Chapter Ten

I'm at my dorm again because break has just ended. Kim and Trent decided to go back early so they could spend some extra time hanging out. I decided to go with them. I can hang out with Sebastian. We've been texting a lot during break. We even video chatted, and I read his lips. He learned some sign language, but it didn't work well because neither of our connections were very good. It's way harder to read lips on the tiny screen than in person, which is one of the reasons I said no at first.

When I put all my things away in their proper places, I wait for Sebastian. He's supposed to be here any minute. I feel the expected buzz from my phone. I glance down at it.

'I'm here. I can't wait to see you :)'

I smile down at the text. Instead of responding, I rush down to his car. He's waiting outside it. I go to him and give him a warm hug. I feel his voice as I hug him, his neck pressed slightly against my shoulder. I think he forgot that I can't hear.

"I can't hear you." I look at him. "What were you saying?"

"I honestly don't remember, much like how I couldn't remember you're deaf."

"I see."

"I'm going to show you some of the sign language I learned. Hello. How are you?"

I grin. "That's great. Want me to teach you more?"

"Yes! But later, we should get going now." I smile.

"Sounds good to me."

He opens the door for me, and I get into the passenger side. As we are driving, I keep stealing glances at Sebastian.

"I'm so glad to see you again. I missed you." He chuckles a bit.

"Me too."

"So, how are you?"

"Great." I roll my eyes. I do not want small talk right now.

"So. Where are we going today?" Sebastian looks at me with a strange look in his eyes.

"Well, I thought we could just go to the movies. I know it's sort of casual and stuff, but I thought you would want to relax a little after your trip back here. I thought maybe we could go for an early dinner at the diner after the movie."

A smile makes its way to my lips.

"That sounds fantastic!

"Fantastic?" He says it as a question. I decided to ignore him.

"And, this would also be the first time I go to the movies..."

"What!? You've never been to the movies?"

"No, my mom and dad thought it would be kinda pointless for me since there are no subtitles, and I've never really had any friends to go with anyway. I've still always wanted to go, though..."

"I'm glad I get to be the one to take you." I smile at this and reply,

"Me too. Thanks."

We talk about random stuff during the rest of the car ride. When we get to the theater, the screen is, so big I'm shocked, he makes my first movie theater experience perfect. It's even better then I imagined.

After Sebastian drops me at my dorm. I walk dreamily to my room. I feel happy, but also very exhausted. I sigh and get ready for bed. I fall into a peaceful sleep.

My eyes snap open. I sit up happily, looking over at my clock. It's almost noon. I practically gasp. I only have to wait a few more hours until Sebastian comes over. I smile at the thought. I get ready for the day. I'm supposed to have lunch with Kim and Trent, but I decided that I'll give them some alone time. I text Trent telling him I slept in and will have lunch later. I walk out of my dorm. I'm going to have a brunch by myself. I sigh at the thought that I don't really have any girl friends. After I eat, I decide to go to the lake. It's beautiful as usual. I smile at everything. I feel so happy. Eventually, I make it back to my dorm feeling very refreshed.

It's time to get prettied up for my date with Sebastian. This is going to be the first fancy date anyone has taken me on. It makes me feel all warm and happy inside. I put some fun music on. I'm pretty good at doing a bunch of random braids because I didn't have much else to do in my free time. I put my hair in a neat, simple braid. I put on the dress I had laid out. I smile into the mirror. My brown hair looks pretty good. I jump randomly in excitement. I don't know this before, but the worst part of this is waiting for him to arrive. I'm so excited that it's hard to contain myself. I get a text from Sebastian.

'I'm here.'

I smile and walk to my door to open it. There he is. I feel myself squeal in surprise and jump back.

"Sebastian! You scared me." I see him chuckle slightly,

"I got you some flowers, and I thought I would bring them straight to your door. The only problem was that I forgot that you can't hear knocking." I can't help but giggle a little at the thought of him thinking I was ignoring him. After I contain myself a little, I look back at Sebastian to see him holding out the flowers. I smile brightly at the first flowers he has ever given me. He hands them to me.

"These are beautiful, Sebastian! I love them so much! Thanks!" There's some sort of twinkle in his eyes, but I ignore it. I put the flowers on my side table. When I walk to Sebastian so we can leave, he leans over and kisses my cheek. I'm slightly surprised. He looks into my eyes.

"You look very pretty tonight." I feel a blush creep onto my face and a smile forming on my lips.

"Thank you." I don't think to say 'you look great too' or anything like that. We walk to his car. When we're sitting, I feel fancy. I decided to tell Sebastian.

"This is my very first fancy date." I see the wide smile creep onto Sebastian's face.

"Hopefully it won't be your last with me." I frown slightly.

"It better not be." He laughs slightly at this.

"Yes ma'am."

"This is so great. I honestly never thought I would get to go on a fancy date." I admit this, feeling yet another blush. I try to think of something other than what I just said. He chuckles a little more.

"I'm glad."

"Yay." I realize I'm acting like a child, but I can't help it. Sebastian doesn't seem to mind. Eventually we pull up to a grand restaurant. I gasp out loud when I see it. I stare at the place for a while. This has to be the most fancy restaurant I've ever seen. I feel a tap on my shoulder which snaps me out of it. Sebastian is holding my door open.

"That was a loud gasp."

"This place is beautiful Sebastian! I've never even stepped foot in a place as grand as this." His smile somehow widens. It's almost as if my happiness makes him happy. He helps me out of the car and leads me into the restaurant. I feel so happy. We sit at our table.

"Do you know what you want to order?" As Sebastian says this, I frown at him.

"I don't know, uh...I, uh, I-I mean would you mind? Uh-"

"Do you want me to order for you?" I practically interrupt him.
"Yes. Thank you. What a relief. Thanks for taking me here today. I'm already having a good time!"

"Thanks for coming." He orders the food. I don't really pay attention to what he's ordering. I'm just grinning like a fool.

"So..." he says, putting his hand up to his mouth in a sort of cough.

"Okay, so this might sound really strange...wait, never mind." He looks at me, confused.

"What?"

"It's nothing. Never mind." I see a smile creep to his lips yet again.

"What is it? Are you blushing?" He chuckles. "Alright fine, don't tell me. So what- you know what, nevermind." My jaw drops at his imitation of me.

"Fine. I don't want to know anyways." I cross my arms over my chest as I say this. He chuckles some more. What is it with him and chuckling? I roll my eyes.

"Okay, enough with that. Sebastian, what's your favorite place to go in the world?"
"You are good at asking random questions that relate to nothing at all. This is a little easier than your last question, so I will give you my answer. My favorite place in the whole world is the ocean."

I sigh. "I love the ocean." He smiles and says,

"So. What's your favorite place in the whole universe?"

"Well, when I was a kid, Trent and I would always go to this place. It was like a tree house. I remember it so vividly. There's a certain feel and smell to it. It's almost like safety and perfectionness."

"Perfectionness? That is not a word. Do you ever go back there?" I feel myself becoming sad.

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't remember where it is, and nobody believes me."

He frowns and notices that he is making me upset. I feel myself getting worked up. I can't help it.

"Well, one day I'll help you find it again." I don't say anything. He's making an empty promise. There is a pause just before the food arrives. It looks so good. I look up at Sebastian.

"Do you want to pray grace with me?" I see his eyes widen slightly. He recovers quickly.

"Okay." I smile and make the Sign of the Cross.

"Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen." I smile and make the Sign of the Cross again. After a moment of neither of us saying a word, Sebastian says something.

"Is Trent your brother?" My eyes widen as I realize he doesn't know a thing about my family.

"Yes! Sebastian, I just realized that we don't know about each other's family at all! Let me tell you all about mine, and you can tell me about yours! Yay. I have three siblings. Their names are Trent, Aubrey, and Everett. Trent actually goes to school here with me. His fiancée Kim does too. They're great. Aubrey is married. She has one kid and another on the way. Everett is just starting college. He's 17. Oh, and my parents of course. They are the people I've spent most of my time with, sinc- well, enough about me. What about your family?" My cheeks have been red for a few moments now. I don't know why I decided to just randomly tell Sebastian facts about my family. I'm not used to telling people about them. My family members are usually the ones introducing me to new people.

"I see..." There is a long pause. I wonder if he's going to go on. He does after what feels like centuries. "Well, I actually have a big family of seven. I'm not even going to go into their names, but two of them are married, and uh, I think one is a teacher. Well, uh, I'm not really in contact with them as much any more." I smile despite his sad sentence.

"Well you can always reconnect."

We then get into some more random conversation just to lighten the mood. I felt bad for making him say that about his family. After dinner, we decided to go for a walk by the lake. It's the most perfect date I'll probably ever have.