Ember signed the last shipment document as Carmon sorted out the small boxes onto the front counter. The packaging was galaxy-themed with small shimmering stars. The details in the boxes alone went to show how much the creators worked in showing off their skills.
"Holy tits these are cute," Carmon beamed.
She held up one of the cufflinks in her hand showing them off. The small constellation shimmering in the light.
"Here these are Libra," she plopped them into Ember's hand and looked for her own star sign. All the cufflinks had a small design on the back with the first letter of whatever Zodiac sign it was.
"Here we are!" She studied the design with a simple line almost like a capital "L" but with stars were covering it. When turned, the back that showed an 'A' for Aries.
'You think they're good?' Ember questioned.
"Definitely, it's subtle enough to add to any look really. Oh, Grumpy Pants has to wear these when he decides to show up," Carmon laughed, putting the jewelry back into their respected boxes.
'You got it from here? I should head back?'
"Yeah, yeah I got it, you go back to a college filled with beautiful boobs-I mean girls," she laughed and started to take the shipment into storage.
Whenever Ember made it back to campus she was rushing around to find her first class of the day. Even being there a week this was one of the only classes she still couldn't manage to find even when she was running late.
It wasn't until a figure dressed in black came running in the same direction as her. Before either of them could stop they collided into one another.
"Shit! I'm sorry," the familiar dude said trying to help her up. Ember shook her head and made a gesture for him to wait a minute while she quickly took out her phone. Opening the notes app she quickly typed handing it over for him to read.
"Not your fault, no need to apologize." Karter read out loud. "Not true, I was running and am an oblivious member of society," Karter laughed.
Karter was one of Ember's more chaotic friends-then again most of her friends were-what did that say about her?
Anyway, Ember met Karter at a coffee shop when in the city and at the time it was his first year at school, and he claimed to be sleep-deprived-personally Ember thought it was because he wasn't the greatest at paying attention.
To make a not-so-long story even shorter he picked up her order and was horrified by the taste of the coffee. It probably didn't help that Ember didn't like much of any sugar and wanted the darkest roast they had most days.
So naturally, she called him a dumbass and surprisingly he understood the sign then he called her gay-Ember had the lesbian flag on her shirt and for a moment she forgot about it and thought the dude had a great gay-dar.
He handed back her phone before he fixed his backpack over his shoulder. "Do you know where the fuck building A5 is?" he questioned. He looked around as if he could somehow see it in the cluster of people or the fact it was past the giant building like the one they were currently in front of.
Ember looked at her phone if they weren't late before they definitely were now. She pointed it out to Karter and they walked along the path to the building they needed to be in.
He hummed a song as they walked pushing past the vast amount of people going about their own days.
Today was sunny without too many clouds in sight, something rare in the middle of September. The rainy days were nice and calm but Ember always found herself tired and wanting nothing more than to be lazy and rewatch her favorite shows or anime. However, on, sunny days she felt more obligated to do something productive with her day as if she had no excuse to lounge around doing nothing.
There wasn't much of an in-between.
Once they made it to the building and wandered into the correct class they took the empty seats somewhere in the middle of the room. The professor didn't seem to care that they were at least fifteen minutes late, to which Ember was grateful.
She quickly took out her laptop and typed what was on the board into a blank document. This particular class was nothing more than an extra credit course.
It would make her look a bit better when she decided to go get a job as a medical interpreter. However, this was also going to be a boring class considering it was the basics of ASL. At first, she was confused as to why she had to take the class when she passed to get into the more advanced ASL classes.
Though she tried not to think of it like that, this could be a good way to maybe refresh herself on something she missed in the past.
Karter took the seat beside her and looked through his bag until he got his notebook and pencil. He didn't seem like the guy who would really pay much attention to class or people talking in general but to her surprise he took notes.
As the class went by Ember might have started to wander away to her own little world. This morning was a complete mess and when she felt this way it was very difficult not to replay everything she did wrong from the start of her day.
First thing this morning, when she woke up she had to awkwardly get ready alongside her roommate. Normally she was up before the blonde but today she wasn't.
Holland had tried to talk to her a few more times and Ember tried not to be rude, but all she could really muster was a few nods to the blonde's comments.
Ember hated herself for being such a bitch to her, but when Ember would look to her to try and explain she would either get too hot and bothered or she'd just plain panic-and when Ember panicked her body took over and shut down.
She knew she needed to talk to the woman at some point, the last thing she wanted was for Holland to think she was just being rude the whole year. She would figure that one out on her own.
By the time Ember came back to reality Karter was nudging her arm for her to get up. When she looked around the classroom was quickly emptying even the professor himself left.
"You zoned out," Karter commented, grabbing his own things.
Ember nodded in response and blankly looked down at her notes consisting only of the dates she needed to remember for that class.
"Uh, well I'm going to steal stuff from my cousin's tea stash if you want to come along," Karter said, throwing his backpack over one of his shoulders.
Ember couldn't help but laugh at his bluntness, he seemed to say whatever came first to mind, so she nodded.
'Sure,' she signed and grabbed her own things before walking back to the dorms with him.
On the way there he talked about how if he walked outside at night in the north section of the campus it looks like he was being followed by Slenderman. The boy knew all about the creepypastas even more real things the stories had done to people.
He said about how two kids thought they were being called by Slenderman and how they wanted to go to his castle. "They even stabbed their friend and left her in the woods. She made it out alive but fuck, I can't imagine how she and her family got through something like that. They were her friends and they just lured her out into the woods to kill her."
By the time he finished his story, they were back to the dorms.
Ember never thought about creepypastas all that much. She wasn't into many fictional horror stories like them, however, she loved most things horror in general, the real stuff was what she mostly focused on though.
Karter lived on the same floor as her and at first, she didn't notice it but when she did she typed something out on her phone.
"You live across from me?" Karter read.
He nodded. "Yep." He threw his things onto his unmade bed once they walked into his dorm.
Ember took note that it looked nearly identical to her own but much neater. There seemed to be a place for everything and while there wasn't much room, the room seemed comforting.
"This place is much better than the apartment we had before school," he said, catching her looking around.
'I still don't know how Flynn can live with you?' She typed out.
He rolled his eyes and laughed. "Oh please you're not a neat freak either," he chuckled.
Karter lived with his cousin Flynn in a small apartment that according to him: "it was worth going to jail for burning the fucker down." but Ember never really went there.
Flynn was really the only family Karter mentioned much and they were very close for being total opposites. Flynn was the type of person to iron and fold his clothes with care making sure they were all neatly put away the second he washed them. Karter was more like Ember if the clothes didn't smell and didn't have any obvious stains on-then it was what they wore.
To sum it up Karter once explained his situation like: "Yeah, my family isn't the most supportive. And when they learned they had a fag as a son they just got too much for me so Flynn and I got a place together."
He didn't seem too upset by that if anything he seemed like he was talking about something positive. However, Ember kinda was sad about it. She knew about fucked up parents-mothers at least-but honestly, without Ryan or even a godmother/crazy aunt figure like Carmon, Ember would be lost.
"Why did you choose to live in the dorms? Don't you already have an apartment?" he questioned casually.
'I wanted to face my fears I guess.' Ember signed slowly.
He nodded in response.
"And how's that going? I know when I moved here I was with my family for a while till they moved back to Pennsylvania, but it was kinda a freeing reality check," he laughed.
'It's going better than I thought, but I might have made things a bit awkward with my roommate and haven't really told her I don't talk. She most likely thinks I'm a cunt.'
He laughed.
"No she doesn't, she's just confused is all. Honestly, I think the girl has a crush on you or something. Are you just not-you know, in to her like that or whatever?"
Ember shook her head and typed on her phone again since it was easier for Karter to understand. He was still learning and when Ember signed it was often too fast for beginners to get.
She handed over her phone and he quickly read over it. "You know my roommate? And no it's not that, she is very, very hot but she just seemed a bit straight the time we almost hooked up. I just panic around her, that's all."
"Fucking called it, you liked her!" He yelled before handing back her phone.
They talked about how Holland came over there and would play video games as she talked about Ember a little. Ember was kinda shocked to hear she was even interested in her. Holland looked horrified when the person interrupted them on the night of the party.
Karter made some tea as promised while they talked about nothing and everything. He was blunt and to the point as usual, which Ember was grateful for too many people were fake in this world.
He also told her to get her shit together and tell Holland she didn't talk and why she had been avoiding her. Ember knew she couldn't avoid her forever and it would be better, for the most part, she reminded herself she didn't need to tell anyone anything she wasn't ready for just the basics.
Five years and Ember still couldn't tell people why she didn't talk. Even Ryan and Carmon don't know the full story. They knew it had to do with Caterina's death but not any more than that. Every time Ember would go to tell them something the words failed her even if she tried to write or sign to them.
"Hey, I just thought of this. Why the hell are you in beginners ASL you already know it?" By this point Karter was laying upside down from his bed, his head was barely touching the floor as he looked over to her.
Ember shrugged. 'They told me to take a semester of it, something about it will look good for my job resume. Why are you learning ASL again?'
Ember wasn't sure if she overstepped because when he read her question his expression slightly changed. He did his best to compose himself but not before she saw the hurt look on his face.
'You don't have to answer if it makes you uncomfortable.'
He shook his head and sat up cross-legged on his bed. "No, it's uh-because of my younger sister. I don't see her much, but I kinda wanted to learn a bit before I saw her again. Her hearing was never the greatest but the last I saw her it just seemed to be getting worse."
'I could help you some more. I mean if you want to. The classes only tell you so much but there are some slang words they for some reason left out in a lot of the lessons and since you only know-really only the curse words it might be a good idea.'
Ember gave him a hopeful smile. It was sweet he was learning a whole language just to better communicate with his sister, even if his family situation was a bit messed up from the sounds of it.
She couldn't imagine her life without her father and how much he has supported her through everything. He never even was mad at her when she stopped talking, sure Ember could tell he was irritated for a while but he seemed to understand a little.
As Karter handed Ember her phone back the door opened to reveal a shorter guy with fluffy brown hair neatly styled out of his face.
He also had on his signature round glasses, and Ember always thought they suited him well. It made her remember the first time Karter introduced them it was all done in Karter-style.
Which went something like: "This is my lame cousin Flynn, who won't shake your hand because he doesn't like germs," he told Ember. Then turned to his cousin and introduced her. "Flynn, this is Ember, she doesn't speak-but she can totally hear your dumbass voice," he informed his cousin.
As Ember said, it was very much Karter's way to introduce someone.
Flynn walked in and muttered, "Hi," to Ember as he hung up his things in his closet. Ember's phone buzzed and she read through the email before typing on her notes once more.
'Got to go, but text me tomorrow or something and we can work out when to study?'
"Will do, have fun. Oh, and don't forget what we discussed about Holland."
Ember nodded before giving them both a wave goodbye and walking out the door. Now she just had to figure out how to tell the girl that made her get butterflies in her stomach why she was acting like a five-year-old boy with a crush.
Ember unlocked her dorm thanking the gods it was empty and she wasn't back yet. Ember took a seat at her desk and opened the email she got before and quickly read through it replying to the company quickly before it got too late.
Then she got a notebook out and a pen. She went back and forth with what to write and after staring at the blank page she figured she would have to wing it.
She thought about just doing it later but she knew better. It was either now or she'd never get it done.
Things couldn't get any worse than they are now. At least she would know somewhat why Ember was ignoring her, right?
The door clicked and Ember turned to see the attractive blonde walk in. Holland must have just got off work because her long blonde hair was up in some kind of ponytail and she smelled very much like coffee.
Ember took one of the candies she had on her desk and popped it into her mouth before getting up the nerve to write something down and show it to the girl.
'Can we talk?' Ember cursed herself for the stupid wording but pushed past it, this was her best version of what she wrote down.
Holland looked confused but ended up nodding. Ember figured it was best to just be blunt and just tell her so that's what she did.
'I'm not mad at you or anything and am tremendously sorry for acting like a bitch around you. I just didn't expect to see you after that night and yeah it could have been worse, but I felt embarrassed and instead of being mature, I panicked.'
Holland read the note cautiously like she didn't expect Ember to even acknowledge her own behavior.
"I forgive you," she said after a minute. "I was embarrassed too. Especially when my sister of all people found us and I never really thought I liked girls before, but I mean it could have been worse, and plus you're making an effort."
The rest of the night they talked-well Holland talked Ember wrote on the notebook and even on her phone a bit.
Ember felt a lot better knowing that Holland forgave her so easily. She even knew why Ember was avoiding her. Maybe just maybe things would get better.