"You guys need to make up, this silence is so off" Darren said
"All she has to do is say sorry and be cordial with my girlfriend" Josiah said shrugging. He was willing to get their friendship back to the point where it was but she was being stubborn and he wasn't letting up on his conditions.
"You're doing this over a girl you'll be over with in 2 months tops" Leah said
"I'm not just doing it over Aubrey, you can't do something as simple as apologize to fix our friendship"
"There would not need to be any apologies given if you weren't always trying to replace me"
"Aubrey isn't a replacement for you dumbass" he said
"Now I'm a dumbass but if I called you a deaf bastard I'd be wrong"
"Technically you'd would be wrong because I'm not a bastard, you are though"
"Shut up, why are you here anyways? Where's your girlfriend?"
"The one you're jealous of?"
"I could never be jealous of anyone dating you"
"What is that supposed to mean?" He said
"It means fuck you"
"Anyways let's end this feud, I'll give you both 20 dollars to let it go"
"Not enough" Josiah said
"Hey guys" Lauren said walking up to their booth. She slid in the seat next to Josiah as he began playing games on his phone to escape the awkward scenario.
"Hey Lauren" Leah said smirking. She never really liked Lauren when she and Josiah were together but now they seemed to be the best of friends.
*I knew you couldn't hear but now you can't speak* Lauren signed to Josiah.
He simply waved at her.
"He has a new girlfriend now Lauren" Leah said
"Not for long" she replied while Josiah wasn't looking so he wouldn't know what she said.
"Back to what I was talking about, What will it take for y'all to forgive each other?"
"We can talk about it later, I gotta go" Josiah said. He didn't want to be there anymore and Aubrey was out of class so he decided to go hang with her.
"Bye" Lauren said
He spotted Aubrey walking towards him and almost didn't recognize her due to her dying her hair the night before.
"When did you do this?" He asked pointing to her now chestnut auburn hair. It complimented her brown skin well and he liked it.
"Well you saw me yesterday morning so when do you think I did it?" She asked
"Last night"
"Yeah, Raven convinced me to do it, It'll have to grow on me though"
"You don't like it?" He asked
"Not more than my black hair, do you like it?"
"Yeah it's different" he said
"My place or yours?" Aubrey asked
"Mine"
"You and Leah made up?" Aubrey asked
"No, why"
"Well who were you in the cafe with?"
"Darren and Leah, he tried to play peacemaker but that didn't work and then Lauren came" he said
"Why didn't it work?" She asked disregarding the part about Lauren.
"Because she's evil Aubrey, let's talk about something different"
"I just feel so bad about being the reason you and your best friend aren't friends anymore" she said sensing his attitude.
"Don't feel bad, she hates you, remember"
"But she doesn't hate you" Aubrey didn't mind a few smart remarks if it came at the expense of his happiness.
"If she loved me she'd at least be cordial with you" he said kissing her.
"How come you don't like holding hands?" Aubrey asked
"How'd you come to that conclusion?"
"Well every time I try to hold your hand you let it go and wrap your arm around me"
"Just a reflex I guess, I don't hate holding hands"
"I'm starving" she said hearing her stomach growl.
"I have food at my place, this is why you're supposed to eat breakfast"
"I don't have time for breakfast, especially not this morning, I was so scared to show everybody my hair but I had to realize that they don't care" she said making him laugh.
"I don't know why, you look good"
"You think I look good in anything"
"I wish you weren't so I don't know the word"
"Insecure?"
"I don't think your insecure I just think you should be more confident, I don't know why you're not, I mean look at you" he said making her smile. He felt like Aubrey was a 10 but she acted like a 4 in his opinion.
"You have enough confidence for the both of us"
"True, if I could share it with you I would"
———————————————————————
"Tired?" Joi asked Aubrey as she yawned
*Very* she signed accidentally. She often found herself signing to people who weren't deaf.
"Look at you doing the sign language thing"
"Yeah I've learned a lot in this little bit of time"
"That's good, it took me a while to learn, I hated it since I was so young but it's really a plus now" She explained. The whole family had to learn sign language when Josiah went deaf.
"Yea it is cool knowing another language that not many other people know"
"Is that-"
"Leah?" Aubrey asked
"Hey" Leah said simply walking towards Aubrey.
"Hey? What are you doing here?"
"I came to say.. I'm sorry now can I have my friend back?" She said
"I've been trying to get him to forgive you, I'll tell him you apologized though, maybe that'll deal the deal"
"Thank you, tell him it was genuine and I complimented you on your hair"
"Ok I guess" she said giving her a confused look. Joi pretended to be doing something on her phone while eavesdropping.
"Thanks, don't forget" she said leaving
"I won't" Aubrey said forcing a smile
"That was weird" Joi whispered
"Eh, it was but I'm glad she said it so Josiah and her can be friends again"
"Why are you so eager to give him away?" she asked laughing
"I'm not, I just want him to be happy and she makes him happy so" she said shrugging
"You're better than me cus I wouldn't tell him anything and keep him to myself" Joi said
Once their shift was over Josiah picked the two up since he dropped them off.
"Joi, back" Josiah said noticing she was pulling on the front door handle.
"She can have the front babe, I don't mind" Aubrey said getting in the back seat
"Yeah, she doesn't mind you control freak" Joi said taunting him
"I'm not a control freak, you're a kid you should sit in the back"
"Oh shut up I'm 2 measly years younger than you" she said rolling her eyes.
After dropping Joi off he decided to spend some time at Aubrey's house. There she would tell him about Leah's "apology".
"Soo Leah told me sorry today" Aubrey said
"Why are you lying?"
"I'm not, I swear, she said sorry and she complimented my hair" Aubrey said
"So Leah, came to your job and apologized to you, and said your hair was nice, at least make it believable Aubrey" he knew Leah wasn't the type to do that especially not to someone she didn't like.
"I'm not lying, I don't lie to you, and I'm serious she did, ask Joi"
"Okay Aubrey"
"So are you going to be friends with her again?, you should" She suggested
"Are you tired of me?" Josiah asked, he was clueless as to why Aubrey wanted them to be friends again and didn't buy the I just want you to be happy story.
"No" she said wrapping her arms around his neck
"Then why do you want Leah back in my life so bad?"
"Because she's been your friend for years and it shouldn't end just because she's a little mean to me"
"A little?"
"She said my hair is pretty" she said before kissing him.
"It is"
"So you should just forgive her, it seems like this was very hard for her to do"
"Hm, well let me forgive her on my own terms"
"Does that mean you're at least thinking about forgiving her?"
"Yes I guess you can say that" he said
"Good"
"I want you to go to a football game with me tomorrow"
"A football game?" She asked. Aubrey wasn't the sporty type so she was confused as to why he'd ask her that.
"Yes, if you don't want to go you don't have to"
"It's not that, it's just why do you want me to go?" Aubrey asked scrunching up her eyebrows
"You're my girlfriend Aubrey, we never go to any social settings, I wanna show you off" he said making her smile.
"Well then yeah, I'll go, so you can show me off, on one condition though"
"What?"
"You have to take me home if I ask"
"Okay, you won't ask" he assured her
"I hope not" she said
———————————————————————
"Martin this is Aubrey, my girlfriend"
"Hi I'm Aubrey"
"Wassup, You go to school here?" He asked
"Yeah I-I don't do the whole outside thing though" she said
"Must be why I've never seen you, it was nice meeting you though"
"You too" she said as Josiah put his arm around Aubrey and they walked trying to find seats
"You have a lot of friends" Aubrey stated as they sat down
"They're not my friends just people I know" he said
"Well you have a lot of people you know"
"You wouldn't be so surprised if you came out with me more"
"I would but I don't like parties unless I'm drunk and being drunk is cool until the morning after, this football game is cool though" she said
"So you'd go to football games with me?" He asked
"Yeah, I guess"
"You know I used to play"
"You did?" She asked
"Yeah in high school"
"While you were deaf?" She asked, she thought he had middle school and high school mixed up.
"Yeah, you don't need to hear to play Bre, there have been deaf players in the NFL before"
"Oh, why'd you stop"
"I wasn't in love with playing anymore, and my mom was scared for my life a lot so there's that"
"I understand her being scared, I would be too, glad you stopped"
"Because you think I'd get injured?" He asked
"That and you'd probably have no time for me, as selfish as that sounds"
"So you just want me to yourself?"
"Mhm" she said kissing him
"Were you any good" she asked
"I was alright, wasn't the star player or anything" he said shrugging
"Do you have any videos of you playing"
"My mom probably does, you wanna see me play?" He asked
"Yeah"
"Did you do anything in high school?" He asked. He was expecting her to say no, she didn't seem like the type to do extracurricular activities.
"I cheered" she said giving him a weird face.
"You cheered?" He asked
"Just senior year, I tried out as a joke and I made it" she said shrugging
"Wow I can't imagine you as a cheerleader"
"What, you think I was too lame?"
"No you just seemed like the quiet book reading eat at lunch alone type"
"A loser?" She asked
"That's not- well yeah"
"I did read books and I was pretty quiet but I ate lunch with the other losers until senior year then boom I sat with the jocks and stuff" she said
"Were you good at cheerleading?"
"Yeah, I can flip and stuff like that" she said, Aubrey had been flexible since birth and taught herself how to do tucks and other flips and as she got older she perfected them.
"So you're flexible?" He asked
"Mmm, I guess you can say that, maybe I'll let you test it out later" she said
"As soon as the game is over" he said making her laugh.