His Badass Mute

Chapter 19: Super Simple

"Don't be rude to him," Axel signed quickly.

"Riiiiight. I forgot," Daniel said aloud, rolling his eyes. I nodded toward the direction of our classroom to Damien and he started walking with me, but he was still looking at Daniel and Axel. We made it into class right as the bell rang.

"Just on time," the teacher said. We took out seats and it felt like Damien sat all the way to the left of his desk, closer to me. His arm brushed against mine, spreading warmth up my arm. It felt nice considering the classroom was so cold. He took his hand back and I assumed that if he left it there, it would have been on my desk, awkwardly sitting there. I got up halfway and scooted my chair in while subtly, scooting it a little closer to him. He put his left arm on his table, so I put my right arm on my table and they stayed touching.

Despite the simple action, my heart was racing. I kept overthinking what it could mean and if it meant anything. Was this weird for him or did it feel nice? Did anyone else notice and think something was up? I glanced around, subtly but no one was paying attention to me; all their eyes were on the teacher. The teacher told us to pull out our IPads, so I pulled my hand away and grabbed my backpack and took out my IPad.

He didn't put his arm back and I started to overthink if it was weird for him. Did he just leave his arm there because he didn't want me to feel uncomfortable if he removed it right away? Was it weird?

I thought back to when he called me beautiful. Was he lying? Was he playing with my emotions? I felt a light tap on my right thigh so I looked down and saw Damien's hand faced down in a fist like he wanted to hand me something, so I put my palm facing upward and he opened his palm.

He surprised me when he interlocked out hands. I wanted to laugh because that was smooth. As if he read my thoughts he asked, "was that smooth or what?" He was chuckling lightly. I had a huge smile on my face as I nodded.

We kept holding hands as the teacher continued to talk. He squeezed my hand, so I squeezed his hand back and then he squeezed mine again. I wanted to laugh but held it in. The teacher told us to work silently on our worksheets but I needed my right hand to write.

Damien looked at me and smiled. I pointed to my right hand and used my left hand to write in the air, meaning I needed my right hand to write with. He pouted a little and made his round eyes rounder. He tilted his head to the left a little and I smiled. I had to look away smiling, he was just too cute. He didn't want to let go and I was glad he didn't let go right of way.

I picked up my pencil with my left hand and tried writing my name but ended up writing every letter backward. Damien laughed and let go of my hands. I smiled and some people glanced at us. When they saw it was me making him laugh, they kept throwing glances our way. I figured it was so they could see if I was speaking to him.

I felt him lean in towards me and I was going to look at him but he was too close. "Is this okay?" He asked. He put his hand on my thigh, closer to my knee and I nodded. The small contact made mind flood with nothing but everything, simultaneously. He started working and I saw that he was answering them quickly so I knew he wasn't thinking anything about what his hand on my knee meant. I started working on my problems too. I actually forgot he had his hand on my knee until the cold air hit my knee, making the warmth leave. I looked at him and he was reaching in his backpack for something.

I looked back at my paper, continuing to work and felt his hand come back to my knee. He kept it there for the remainder of the period. Everyone started packing up so he removed his hand and pulled his backpack on the desk, packing his things. I got up and put my things away.

*~*

I walked out of my fourth period later than I was supposed to and heard Damien's voice in the hallway. "What does he have that I don't?" He asked. I turned the corner and saw Damien and his friends walking in front of me toward the exit. The only other people in the hall were Zach and James. They were waiting for me because we were going out for lunch. Only seniors were able to leave for lunch.