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God, why did she keep saying his name like that? His phone buzzed and he ignored her shout for the screen.
UCSC: Campus officer Martinez, # 1412 en route. ETA 3 minutes.
He felt something settled in his gut. The campus security officers terrified him because he’d heard more than one horror story about them harassing Deaf students before realizing they couldn’t hear them, but in this case, it felt…good. Safe.
Like all of Caleb’s touches.
His gut twisted again, thinking about Caleb, but he’d deal with that when he got his grandparents out of his dorm. They weren’t budging, though, and he wondered if they’d make a scene. He wondered if the cops would let them stay.
He hadn’t thought it through.
The light by his door flashed and his grandmother got a smirk on her face as she turned and opened it, but it wasn’t the officer. It was Caleb.
Bodhi’s heart thudded in his chest as he stared at the man, all pink in the cheeks and slightly out of breath because he’d very clearly taken the stairs. He looked stunned, his eyes flickering back and forth before settling on Bodhi.
“Grandparents?”
Bodhi nodded. He felt annoyed that Caleb had followed him, and also profoundly grateful because it was in that moment he realized he didn’t want to do this alone. “I was having a meltdown and they showed up.”
“That’s why you left?” Caleb said. He pushed past his grandparents who were both trying to talk over him, and that almost made Bodhi fall into a laughing fit again because they had no idea just how much Caleb couldn’t hear their shrill protests.
“I left because you were…”
“Asshole, I know,” Caleb signed quickly. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t my place to get upset.” He started to walk forward, but Bodhi’s grandfather reached for him and before Bodhi could warn him, the old man had Caleb by the shoulder, spinning him around.
Bodhi couldn’t make out his individual words, but he could hear his tone—the low, threatening rumble of his baritone that had once struck fear deep into Bodhi’s soul. Caleb just frowned and shook him off hard before taking a step back toward Bodhi’s bed.
“What’s he saying?”
Bodhi shrugged. “I could never understand him without my hearing aids.”
“Yes!” his grandmother cried, misunderstanding him, but recognizing the one of maybe four signs she knew. “Yes! Find them.”
Bodhi rolled his eyes. “She wants me to find my hearing aids.”
Caleb laughed, the sound loud enough to startle both of his grandparents who took a step back from them. “Can we leave?”
Before Bodhi could answer, another figure appeared in the doorway. Bodhi’s heart sped up nervously the way it did every time he saw a campus officer. Martinez had dark eyes and thick brows, his skin a rich olive, hair clipped short and gelled, but Bodhi could still see curls.
His gaze moved between Bodhi and Caleb, then his grandparents, before he took a step in the room. “Who is trespassing?”
It took Bodhi a second to register the officer was using ASL and not his voice. He blinked and glanced at Caleb who didn’t look startled at all. In fact, he was staring at Martinez with a strange look on his face. Bodhi shifted uncomfortably before pointing at his grandparents.
“Them.”
Martinez nodded sternly, and to Bodhi’s surprise, signed when he spoke. It was difficult for him to follow when Martinez switched to signed English instead of ASL so he could sim-com, but he got the gist.
“You and your husband need to leave.”
Both of his grandparents protested loudly enough that Bodhi could catch the edges of their angry tones, and he wanted to laugh again. Or maybe cry. He looked down at his hands to see they were shaking, and he noticed the uncomfortable, heavy feeling in his sternum was still there.
Caleb must have noticed something too because he clapped his hands and when the officer looked over, he asked, “Can we go?”
“I need to take your statement,” Martinez replied, looking truly apologetic.
“Downstairs,” Bodhi managed. “Lobby of the rec building near the crêpe shop.”
Martinez contemplated that for a second before nodding. “Please don’t leave.”
