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Luke nodded and though his face told Bodhi he probably had more to say, he didn’t. His hands hung limply at his sides for a beat, then he waved a quick goodbye. Bodhi appreciated the dismissal and he turned on his heel, following the same path back to his dorm.
Chapter5
Caleb’s mom’sfavorite phrase had always been, when it rains, it pours, and he was pretty sure the universe was making that a bit literal. It was almost seven p.m. when Caleb had walked into the dark hallway in order to get a small sensory break from the assholes in the lobby. If he didn’t, he was about to go viral on social media for an entirely different reason.
And probably get arrested.
And definitely sued.
The woman who had come in with her little entourage of Yoga Moms were not part of the Viral Video Crew—which was what his staff were now calling all the kids from the college flooding his lobby every morning before early classes and every afternoon around lunch.
He was starting to mind them a little less since they were spending money and he’d only caught a couple of them trying to surreptitiously take a video of him behind the counter. Luke and Wren thought they were all fucking hilarious with their bad signs they’d picked up from hearing influencer YouTube accounts, and Caleb stopped caring when he realized he could probably give everyone a nice big holiday bonus that year if the crowds stayed steady.
The worst part was that he’d been in such a good mood. Bodhi’s brother was nothing like he’d expected. He’d been on the verge of losing his temper—and his mind a little bit—when he walked into his office to see Bodhi’s twin standing in front of Wren talking about starting salary.
Bodhi had said that his brother was better at signing than him, but Caleb just figured Bodhi was defending his twin.
Instead, he’d been right. Ravi was the polar opposite of his brother. He was bright and friendly and social. His vocabulary was still clearly lacking but it was obvious from how he signed and what he signed that he spent more time with Deaf friends than hearing ones, something that would have helped Bodhi with both his language and his confidence.
It was the first thing Caleb had mentioned to Ravi after showing him around. “Do you think things would be easier for your bother if he had more Deaf friends?”
At that, Ravi just looked sad and shrugged. “I think things would be easier for him if he had any friends at all.”
Caleb froze. “He has no one?”
“Not really,” Ravi said, pulling a face. “People are assholes, and it’s always been like that. I mean, it was hard in school since our grandparents refused to even check out the Deaf school, and they’d punish us for signing at home.”
Caleb felt his gut twist. He knew there was something about Bodhi’s trauma that didn’t just come from strangers making him feel uncomfortable. “I’m sorry. My parents weren’t great about it with me, either. If my implants hadn’t failed, I don’t think I would be where I am today. And I get it. I know what it’s like to deal with assholes.”
Ravi shrugged. “They are, but people didn’t really make fun of him for being deaf. It was…everything else.”
Caleb didn’t need him to finish the rest of that thought. Of course they didn’t just make fun of him for his deafness. Even in his school, Caleb had witnessed plenty of kids the teachers had labeled ‘socially awkward’ get tormented. He’d never participated in any of it, but he’d also never done anything to stop it. He told himself he was just trying to fit in, but really it was just another dark spot on his soul he had to atone for. He realized the guilt over how he’d been with Bodhi was eating at him, and he resolved to find a way to fix it.
He just wished whenever he looked at Bodhi, he didn’t feel that strange, warm feeling in his chest. It complicated everything.
He’d spent the entire week thinking about what to do, and he was on the verge of smashing his head on the counter just to try and shake things up when the door opened, and the Yoga Moms came in. The flashing lights sent a pulse of pain into his temple, and he knew a migraine was incoming, but he had to ignore it.
Not only did he need to get through the rest of the evening shift, but it was also the first night he was going back to his condo. Cameron was officially out, and Caleb knew if he didn’t move back in now, he never would. And while Wren was happy to have him for however long he wanted, Caleb was a grown-ass man who owned his own home. He didn’t need to be couch-surfing like he was an eighteen-year-old stoner.
Putting a smile on as best he could, he squared his shoulders and watched as the moms all talked amongst themselves. One of them was clearly the ringleader and he braced himself for stiff, textbook signing that a lot of them came in with. Instead, she approached him and started rattling off her order verbally, moving her head from side to side to look at the pastries so he couldn’t even attempt reading lips.
Caleb waited patiently for a minute, then knocked his knuckles on the counter and pointed to the sign menu that was perched on the register.
Her eyes widened like she was offended, then she glanced at the paper and laughed.
Caleb blinked rapidly, trying to figure out if she was laughing at herself or at him.
“No.” He could readthatword from her lips perfectly well.
Okay. Shewaslaughing at him. He’d dealt with this plenty of times, so he pulled the little information print-out off the stack and slid it toward her. Wren had been the one to write it up, so it didn’t sound as blunt as Caleb would have been, but he could tell it wasn’t friendly enough for her because he could see the anger rising on her face.
“No,” he caught again, then a few more words, “customer…my…tonight…want to.”
Caleb rubbed at his eyes with a tired sigh. His headache was growing even worse, and he just wasn’t in the fucking mood. He pulled the menu down from its perch and tapped it again. If she didn’t want to try the signs, fine. She could point and pantomime for all he cared.
“No.”
Caleb curled his hands into fists before crossing his arms over his chest and standing his ground. When their stare-off went on a bit too long, he tapped the card again and then she snapped.
