Tuesday, February 11th

“What are you laughing at?” Eden spit out, hands automatically signing his words as he spoke.

Usually he was grateful for the habit, not wanting his sister to feel left out, but this was one situation he would be happy for her to miss. Auggie scrambled forward to examine this new man, a man Eden was obviously connected to in some way. From the smirk on her face, her twelve-year-old mind had already jumped to some very accurate conclusions.

Kell only chuckled at the intrusion of his personal space, then smiled as he roughly saluted a “Hello” and signed “Can you let me stand?” Actually, it was just a clumsy “Stand,” but close enough.

Auggie let out a squeaky, breathy giggle at the poor signs and stepped back. The sound put an instant smile on Eden’s face, which only received another chuckle. Auggie didn’t care. Her eyes sparkled and her hands and fingers began to fly.

“You know ASL? Why? Who are you? Are you friends with Eden? You know what I mean. THAT kind of friend.”

She giggled and moved an “O” shape back and forth in front of her mouth, then shoved a pinky into a closed fist. Eden immediately grabbed her from behind, restraining her arms against her chest.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry.” He felt his cheeks flush and gave Kell an apologetic half-smile as his sister squirmed in his hold. Of course he wasn’t offended, but Eden was mortified. It seemed his fate to just be constantly embarrassed in front of this man.

Kell’s kind smile never faltered and he leaned down slightly to look closer at Auggie. She grinned brightly back.

“Sister?” he asked her. She nodded, the only gesture she could make with the rest of her trapped. He nodded back and looked up at Eden. “Sister... know... good.”

She knows me TOO well, Eden thought, groaning at this new awkwardness he had to deal with.

“Do you know the sign for ‘behave?’” he asked, getting a confirming nod. “Can you ask her if she will? Then I’ll let her go.”

“Behave?” Kell’s hands shifted side to side. Auggie rolled her eyes but grunted and bobbed her head in agreement.

Eden released her and she grunted again, then smiled sweet and mischievous at Kell. He huffed a quick laugh and pointed to his table. The three sat, Eden taking the window seat and leaning against the glass while Auggie sat next to him to stare across at the intriguing stranger.

“Well?” she finally signed, her eyes darting between the two.

“Uh...” Kell was obviously not sure how to respond in this situation. Both his brown and her blue landed on Eden.

With a groan, he replied, “Yes. We have sex.”

She giggled louder, just a higher-pitched, breathy squeak as she tapped two V signs against each other, one laying over the other. Then she hooked her curled pointer fingers together, switching the top to the bottom to hook them again. She found her ‘sex friends’ comment amusing, but he didn’t smile this time.

“What are you doing here?” he asked through a scowl.

She pouted and lazily answered, “Mom was being a bitch, so I left.” Then she flashed him a sugary smile, batting her long lashes. “I came to visit because I missed my brother.”

“BS. How did you even get here?”

Auggie shrugged, like it wasn’t any big deal. “I took the bus, idiot. How else?”

He groaned again. His expression had softened to just a frustrated frown at this point. Unfortunately, he wasn’t particularly surprised.

“You know that isn’t what I meant. Who lets a twelve-year-old on a bus alone?”

Auggie huffed a laugh. “People are stupid. They freak out and will do anything for a poor deaf girl.”

It wasn’t the first time she had gotten her way or wormed herself in or out of a place using the ‘poor deaf girl’ act. People really were stupid.

“Good. Then you can easily find your way back home.”

Her hands slammed onto the table, her eyes like daggers as she stared. She wasn’t going anywhere and he wasn’t going to force her. If he tried, this would turn out worse than it already was. With a resigned sigh, he stood, pushed past her, and grabbed her stuff from the corner. Returning to the table, he tossed her overstuffed bag to the floor at her feet.

“I have to work in fifteen minutes. Let’s go.”

She nodded violently, grinning wide at him, but he only rolled his eyes and handed her the small purse. Kell stood with them and Eden eyed him suspiciously.

“Honestly, I didn’t get most of that,” he admitted. “But the gist was that she’s not going home and you have to work.” He pulled keys out of his pocket and jingled them. “I’ll drive you.”

Auggie agreed again, just as excitedly, and snatched up her bags. She was stubborn and spoiled, but she was also smart and fairly trustworthy. Eden knew she would at least stay in the apartment, out of trouble, until he finished his day. After that, who knows. He didn’t have the energy to deal with it right now.

As they rode, Eden signed his instructions, repeating himself multiple times to be sure his sister knew he was serious. If she really wanted to stay, she had better not piss him off, or he would gladly stick her on a bus home himself. She promised to follow all rules and conditions and to have a long talk when he was finished with class.

There wasn’t anything else he could do right now. As they pulled up to the curb, she reached over the middle console and gave him a side hug, kissing his cheek. He only huffed and waved her out of the car. He watched her enter the building, then waited a few minutes to be sure she didn’t come back.

Letting out the heavy sigh he had swallowed the entire trip, he slouched in the passenger seat. Kell chuckled next to him.

“She’s a cute kid,” he commented. “Bold, but cute.”

Eden bobbed his head, then sighed again, a bit lighter this time. “And she knows it.” After a few seconds of silence, he turned to see Kell still looking at him. His smile was a mix of kind and something new. Something sweet. “Thanks. For giving us a ride. And for not commenting on what a shitty brother I am.”

Kell snorted at that and turned the engine back on. “Oh, I’m seriously judging you in my head.” Pulling back into the street, he added, “But you’re definitely not a shitty brother.”

They drove a few blocks in silence. It didn’t seem to bother Kell at all, but it made Eden uncomfortable, so he cleared his throat.

“So... you’re not going to ask anything?”

“Wasn’t planning to. It doesn’t seem like you want people to know about your life.” His eyes squinted, a thought occurring to him. “I do have one question.”

Eden hummed his permission.

“How old is she?”

“Twelve.”

That was apparently amusing and Kell chuckled a bit before saying, “You must fuck a lot of guys if your twelve-year-old sister’s first guess is ‘fuckbuddy.’”

Eden frowned, but not because he found that insulting. More like I’ve never had any friends or relationships other than fuckbuddies.

“Like you should talk,” he grumbled in reply and Kell only nodded.