Tara

I raise an eyebrow at him but shrug it off.

I wasn't sure if he was teasing, or if he actually found me annoying.

Not that it mattered of course, I mean, I just met him. Not that he's not nice...it's just I probably shouldn't get offended if some guy I just met doesn't like me. Well not like like me...just like me...as a friend. But yeah I shouldn't care-

"Tara? Earth to Tara?" Ian in interrupts my thoughts.

"Oh uh...yeah?" I respond.

He clears his throat.

"Are we gonna get going or...?"

I nod quickly and make my way towards my bike.

It's then that I realize how heavy my backpack is.

Maybe I shouldn't do so many extra credit assignments in one homework night..not to mention how much sleep I'm losing just to suck up to a bunch of teachers.

I sigh and hike my kickstand up, pushing it towards Ian.

"Shall we?" I say, and we begin on our journey to school.

As I glance over at him I get this weird feeling. This burning feeling starting in my stomach and making its way to my heart then through my throat and to my mouth. A feeling that's hard to ignore.

My throat is dry all of a sudden. I can't describe the feeling...I can't put it into words.

It feels like when you suck on an ice cube and after a while it doesn't feel cold anymore...it burns. It isn't the hot kind of burn...it the burning that's so deep and so strong, you feel as if it could consume you.

And like spitting out that ice cube, I shook off the feeling. The feeling wasn't necessarily bad...just strange and overwhelming. Like when all of a sudden you shiver and the hairs on your arms stand up.

And sometimes you shake and want it to go away.

But other times you sit there and just feel it. And just...let it consume you.

So this is why I shake off the feeling...don't let it consume me. Because I simply don't know if it's a good or bad thing.

I look up at Ian as we walk in complete and utter silence. I would expect walking with a complete stranger in silence would be, I don't know, awkward I guess...it's not.

It's comfortable.

So we just walk. Him on my left, me on his right. Occasionally I look up at him.

My gaze glides over to his ear where his hearing aid is cleverly hidden.

It's the same color as his skin and I'm guessing that they did that on purpose...to keep it hidden. To keep it not secret but maybe a little less obvious.

I wonder for a moment how I would react.

If one day I woke up to only four senses. As if it were taken from me by the devil himself. Stolen.

And that's exactly how I look at it.

Ian is innocent. His life is important and has a purpose...and the evil in the world recognizes it. So it takes away something beautiful, his ability to hear, to try and crush his spirit.

He hides it well but I can tell that, in some ways, it's working.

And then I realize.

He will never hear his wife's voice. Never hear his child's first cry or first words.

"Hey Ian?" I say.

When he doesn't answer I almost I blush in embarrassment. Of course he didn't answer.

I'm so stupid...

He can't hear me.

He can't hear me.

He has no choice in the matter.

 At this moment I want to scream.

Its not fair.

Life isn't fair.

I guess we all have to realize that at some point in our lives.

I try again but this time I tap his arm with my index finger.

"Ian?" I say.

This time he stops and looks at me.

"Yeah, Tara?" He says in that kind of adorable slightly nasally voice.

A smile tugs at my lips but my question is nosy and slightly serious so I tug it back down.

"Can I ask you something personal?" I ask as I fidget with the string on my backpack strap.

"Sure...but why are you nervous? It's just me." He smirks.

I squint my eyes into a curious glare.

"First off, I just met you so what do you mean 'it's just you'? And second, h-how do you know I'm nervous? Not that I am...but I'm curious."

He chuckles.

"Well, since I can't hear the emotion in your voice I'm sort of forced to figure out the mood of the conversation by reading your facial expressions, your had gestures, and the the you move your mouth." He explains.

I form my mouth into an 'O' in understanding.

"For instance, look at my hands." He takes his hands and dropped then to his sides. His fingers begin to tap fast on his legs.

"Now look at my facial expression." I glance up at his face and watch as he knits his eyebrows together.

He goes back to normal and looked at me.

"So what do you think my mood was? Why was I acting that way?" He asks.

"Uh..." I began. Then I thought for a few seconds and said,"You're...anxious?"

His face lights up.

"Right! See you can see what mood a person is in just by paying attention!"

I laugh a little at his enthusiasm then put my hand in his arm lightly.

"Okay hotshot thanks for the tutorial." I giggled. Blah...I giggled? Gross.

I continue,"On to my question."

He focuses on me and his gaze slid to my mouth, which normally would make me uncomfortable, but I knew that he needed to...so I didn't mind. Much.

"Fire away." He says.

I took a deep breath. "Uh...if you can't hear-"

"Why do I wear a hearing aid?" He finishes as I nod, dropping my gaze.

"Forget it. That's too personal. Please - just- forget I asked." I ramble.

He shakes his head.

"It's fine Tara, its no big deal." I look back up at him and he gives me a small smile.

"I wear it because sometimes I can catch things at random. Like, once my mom tripped and accidentally knocked a vase off of a table, and I hurt the glass hit the floor. It was faint but I heard it."

He smiles fondly at the memory before his smile falls away and is replaced by a regretful shadow.

"Hey." I say gently as I tap him to get his attention.

He looks up at me and I could see the pain in his eyes as plainly as I know he's wearing a blue shirt.

I lay my hands on his shoulders.

"Ian, I can't pretend that I know you...because we literally just met." He laughs a little at that. "But, I wish I could have that excitement and appreciation of hearing. I wish I could read people's emotions. I can't. But you can. That's amazing. And, yes, something was robbed from you. But it's better to show the world that it's okay. Instead of moping around and feeling sorry for yourself, yeah?"

He nods and I give him an encouraging smile.

"Did you just come up with that whole thing?" He ask, smirking as he tries to lighten the mood.

I tilt my chin up slightly in pride.

"Yes, yes I did. You know? Maybe I should be a psychiatrist..."

He just laughs and shakes his head as we continue our walk to school.

* * *

Hey guyssss;) So...this is actually future me speaking. I just edited this chapter. (Or more like tweaked it a little bit) just fixing the typos and stupid stuff that made no sense whatsoever.

I wrote this book almost a year ago and I've grown a lot since then. So please don't judge me on this book only:)

I just recently finished Love At First Package so you should go and check it out;)

Love you guys

Read on,

-Ally

Editing the crap out of this thing AGAIN. And it sucks so bad I can barely bare to read it. I hope you people know what I'm putting myself through becasue for some CRAZY reason people seem to like this crap story. PLEASE go check out my better and more interesting stories. They're not AS cringey ;)