be everything that she ever hoped for. Experimental story. Rated T.

8. Language Lesson

BreeTico – I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with Derek's friend. You've already met him. (;

AwesomeSauce220 – Don't worry about it; thank you for continuing to read and review! I wish you the best of luck with moving (it seems like everyone's moving, lately.) I've never moved out of state so I can't imagine the harried rush it must cause.

Complete Chocoholic – If you liked those romantic bits, you'll be pleased with the upcoming chapters. I just recently finished writing chapter ten (yes, I'm that far ahead on my chapters! Squee!) which is full of romantical stuff!

The Significance Series belongs to Shelly Crane.

8: Language Lesson

Late last night, my Romeo dropped by my house and, true to his word, found a way onto my roof. He said it was because he was able to romantically climb the lattice up to the roof of the garage, where he made his merry way to my window. Clearly, he thought that I would be so dazzled by the great lengths that he'd gone through to get to me. In reality, we didn't have a lattice. He'd brought a six foot ladder in the back of the truck that I'd seen in his garage and had leaned it up against the house.

Still, it was appreciated since after my slightly awkward conversation about my feelings with my mother, the cold-shoulder I received from my best friend, and my shift at work, I was feeling the pain of the withdrawals. They hadn't been all that bad when he'd come to my window, but I knew that if he hadn't come to see me before I went to bed I'd feel like I'd been shot a few hundred times by morning. He didn't want to come in my window since he was worried that my mom would hear him even after I told him that the entire second floor was mine. Instead, he had just leaned against the window frame as we shared a few whispered words. After a good half hour, he climbed back down his oh-so-romantic ladder and disappeared into the night, letting me know that he would be later than usual to pick me up in the morning.

Now, I was stepping up The Yellow Brick Road in front of Derek's house, my eyes trained on the ground. The bricks were a little bumpy and uneven, and I was scared to death of tripping and landing right on my face. Not only would it be embarrassing, it would probably hurt. But mostly, I didn't want to embarrass myself in front of Derek. I knew that I was going to do something stupid in front of him eventually, but I would rather it be later than sooner.

We neared the front door, which Derek opened and stepped aside so I could go in first. I just barely stepped over the threshold, wondering if all the people that were there the day before were there, but it seemed quiet. Well, I mean, as quiet as I can assume something is when I'm deaf. Derek came in after me, his hand resting, just barely, on my lower back. He took a step forward, drawing me with him.

I could smell food cooking in the kitchen. Victoria must have been in there making lunch. My stomach rumbled – I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast. I had slept in late since I'd stayed up talking to Derek and my mom hadn't come in after she got dressed to wake me up. She'd left a note on the counter saying that she had a few errands to run and when she got back we could go to the shop. I just added onto her note, saying that I had plans with a few friends (Derek had talked me into using his sisters as buffers) and that I would be there for my shift at the store. I hadn't gotten any text messages from her yet so I guessed that she hadn't gotten home from her errands. I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing and why I felt like she was up to something.

With Derek still leading me, we stepped into the kitchen. All of his brothers and sisters were gathered at the table. Sitting at the head of it was a man that I didn't really recognize. He looked a lot like Victoria, though. They shared the same dark brown hair color and the same nice-to-meet-you smile. All eyes were on the man I hadn't met, but they all swiveled to me and Derek when the man looked up with a huge grin plastered across his face.

I forced a slight smile on, a little uncomfortable. With all of the people that had been at Derek's house the day before, I'd imagined that there wasn't anybody that I hadn't already met. But my significant had told me that their families were generally large. Most of them had more than one kid, and Derek's parents were a little more than average with five children. I guess there was a possibility that he had more uncles than I'd met.

I could feel the rumble in Derek's chest that let me know he was speaking. I turned my head to look up at him, trying to catch sight of his lips. His arm was still draped around my back, holding me close. I hadn't been aware that I was holding onto his fingers until he went to move. Releasing them, I could feel a blush crawl up and color my cheeks. Derek's family hadn't been very bothered by the fact that he and I were always pressed together. In fact, it seemed like they encouraged it. Apparently, PDA wasn't looked down upon in their family. They still had rules, of course, like the fact that imprinted couples were supposed to be married before they did anything that was procreative, or that the woman went and lived with the man and didn't really see her side of the family very often. But they seemed to like PDA in a way that was slightly creepy and unnerving. I figured that it was because imprints and significants harbored on skin-to-skin touch.

The man that I hadn't met nodded to me. I started to give him a smile even though I didn't know him. I imagined that Derek had told him who I was and that he was waiting for me to look at him so he could tell me his name. But when I glanced up at my significant, he wasn't looking at me at all. There was a slight smile that just barely touched the corner of his lips, and I was suddenly sure that he was up to something. I narrowed my eyes at him, about to accuse him of keeping secrets, when the man started signing to me.

My words died in my throat. I hadn't expected anyone in Derek's family to be able to sign. At least, those that were around yesterday didn't exhibit any sign language skills. I didn't think that they would have any reason to. They obviously weren't used to a deaf person hanging around, that was evident by the way they would start speaking to me and then suddenly cut off, remembering that I couldn't hear a word that they were saying. I'd told them that I was pretty skilled on reading lips, but they still stuttered to a stop and gave me an apologetic look like they'd personally offended me.

"Hello, Emily. It's nice to meet you. My name is Max Jacobson." The man, Mr. Jacobson, signed like a master. He was good at it, his hands fast and smooth, the movements flowing together instead of stuttered, like he was trying to remember the next word. He had skill that said he'd been signing for a few years if not longer.

I nodded and decided to sign back. It was probably strange of me, but whenever I met someone that could sign I liked to test their limits. There are different levels of being able to read or sign, just like in any language. There are some people that can't spell or are horrible with grammar, and then there are people that correct other's sentences like they are the editors-in-chief to the entire world. In sign language, it was how easy it was to move from one word to the other and how long it took to translate the movements into words. "Nice to meet you. Are you deaf?"

Derek's fingers squeezed my side as Mr. Jacobson smiled at me. "No. I'm an Ace. Derek's mother, Victoria, is my sister. When she imprinted with Robert she moved here to Chicago, but the rest of my family is in Tennessee." He paused, as if making sure that I got all of that before continuing. "I am what is called a Novice. My ability means that I learn things at a fast rate and can teach anything to family members within seconds. Take my sign language, for example. Derek called me the day you two imprinted and I got to work learning the language. I've come here to teach it to Derek. It should only take a few seconds, but it's always nice to visit my sister." Mr. Jacobson smiled at me broadly. I decided that I liked him.

Instead of signing in return, I said, "You can teach him anything?"

Mr. Jacobson signed back. "As long as I know it, yes. And I can teach you what I know, too." He gave a slight wink, and I found myself laughing. There was something about him that was just so charming, even though he was about my mother's age.

"Well, how does it work?" I asked him, intrigued. Derek had told me that there were such things as family rivals. He'd mentioned that there were families that were fairly close and families that hated each other. Usually, the rival clan lived in the same area as another. The Stantons, for example, were the rivals of another clan in Chicago. He hadn't told me their last name, but I assumed that he was just trying to keep me safe by keeping me in the dark. As of right now, the fact that they had a rival clan wasn't really that important to me. Not at the moment. There were just so many different things going on that deserved my focus first.

Like the fact that Derek's uncle, a man from another clan, was here to help the both of us. I understood why he was here. He was going to help us by teaching Derek sign language. That was why he had started learning it after Derek called him, and that was the reason why he flew out here. Well, that and the fact that he probably wanted to see his sister again.

Mr. Jacobson smiled at me, signing in reply. "I assume that you know that you and Derek can share your thoughts and feelings. I can push my way into your head and deposit information there. Granted, it's not as nice as having your significant milling around in your brain, but you get the information you need. You do not technically know it until you use it. In that case your body teaches it to you as you go along. For instance, I can teach you basic karate or how to bake a soufflé, but until you try it you will not remember the information."

"And you're going to teach sign language to Derek?" I asked. I chanced a glance at his family. They had the same look of wonder as most people did when they saw someone using sign language. It was normal, I guess, to be awestruck by the fact that someone can speak another language or read braille or anything that's different than what they already know. As people, we're intrigued and fearful of the unknown. It's a common factor for most of us.

Mr. Jacobson just nodded and turned away from me and my significant, taking the moment to say something to his sister. It was funny, how I had already gotten used to calling Derek mine. According to our imprint we were together forever. I was his and he was mine, and it was something that I'd just sort of accepted. I couldn't help but wonder if it was because my rational side had easily been satisfied with the stories and the proof, or if it was my romantic side that had decided to just go for it, or if it was a combination of the two. At the very least, I hadn't told Derek that in my mind he belonged to me and only me. For Christ's sake, I hadn't even kissed him. He hadn't even kissed me. I knew that I'd lingered on the thought more than once, and there was that one time that I thought he was thinking about it, but it hadn't happened. Maybe he was just following all of this because he believed that it needed to be done. An imprint was an imprint, and there wasn't any way to break it. He needed me to survive, but maybe that was the only reason he had me hanging around. Why he was going out on a limb and bringing his uncle to Chicago to teach him a language that I would understand.

Almost subconsciously I took a slight step to the side, sliding out from under Derek's arm. The movement was small and would have, under other circumstances, been practically unnoticeable. But here in the kitchen with Derek leaning on me ever so slightly and his siblings focusing on us like we were displays at a museum, it was like I'd just announced something extremely personal and embarrassing. It was sort of like the entire room froze. I was pretty sure that even the air conditioning shut off right that moment. It was either that or I was suddenly burning up.

Derek reached out and grabbed my wrist. His hold wasn't tight, but it made me stop right in my tracks. Before I could pull down and lock the door to my mind, I could feel him pushing past my feeble barriers, looking for answers. I swallowed hard as he wrapped his arm around me almost defensively. I felt his voice in his chest as he said something short to his family and lead me into the hall. We passed the alcove that he had cornered me in the day before and continued on, heading towards a hall full of doors. There were three on either side. One of the middle doors didn't have anything on it, but the rest of them had something on them. Each door had a whiteboard on them – the two doors on one side had pink trays while the other three doors on the other side had black trays.

Each one of them had something different on them, but I focused only on the one that Derek led me to. The whiteboard attached to the door had DEREK written across the middle of it. The tray was filled with black markers and guitar picks. Derek twisted the knob and motioned for me to step into the room. I did as I was told. The inside was just barely a mess. The bed was black and gray pinstriped, completely messed up with the sheets tangled and the pillows thrown over it. It was a pretty large bed, though. I had never had a bed that was bigger than the twin-sized one that was still in my bedroom. Looking over the room, the walls were painted steel gray and covered with posters of rock bands. The closet had double doors that pulled open to reveal the contents, mostly made of black, gray, and navy fabric. All of the furniture was made of dark cherry wood, from the bedframe with its four posters and the desk that was covered in what looked to be sheet music. A bookcase was stuffed with hardcover horror novels, and there were three guitars displayed on stands, a fourth that was so small it looked like it belonged to a child hanging above his bed.

I turned to look at Derek. He closed the door behind him. He shook his head and ran a hand over his face, like he was confused and struggling against something at the same time. He looked… frustrated. A part of me wondered what I'd done to make him do that. He'd been so easygoing every time I saw him and he only ever seemed stressed out when I was around. He looked up suddenly, and I was sure that he was still looking through my mind, sorting through whatever surface thoughts were there. It was the third day of our imprint, after all, and we were supposed to be able to talk to each other soon if not already. I could already tell the difference between today and yesterday in terms of reading each other.

I pressed my mind up against his, determined to find out what was bothering him. I could get the flash of pictures and a few words strung together. But the picture was of me. It was me that was bothering him. When the realization hit me, Derek stalked forward and grabbed a hold of my upper arms, drawing me into him. I let out a slightly startled cry into his chest as his arms wrapped around me. This was sort of like the time that he caught me when I slipped at the store – which felt like ages ago – but this was much more intimate. It was a real hug. I could feel his breath in my hair as his arms tightened around me like steel vices.

He took only a slight step back, using two fingers to lift my chin so I had to look up at him. His eyes didn't say that he was frustrated. In fact, they said that he was worried about me. "I'm not mad at you." He said his words very carefully and slowly. I imagined that they were warm and low, too. "God, anything but." He let his forehead rest against mine. I closed my eyes and let the feeling of his touch wash over me. I couldn't read his mind like I wished I could. From the way that I'd sort of freaked out about it yesterday, I had figured that I would be more scared of it than excited. But I wanted to be able to read his mind, and the thought of him digging around in mine wasn't as scary as it had been before.

I felt myself take a shaky breath. Derek's hands rested on either side of my neck, his fingers tangled in my hair. He let out a heavy sigh that I felt on my face and took a step back. He brushed my bangs out of my eyes and gave me a small smile. "I wanted to talk to you without having everyone eavesdrop, and I didn't want them to be able to read it on your board." He motioned for me to take a seat on the bed. I eyed it for a moment before sitting on the edge of it. Derek sat next to me, his hand reaching out for mine. I had to look up at him to see what he was saying. "I want you here with me, and not just because I need you to survive as much as you need me. I couldn't really tell what you were thinking in your head, but I knew you were second-guessing the imprint. All I can tell you is to look at my parents. Look at my grandparents. The imprints are chosen for us because they knew that we belonged together. If I had never met you, Emily, I would have never imprinted. You're the perfect one for me. And I like you for who you are, not just because an imprint says that we have to be together. In fact, if we hadn't imprinted I think I would have thought about breaking our no-dating rule. Just for you."

I peered into his eyes, knowing that even if his words were false, his eyes would be telling me the truth. But either he was being completely honest with me or he had suddenly learned how to hide his deepest thoughts, because his eyes were telling me the exact same thing he'd said. I took a deep breath, feeling that gentle pull that he gave me. We were magnets, the two of us, just like I had thought when I'd first imprinted with him.

Feeling a little stupid, I gave a slight nod. "Sorry," I said after a moment, "it's just… well, it's sort of crazy. I mean, how is it possible that we are exactly perfect for each other?" I asked him. Without giving him a chance to answer, I leaned forward a little, turning my body to face him. My hands easily rested on his jeaned knee. "For instance, look at me. I'm deaf, for Christ's sake. Don't you think it's a little… I don't know, weird that you've been eternally partnered up with someone who can't even hear you?"

"It doesn't bother me," Derek said.

"Well it bothers me. You deserve someone who can go to your freaking concerts and actually hear what she's listening to." I told him, my eyes wandering over the dozens of posters taped to his walls. Most of them were dark in color with splotches or blue or red. Plenty of them had skulls and snakes and things that were supposed to be manly. A lot of them looked like they were punks, either with hair that was generally too long for the average male and/or tattoos. They had names that sounded like they were just words thrown together in no particular order. I recognized some of them when they came up on the news or someone mentioned them on my social networking site. Some of them had been up-and-coming when I was in middle school and had come into their prime after I'd become deaf. My eyes scanned the shiny acoustic guitar over Derek's headboard. It looked like he'd signed the bottom curve, as if he was waiting for the day when he was famous.

"Is that what really bothers you?" He asked me, gaining my attention with a hand waved in front of my face. "I don't care if you can't hear the music, Emily. All I care about is that you're there with me. Music is just a… well, I wouldn't be hurting if I got famous because of it, but it's just a hobby for now. The council has laws set for what respectable jobs we're allowed to have, and musician isn't on that list. But with the way things are changing, I might be able to do whatever I want. The Visionary's significant wasn't very big on following in his family's footsteps. All of us that were in that group knew it. And she'd do anything for him. Maybe she'll make sure that rule is changed a little bit." He shrugged and added, "But right now, it looks like I'll eventually end up as a multi-business owner. My family owns the Virtuous car line, after all."

"Your family owns that?" I asked, completely shocked. I knew the Virtuous cars, but I had never thought to dig around and find out who owned them.

"Of course. Don't you get it? Virtuous and Virtuoso." He grinned like it was a huge joke and added, "But we also own a bunch of the luxury car dealerships around. A side business, my dad always said that to appease the council."

"So that's where all the money comes from," I mused. I realized a second too late that I'd said it out loud when I'd intended to keep it in my head. I didn't want him to think that I was shallow or something ridiculous, like that I liked him just for his money. I dropped my face, looking down at the wrinkled comforter I was sitting on. Derek's laugh, though, made the whole bed shake.

"Oh, you noticed that?" He asked. "All Aces have money. Or, at least, they used to. Money is what allows us to keep our families safe. It means that we have more houses if we need them and college is a council rule. It costs money to keep us protected." He told me. "But don't worry, I don't get to use my dad's money whenever I feel like it. I use mine from gigs and stuff. It's not as much, of course, but I'm pretty good at saving." He cocked an eyebrow at me, as if he was wondering if I was a big spender or if I was able to keep half of a paycheck in the bank. It was more like I was a money hoarder. I rarely spent my own money unless it was on clothes or food that I needed. Xavier usually refused to let me spend my own cash (he was far from being a money saver) and my mom still fluttered around and acted like I wasn't able to fend for myself. And it didn't hurt that my dad made sure I had money. I was his only kid, after all, and we used to be really close. Sometimes I think he only sends me the allowance that he does hoping that it'll keep me around him, like I would ditch him the moment I could.

I opened my mouth to say something, to say anything, to change the subject when there was a knock on the door. At least, I figured it was a knock because Derek's gaze shot from me to the door and he started to stand up. I stayed where I was sitting cross-legged on his comforter. I weaved my fingers together and let them rest in my lap, staring down at them a little awkwardly. This was the first time that I'd ever been secluded in a boy's room. It was sort of sad, kind of, for a girl my age. After a moment, I brushed my hair behind my ear and looked up at Derek. He had the door propped all the way open and was talking to whoever was standing there.

I leaned back a little on the bed and caught sight of Carissa leaning against the doorway. Her eyes shot to me for a second and she gave me a tiny smile, her eyes flicking back to her brother. She was saying something to Derek, but I couldn't tell what it was because he was blocking her. I couldn't tell what he was saying to her either because his back was to me. For a split second, I found myself admiring the way his jeans clung to his narrow hips, the pockets with some design on it. Averting my gaze, I went to stand up. Derek hadn't told me to stay there, so I figured that it couldn't be that bad if I joined him at the door. Besides, even if he had told me to stay perched on the bed I don't know if I would have.

I scrambled up, nearly getting my feet tangled in his sheets. It was a good thing I managed to catch myself on one of the posters that made up the frame of his bed. I looked up at the doorway, aware of the fact that Derek had shifted to stand fully in the doorway. Carissa probably couldn't see around him. I couldn't help but wonder if he did that for my benefit. He knew that I would be embarrassed if she saw me fall flat on my face. Jesus, I was embarrassed that he knew I was about to fall flat on my face. But at least like my knight in shining armor, he stepped in to protect me from the horrors of having his sister think that I was a hopeless klutz.

I brushed off imaginary dirt from my jeans and tried to collect my thoughts. Taking a deep breath, I walked over to Derek and Carissa, laying a hand on his back. He glanced over at me and then turned his gaze back to his sister. Carissa gave me a smile, and this close I could really see the similarities between the two of them. Carissa was all dark, with inky black hair barely a shade lighter than my own and dark brown eyes. She was willowy and tall, just like the majority of the women in the Stanton family. She was also dressed in the latest fashions, with expensive-looking clothes. The diamond bracelet around her wrist glowed just as brightly as it had before, but this time I noticed the matching necklace in the shape of a heart around her neck. Carissa's long fake fingernails touched it briefly, as if she saw me looking at it. I glanced away for a moment, choosing to narrow in on her designer shoes. Was there anything about Carissa that wasn't prim and proper and expensive-looking? Their physical looks might be the same, but Carissa and Derek dressed differently. I mean, Derek's clothes still looked expensive, but he didn't seem to flaunt it as easily as his sister did. Carissa was the only one out of all of them that looked like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine, too. She just made me… nervous.

I was almost unaware of the fact that my fingers immediately knotted in Derek's belt loop under the edge of his shirt. I would have been embarrassed if I'd noticed it earlier, and I probably would have yanked away if my fingers weren't wedged between the belt loop and his leather belt. But he didn't seem to mind the contact and I definitely didn't. Instead of focusing on him and Carissa, I thought long and hard on the reasons I was so jumpy around him and his family. I had accepted everything that they had thrown at me, but I was still holding myself back from getting close to him. I would like to pull a Freud and blame my friends and family about it. I didn't want to get close to other people because my parents had proved that love that was supposed to last forever could be broken and my close friends ditched me after I lost my ability to hear. I wanted to say that I was the way I was because I was mentally scarred or something. But I knew that wasn't true. I just didn't want to put my heart on the line, lay it out on the chopping block, and hope that the knife didn't fall on it. I was just being my usual slightly paranoid self.

For some reason, that stupid fortune cookie that I'd gotten just a few days ago came to mind. The future waits for you to come to it. I hated those things most of the time. But I guess with all the craziness going on in my life, I'd taken two minutes to memorize the words. The slip it was printed on was still behind the computer monitor. I hadn't even thrown it away. Maybe it was because I knew subconsciously that I would end up leaning on it. I had to take the words to heart. I couldn't just sit around in my chair at the shop and hope that something happened to me to propel my life forward. I needed to walk to it myself. I needed to take a risk and just do something instead of wait around for everything to change.

I never was a big fan of change. But this time I figured that I might actually like it, at least a little.

With a newfound sense of doing something just because I could, I leaned up against Derek. I figured that he might have thought it was a bit weird of me to go from questioning the imprint to clinging to him like a distraught girlfriend, but he didn't even look my way or probe my mind as his arm wrapped around me, his hand curling in to play with the hair that hung down over my shoulder. Carissa watched the move with a calculated eye. She seemed relatively pleased by the way the two of us were clinging together, but she also looked a little sour by it. I could imagine why. She had heard stories her entire life depicting how amazing it was to imprint only to be told that she had to wait until she was old enough. And then she finally reached imprint age and was told that she could only hope that there was a chance that the imprints would return. Now they were returning and she still hadn't gotten hers. I wanted to tell her that I hoped she found her significant soon but I decided to keep my mouth shut. This was only my second day of knowing her, after all.

Derek said something else to her and she turned and started down the hallway. I stood up a little straighter, untangling my fingers from his belt loop as he took a step forward. He kept his fingers wrapped around mine as I followed him down the hall and back to the kitchen. Victoria was still cooking lunch; I could smell the stir-fry. It made my stomach grumble and my mouth water.

Derek walked into the room in front of me. Madison and Jack were still sitting in their same places. Carissa drifted over to her chair right next to Mr. Jacobson, and Zach, who I decided was by far the quietest of the five kids, was bent over what looked to be a textbook. It was getting into early September, so classes had already started up, but he was the only one I ever saw doing homework. Even Xavier, who got up before the crack of dawn to go to his first class starting at seven, never did any homework at the shop. At least, not any homework that I could see. Madison looked thoroughly pleased to see the two of us together. Her eyes seemed to search over us as if she had expected something to have changed, like we would disappear for a few minutes and come back with hair mussed and clothes askew. The implications made me blush.

Victoria turned around with the pan and caught my eye. She gave me a broad smile, clearly pleased by the fact that her son had imprinted and found me, despite the fact that I probably wasn't what she thought he would end up with. She pulled a large bowl down from the pantry and poured the contents of the pan into it. I figured that she called for Madison because suddenly the youngest girl was standing up and gathering bowls and plates to take to the table. Derek nudged me to take a seat and I did, wedging myself between him and Jack.

Jack nudged my shoulder and leered at me with a smirk on his face. I rolled my eyes. All of Victoria and Robert's kids had different personalities. Carissa was very clearly a diva, Zach was the most studious person I'd ever seen, Derek was the rock star in the making, Jack was the clown of the group, and Madison was the hopeless romantic. I wondered how they managed to raise such a diverse group of children as Madison set my bowl in front of me. I looked up and gave her a quiet thank you, which she nodded to before handing a bowl to Derek.

I ate my food, which was absolutely amazing, and tried to focus on the entire table. It looked like Mr. Jacobson, who insisted that I call him Max, was telling stories about Victoria when she was a kid. Madison thought they were hilarious, and Jack kept telling his mother that he was going to lock away that bit of information in the back of his mind for future blackmailing. Carissa smiled politely through it all, laughing here and there while continuously checking her cell phone. Zach ate and flipped through his pages simultaneously, barely looking up from the text. I sort of admired his dedication, but I was really glad that I wasn't like that. School had been a blip on my day from the moment I realized that I was deaf. Homeschool had been easy and relatively lonely. It really wasn't anything to sneeze at. And I couldn't really go to a college unless I wanted to attend special classes for the deaf. I'd just decided not to deal with it.

It was only after we finished our meal that Max decided it was time to do what he had come for. He was going to teach Derek everything. I sat there in my chair, on the edge of my seat, waiting for some giant flash of light or something equally as epic. Derek closed his eyes and gently took a hold of my hand under the table. I stared up at him, waiting for something absolutely magical to happen. But he just closed his eyes and sat there almost completely still, his hand just barely tightening on mine for a moment. After only a few seconds, his eyes opened and he looked down at me. Everyone leaned forward, eager to see what he had learned and if it had worked. Max leaned back in his seat and reached for a crumb of the brownies Victoria had made, waiting for Derek to make his big move.

My significant turned to me, his eyes alight with something that said he was truly excited. He seemed to be focusing on something for a second, and then he signed out to me, "This should be much easier than mouthing the words, huh?" I could barely hold back the squeal of excitement as I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him tight to me. He seemed a little surprised, but his arms went around me easily, his hands resting on my lower back. Over his shoulder, I could see Madison laughing, and Max rolled his eyes when I pulled away to glance at him. Apparently, he thought that Derek could have been a lot more romantic in that moment, and he'd said as much. But it didn't matter anymore.

Derek had gone through great lengths to get his uncle here so he could understand me and I could understand him. Sure, he didn't go through the process of learning it all over weeks and months like Xavier did, but Derek didn't want to wait to talk to me. Besides, it was the thought that counted, and I was honestly thoroughly ecstatic. Derek cared about me, and I cared about him. I knew now that if I just let myself, I could see me falling in love. Forever.

This chapter is a catalyst of sorts. Up to this point, Emily has been struggling with whether or not she could let herself take a step away from the life that she's known and fall into Derek's world. Here, she has decided that she's going to walk to her future because there's no use in sitting around and thinking about it. I just wanted to make sure that everyone got that loud and clear. Call me overly thorough. Haha. (:

What do you think? Leave me a review in the box below, and I will be forever grateful. Thanks for taking the time to read this! Peace (: