Then my brain started melting and thinking became impossible as Beau’s fingers skimmed across my cheek and around the back of my neck to tilt my face up toward his. On instinct, I curled my fingers into his jacket to tug him closer.

I felt his breathless laughter against my lips, and I wanted to laugh too, wondering how we even ended up here in the first place. If somebody asked me months ago what my thoughts on Beau were, I would’ve said I wanted nothing to do with him or his stacks of books. And now I was thinking Beau should’ve kissed me a really long time ago.

When we finally broke apart, the lights in the train had come back on. I could see Beau clearly now, and I wanted to memorize his unbelievably slaphappy look.

I was the first to speak, or rather sign. The only thing I could manage to sign was a shaky, WHY?

Beau pointed to the ceiling of the train car with a finger, and I looked up to see a little sprig of mistletoe dangling above us. How cliché.

“Lame!” I said with a gasp.

MAYBE, Beau signed, flashing a cheeky grin. “But . . . needed . . . encouragement.”

WHY? I signed again.

I LIKE YOU, Beau signed to me then with practiced ease.

Just three simple words, and he signed them like he’d never been more confident in himself.

SAME, I signed back, no hesitation on my part either.

I didn’t know where or how or even why it all started, but a hearing boy liked me. Even weirder was that I liked him too.

Chapter 26

CHAPTER 26

My foot barely crossed over the threshold into the house Tuesday afternoon, three days after my date with Beau, when my phone started vibrating in my jacket pocket, the LED light flashing along with it.

I was expecting it to be a text, not a FaceTime call, and I definitely wasn’t expecting to see the words: INCOMING CALL—BEAU WATSON across the screen. Mostly we’d stuck to texting in the few days since our date, but we’d literally said good-bye to each other not fifteen minutes ago.

WHO? Mom signed to me on her way into the kitchen, pointing back at my phone.

Instead of responding, I pushed the green ACCEPT button, and Beau popped up into view a second later. I opened my mouth to say hello, but the word fell short when I took in his face and saw that he looked completely freaked out, his expression taut and his posture rigid.

WHAT’S WRONG? I signed immediately.