As we walked to the PATH station on
33rd Street, Oscar and I continued to chat. I was having a
hard time containing my enthusiasm, even with how tired I was. The
excitement of being able to finally hear a voice was starting to wear
on me and I could feel myself starting to drag my feet but I was
determined to keep up with Oscar. I could relax and rest a bit once
we were on the PATH train.
“That coffee place was pretty good,”
Oscar said, still allowing me to hold onto his arm.
Maybe he was afraid I was going to run
into something again.
“Cup & Cup? They're one of my
favorites,” I said. “I work in Murray Hill so when I'm in the
city, I naturally gravitate to it. Though I'm a caffeine addict, so
I'm there quite often.”
“I've passed them a few times and a
lot of my friends have recommended them,” he said, releasing my arm
so we could go down the stairs to the station. “Where do you work?”
“Oxford University Press. I'm an
editorial assistant there.”
Oscar looked impressed, but he
shouldn't have. It was an interesting job but could get repetitive.
Sometimes I felt like a glorified intern, being sent for coffee and
making copies. I was always tempted to make the argument that if I
wanted duties typically assigned to administrative assistants, I
would have applied to that job instead of the one I had. But it was a
pain to argue about so I left well enough alone.
“That seems like an interesting
enough job.”
I shrugged and made a face. We swiped
MTA cards and waited on the platform with several other people.
“There are some things that are
pretty cool, but I'm not sure if that's what I want to do.”
“You're young,” he said. “You
have plenty of time to decide what you want to do with your life.”
I laughed and pushed his arm lightly.
“I doubt you're much older than I am,
sir. You can't be older than 35.”
Oscar looked sheepish as he adjusted
his messenger bag on his shoulders.
“I'm 29,” he said with a sigh.
“See, you're not so worldly and old
after all.”
He grinned at me and threw up his
hands.
“I'm plenty worldly and the kids I
teach make me feel old,” he told me. “I think that counts.”
The PATH train whooshed past us with a
hot and smelly gust of air before slowing down and stopping
completely. We stepped into the cool car and took seats next to each
other on the hard plastic bench. I blushed a bit when the train
lurched forward, causing me to knock into Oscar. Him offering his arm
was one thing, but we were about to be cramped together in a small,
undoubtedly packed train car. He glanced down at me with his clear
green eyes, brow furrowed.
“So I have a bit of a prying question
for you,” he said, adjusting his bag in his lap. “But I figure it
makes us even considering you barreled into me and then commandeered
my evening. How did you lose your hearing?”
I felt heat creep up my neck and ducked
my head, embarrassed.
“I'm sorry. I never even thought that
I was derailing your night,” I wailed, hiding my face in my hands.
“I was just focused on the fact that I could hear you that nothing
else around me mattered.”
Oscar pulled my hands away from my face
and gave me a friendly smile.
“There's nothing to apologize for,
Maise,” he said. “Trust me when I say this is better than what I
was supposed to do tonight. I can imagine this whole situation is
quite a shock to your system, considering you haven't been able to
hear anyone for 10 years. Which brings me back to my question. How
did you lose your hearing?”
“What were you supposed to do
tonight?”
“Nice try at a diversion,” Oscar
said. “Answer my question first and then I'll answer yours.”
“It's actually really simple,” I
said, quickly checking my iPhone for text messages. Since meeting
Oscar, I had pretty much ignored it's pulsing buzz. “No one knows.”
“What!? How is that possible? Your
hearing loss must have been caused by something.”
“Oh, I'm sure it was,” I said,
shooting off a quick text to my roommate, telling her it was okay
that she went out without me. “But no doctor's have been able to
figure it out. One day, I went to bed as a normal high school
sophomore and then woke up as the deaf freak. It was like someone
took a remote and pressed the mute button.”
Oscar frowned.
“Being deaf doesn't make you a
freak,” he said, nudging me with an elbow. “You're just as normal
as everyone else. Did people really think that?”
I lifted my shoulders in a nonchalant
salute to the assholes I had once called my friends.
“You would know better than anyone
how cruel high schoolers can be,” I pointed out. “No one seemed
to understand that, overnight, I went from the happy-go-lucky girl
they knew to someone who was now struggling with absolute silence for
the rest of her life. There was always something else to occupy their
time once they realized I couldn't communicate with them easily.”
Talking about my past sometimes made me
uncomfortable. I had grown up in an extremely small town on the
Jersey Shore and had gone to a fairly small high school. I was still
the girl next door but I was the girl next door who was suddenly
different.
“None of them bothered to even
attempt to learn sign language,” I explained. “I had only one
friend who seemed interested but she got busy with school. That was
just one more thing she didn't have time to add on her plate. By that
point, she and I didn't see each other and we mainly communicated
through Facebook and texting.”
“That sounds lonely.”
I nodded.
“It was for a time, but it lead to me
studying very hard and getting into a good school. So I guess it paid
off in the end. Okay, now for my question.”
“You are full of them,” Oscar said,
snickering as I swatted at him.
“Yes, well. As I said earlier, I
could listen to you talk for hours and hours. I'm afraid your voice
will be the only voice I ever hear for the rest of my life.”
“I have faith that you'll be able to
hear someone else's voice,” he said. “Maybe some doctor will
figure out what happened to you.”
“Maybe,” I echoed as the train
pulled into the Hoboken station. “So?”
“I was going to pick up some things
from my ex-girlfriend's apartment,” he said as we got up and exited
the train car to the platform. “We broke up a few months ago and I
just haven't had the time to go and grab it. I'll just go tomorrow.”
My heart leaped with glee. With such a
recent breakup, he may not be attached to anyone, leaving me
potentially able to monopolize his time. I was slightly selfish to
think that, but I was used to getting my way. I was a charming girl.
We climbed the stairs to the surface
and began walking along the sidewalk. It seemed so strange. It was
like I was hearing Oscar's voice in a vacuum. Only his voice and his
gentle breathing. I really did want to keep him to myself for the
rest of the night to learn more about him but I had to go to sleep or
else I'd fall asleep standing up.
“I hate to leave, but I must go to
bed,” I said, pausing at a corner and waiting for traffic to stop.
“I'll never be able to function in the morning.”
“Me as well,” he said. He held out
his hand. “Here, trade phones and we can put our numbers in them.
That way, you can hear my voice again and again.”
I smiled as I said, “I would like
that. You know, I meant what I said about wanting to be your friend.
I guess I got lucky that the one person I can her isn't jerk. At
least that I know of.”
“I promise I'm not,” Oscar said.
Trading iPhones, we added each other to
our contacts. Getting my phone back, I quickly sent him a smiley face
emoticon and he laughed as it popped up on his screen. I navigated us
to my block, which wasn't far from the station at all and stopped at
an intersection. As enamored as I was, I was going to play this smart
and not let him know exactly where I lived.
“Well, this is my street. I can walk
from here,” I said. “Thank you so much for tonight. I don't think
I can ever tell you how much this means to me.”
Oscar looked down and scuffed his foot
against the pavement.
“I enjoyed myself considering how
strangely everything started,” he admitted. “And I'd really like
to get to know you better.”
His statement made me melt inside.
Without even thinking, I gave him a tight hug. He stiffened at first
and then he relaxed against my body. Before he left me on the corner
of my street, Oscar placed a soft kiss on my forehead. It felt rather
brotherly but I wasn't going to complain. I'd take any contact with
him at this point.
“Text me when you get into your
apartment,” he said. “I'll give you a call tomorrow.”
“That sounds like a promise,” I
teased.
He looked at me with solemn green eyes.
“It is.”
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