Chapter 10
We arrived at some posh looking restaurant on the outskirts of the town we lived in. Like most posh restaurants, Zach had a table booked for us. The waiter led us to a nice secluded table at the back that was away from the chaos at the middle and front of the restaurant.
Since Zach had found out about me been deaf, he had made sure that he was always facing me when he talked; which I found sweet of him. And although I had feared it, he didn’t treat me any differently. I appreciated that so much.
“So, what do you want to order?” Zach asked. He had the menu in front of him and he was casually scanning through it.
“Erm…” I started. As I looked down the menu, I made sure to skip the poshest sounding meals because they cost a lot. “Do you come here much?” I asked. I hadn’t heard of most of these meals.
He nodded his head whilst looking down the menu once more before he looked up at me. “I do sometimes. Whenever I visit my grandparents, we normally come here. It’s their favourite place to eat.”
“I not heard of most meals.” I answered, shaking my head. I felt stupid. Who hasn’t heard of these meals?
Zach laughed at my reply as he stared into my eyes. Unfortunately, I had to turn my focus to his lips so I could see what he says. “Don’t worry. Just tell me the name and I’ll tell you what it is.”
Unsurprisingly, it took me a while to actually decide what I wanted to eat. In the end, I went with what Zach was having, which was steak with vegetables. He ordered our meal and drinks from the waiter, and then turned back to me as she left.
“So, turning the conversation back to earlier today, does anyone else know that you’re deaf?” Zach asked. It honestly confused me how neither he nor his friends knew I was. It was fair enough that Rebekah didn’t know considering she was new but those three?
“Everyone. How you not know?” I asked, playing with the hem of my shirt. There were loads of things I still wanted to know; mainly why everyone in the school seemed to be afraid of him, Ryan, Dan and Jake.
“I don’t really know. I guess because everyone stays away from us so I guess that’s why I haven’t heard. We all knew there was a new-ish girl but, that’s all really.”
“Ok. Erm, why everyone scared of you?” I inquired. I really wanted to know. What’s that saying? Oh; curiosity killed the cat.
The waiter returned shortly after I asked Zach the question. We thanked the waiter and Zach waited until she left before he turned back to me to answer. “They’re sacred because I get into a lot of fights. I fight too much, but I haven’t fought recently because I’ve been too busy.”
And by his reply, I knew that him been ‘busy’ meant me tutoring him and the project we were doing together. I couldn’t find the words to answer him with so I simply just nodded my head and took a drink of the fresh glass of coke the waiter had left.
When I looked back up at Zach, he was staring at me. It was like he was waiting for me to finish drinking before he spoke to me again. I couldn’t help but think that it was because he knew I was deaf; not that it bothered me though. I actually found it sweet… For some strange reason.
“Can I just say… I feel like all of this is moving too fast; admitting that we like each other after a small period of time. But, something drew me too you the first time I saw you. I don’t know about you but I felt a connection with you. Also, I guess I’ve gotten to know you really well because of the project. I’ve learnt things about you and you the same with me. It’s weird and I’ve never experienced anything like this before, but I feel really drawn to you.” He explained. By the time he’d finished his speech; he took in a deep breath and let it out. Almost like he was afraid of what I’d reply with. Because damn that was a long speech.
“I feel the same,” I answered simply, playing with the straw in my glass. “I… urm… I…”
My incapability of replying made him let out a chuckle. “You’re not very good with words are you?”
His statement caused me to duck my head in embarrassment. “I not very used to having a conversation with people,” I began. Before I continued, I took a sip of my drink. “I not usually use long sentences. There no reason to.”
Zach smiled at me. It was a smile full of sadness. “I really can’t imagine what it must me like to be deaf… As well as not having friends who you can talk to.”
I agreed with him, I agreed one hundred percent. Sometimes, I felt like I was the only one who understood what it was like. Fair enough, there were other people out there who felt exactly the same as me and were going through the same. There are people who were going through much worse.
“It not fun, believe me. Anyway, I not want to talk about it tonight.” I smiled just as the waiter returned to our table with our food.
I was glad I had remembered to bring myself a cardigan before I left. The slight breeze that swept through the field where the firework display was been held was freezing. It sent goose bumps up my arms.
The display hadn’t started yet. However, people were already gathering around waiting for it to start. Zach led us both over to where the railing was which was been used as a barrier to stop us from going any closer to the fireworks themselves.
Zach pushed me towards the railing before he wrapped his arms around me from behind and clasped the railing in front. His chest was pressed firmly against my back sending butterflies through my stomach at our closeness.
A kiss on my neck made me jump and turn my head up to face Zach. Who was stood behind me smirking at what he had just done.
“Well, that got your attention didn’t it?” He laughed, pulling me closer to him. “So, have you ever been to a firework display? You know, with you been deaf?”
I noticed the way he was hesitant over bringing up my situation. But it didn’t bother me if he mentioned it, it wasn’t liked I wasn’t used to it. “I have when I little but I not think it the same as if it had sound.”
He smiled sadly at me again. “I understand. It doesn’t matter this time because I’m with you; I make up for that right?” He smirked.
“Totally make up for it.” I smirked back at him. Zach made me so happy and I don’t know why. I really didn’t know why but I liked been with him… maybe a little too much.
Something made Zach’s eyes snap away from mine and to the view which was now behind me. He grabbed my arms and turned me back around and re-wrapped his arms around my waist. I looked up at the sky to see what he was looking at.
The firework display had begun. Red, blue, green, purple… loads of different colours lit up the sky as the fireworks exploded one by one. They were so pretty. Probably the prettiest fireworks I had ever seen. Just by looking at them you could tell that they were expensive. How had I never seen fireworks like that before?
I was fascinated by them. To be honest, watching the fireworks and the joy I felt made me feel like a 7 year old again. I can’t remember the last time I had fun with someone who wasn’t part of my family.
I didn’t notice that Zach had left my side until he held out a bottle of coke in front of me. Looking behind me, Zach was staring down at me with a smile on his face. He also had a bottle of coke as well as a bag of sweets.
“For later.” He smiled gesturing down to the sweets.
“Thank you.” I returned his smile and leaned up to peck his cheek. I quickly spun around, embarrassed by my actions. I had no idea why I done that.
Zach squeezed my waist tightly before loosening his grip on me as we continued to watch the display in front of us. It felt like we had been watching the display for ages now so I could only guess that it would be over soon.
True to my thoughts, the fireworks ended soon after. In a way I was glad because it was starting to get cold. The night sky was now empty of fireworks and all that remained was the slight smoke from the fireworks and a few stars scattered around. Despite the cold, it was nice to just stand there in the dark.
As we stood there after the fireworks finished, I couldn’t help but begin to think about everything that had happened. Zach had kissed me but did that mean that he wanted to be in a relationship with me? Nothing had been mentioned about it so I couldn’t help but think. Did he want to be with me like that? I didn’t even know the answer to that. I guess that if he does, soon my questions will be answered. I hope…
Suddenly, I was spun around so I was now facing Zach again. “Come on, let’s go. You’re shivering.”
“Ok. It a little cold.” I answered. And it was. Sure, thinking about Zach had taken my mind of the cold for a bit. But now that the thoughts had left my mind, the cold hit me quickly and I just wanted to go somewhere where it was warm.
“Do you want to go get some hot chocolate?” He asked rubbing his arms up and down my arms which I was sure that was his attempt to keep me warm.
I nodded my head in reply and he grabbed my hand to lead me to the drinks stand. It really did feel nice to hold his hand in mine. It felt natural… like my hand was meant to fit his. And that just sounded real cheesy.
“Do you want anything else, Maisie?” Zach asked me once he’s spun me back around to face him. I don’t know why, but I found it kind of sweet how since he found out I was deaf he’d make sure he was facing me whilst he spoke.
“No thank you.” I smiled at him.
Zach handed me my hot chocolate and once again, grabbed hold of my hand. He led me through the park and out of the gates, so I assumed we were leaving to go home. I really didn’t want the night to end.
“Is this a date?” I couldn’t contain it. I just blurted it out. Turning my gaze towards the floor, I tried to hide the fact that I was majorly blushing right now.
I could almost feel his smile as he lifted my chin up so I was looking at his face. “Do you want it to be?” He asked.
I thought about it for a moment. In a way, I did want it to be a date because it would be my first ever date that I went on with someone. In another way, I didn’t want it to be one because I was afraid that it would make things awkward between us.
Making up a decision, I drew in a deep breath. “I do.”
“Then it is one.” He grinned, leaning down towards my face. Zach very lightly placed a kiss on my cheek before standing back up straight and continuing to walk down the path.
Just like that, my stomach erupted into butterflies. I had just had my first date. It felt amazing.
We threw our rubbish into a rubbish bin that was at the end of my road. As we walked up the path hand in hand, I couldn’t help but swing our hands back and forth. It was probably really childish but I didn’t mind.
As we stood outside my gate, I turned to face Zach to look up at him. “Thank you for tonight.” I couldn’t help but smile at him. I felt like I was beaming.
“No problem. I really had a great time.” Zach smiled back. Whilst I watched him smile, I really couldn’t understand how so many people found him ‘scary’. He looked like a normal teenager who didn’t go around fighting people for whatever reason.
“And thank you for not leaving after you know I deaf.”
He smiled that sad smile once more. Not that I was going to tell him, but I hated it how some people pitied me for been deaf. “I don’t know why you thought that I would leave after finding out you were deaf. That’s like you, say, leaving me after finding out that I tend to fight a lot. It’s not your fault that you’re deaf and it doesn’t change who you are.”
I felt like I was speechless, and I didn’t know why. “…Ok. Thank you, once again. For everything.”
He chuckled at my reply. “You seem nervous,” He winked. “I’ll see you at school.”
And slowly but surely, his face lowered towards mine. Before I knew it, his lips were pressed firmly against mine. I still wasn’t sure how to kiss… As weird as that sounded; I wasn’t used to it. After all, I’d never kissed anyone other than Zach.
Even if I had kissed anyone else, I’m sure Zach would have been my best kiss out of all of them. I was almost one hundred percent positive that he’d kissed other girls and I could guarantee that they would agree with me. Anyone who’s kissed Zach would probably agree with me.
He finally pulled out of the kiss with a smile on his face and I couldn’t help but return his smile. It was almost as if his kiss was contagious. Whenever you see him smile, you just have to smile with him.
“I’ll see you later.” Zach smiled at me one last time before he turned and walked away.
Like in those romance movies, I couldn’t help but lift my fingers to my lips as I smiled. Keeping the smile on my face, I turned towards my house and made my way inside. My mum was most likely still up to wait for details. She appeared to be more excited about the fact I went on a ‘date’ than I was.
However, I highly doubted that. The feelings that I had in my stomach right now were crazy. This had been the best night I’d ever had.
Because Zach made me feel special.
And I liked it so damn much.
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This is probably short, I appologise.
School has been insane lately so updates will most likely be slower than I'd like but I will try!
I hope you all had a fabulous new year!:)
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