Love's Like That

#4- ASL

Jayden hated talking.

No, he always preferred avoiding people than talking to them. It wasn't like he was anti-social, or anything like that. He just didn't like to converse with unknown people, or what is called socialising. For Jay, a comfortable silence was always better than unnecessary chatter.

Yes, he's an introvert.

Music, as he had discovered, was one of the best ways to ignore people. All you needed to do was put on your earphones and play your favourite music. Nobody would try to talk to you.

As a result, his wireless earbuds had the honour of being his most prized possessions. Their excellent sound quality ensured that the sound of any annoying noises don't disturb Jay when he doesn't want them to.

While riding the bus everyday, he would always notice this one girl in the seat across his. Her honey coloured tresses framed an attractive face, and her deep blue eyes would always be fixed on a book. Sometimes, she would look up from the book, and would smile at Jay, who would try his best to return it before going back to his music.

He often caught himself thinking about the girl. She wore the uniform of a neighbouring school, so that would explain the time- they both used to bus to reach school, and then home in the afternoon. He wondered where she lived...not that knowing that would do him any good. The last thing he would ever do was visit someone.

Jay's curiosity increased when he saw the girl reading a book on sign language one day. Why would anybody choose a book about ASL for casual reading? He was still trying to figure out theories when the girl, feeling somebody's eyes on her, looked up and smiled at him.

Embarrassed, he quickly looked away.

But for the next few days ,whenever his eyes strayed towards the girl, she would always be reading the same book. He was so curious that he almost wanted to talk to the girl.

Of course, he did nothing of that sort.

But that hadn't put his curiosity to rest. Nobody started reading books on ASL without a reason. Was the girl deaf? But why would she start on ASL so late then?

And he intended to find that out.

It had been a week since the girl had started on the book, and Jay still had no idea why. There's not much you can find out without talking, and Jay still had no plan of doing that.

As usual, he was staring at her in the hope that the mystery would unravel itself. But that day, it did.

When she caught him staring, the girl smiled excitedly and quickly signed something with her hands.

"W-what?" Jay spluttered, pulling out an earbud. "I'm sorry, I don't understand AS-"

"Oh my God you can speak! I'm so sorry!" The girl blurted out. "I'm really sorry, I didn't know..."

He simply looked at her with a puzzled expression.

"You'd often look at me, so I tried to talk to you. You'd never respond, so I assumed you can't hear me because you're....well...but I wanted to talk to you, so I decided to learn ASL..."

Jay continued to stare at her, his confusion now replaced by surprise.

"I'm really sorry. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"

He smiles in reply. "Well, umm...what's your name?"

"Leah," she smiles back.

"Leah...I'm Jayden. And as for making up, maybe we can grab some coffee sometime? I'd love to know more about the girl who learnt an entire language just to talk to an unsocial boy in the bus."