Our Colours

3rd Chapter: Dinner

Ruby's face lightened up. That was a really good idea! Maybe this way other people could understand her, though it wouldn't quite solve the problem of others not being able to talk to her. Ruby nodded and signed back: "That is a good idea! I will try downloading one after dinner." She turned to Iris and tried saying "Thank you for the idea. You're really smart." Not knowing how it sounded, she looked over to Anouk, insecure. Anouk smiled and signed "You made progress. I think she understood you."

Ruby shrieked in delight. Her speech therapist would be proud! He was a really patient man with Aboriginese origins, always very calm and understanding. Ruby was glad she found a therapist who treated her well. She had heard worse from Connor and Mike. Although she didn't really know what exactly happened in their past. Both of them hardly ever talked about it. And Ruby didn't want to trigger them by asking about it, so it would probably stay a mystery for first.
Also, she didn't know anything about Iris. What was her life like before? Maybe she could ask her one day.

Suddenly, Ruby felt someone tugging on her sleeve. She turned around. Mike was behind her and he pointed to the dining table. "Dinner's ready." He gestured. Ruby smiled happily and tapped her index finger and thumb together to say "Okay!" (The gesture looks like this 👌. You probably know it.)

She pulled back the chair she always sat on for dinner and sat down, quickly glanced at the chair on her right that had always been empty, up to now. She turned around, pointed to Iris and to the chair next to her. Anouk quickly talked to Iris and then went over to the chair to put a blanket above it, Iris' name stitched on it.

Everyone had a blanket like that on their chair, armchair or whatever they sat on. Anouk made them, as they enjoyed sewing a lot. They also made a pencil case for Ruby, since she enjoyed drawing so much.
Iris blushed, started to fiddle with her hair and said something, which Ruby couldn't hear. But she was sure it was something like a compliment or a "Thank you".

[Image description: Iris is in the middle of the picture. Her red hair is braided and hangs over her right shoulder. She gazes to her left, looking flattered and plays with her hair, using her right hand. She wears a beige pullover with norwegian prints on it.]

Ruby started drawing her finger over the table blanket, whose material she didn't know. She just knew that it was easy to wash.

Ruby looked around and saw her flatmates talking. She couldn't really hear their voices that good. Only slightly, through her hearing aids, but she still couldn't understand a word.

Ruby saw Clover sleeping in her armchair. Maybe someone should wake her up for dinner. She turned to the door. Connor, Alex and Sarah were still missing. She had seen Connor in the hallway before, but it seemed as if he wasn't there to head downstairs. As she had finished that thought, Alex walked in. His hair looked as if he had headbanged for six hours straight and then didn't fix it.