I repeated the movement as slowly as I possibly could. Riley copied it and actually nailed it.
“Perfect! Okay, let’s speed it up a little this time, yeah?” I repeated the movement, and he fumbled at the faster pace, but he still did it pretty damn good.
“Fantastic! Okay, now turn to Vienna and ask him.”
Riley looked at me and beamed in response to my smile, and turned to Vienna. “How are you?” He said the words as he signed, and the smile froze on my face.
What the fuck was that? What in the actual fuck was that?
Riley turned to me and I swear his spine grew ten inches out of his ass and was waggling at me like a fucking puppy's tail. He was that proud of his achievement.
“Riley,” I gritted out. “In the politest way possible, what in the ever loving shite was that?”
“Eh?” He frowned, his body stiffening. “I did exactly what you did!”
“Did you? Because I did this,” I did the gesture. “What you just asked Vienna looked like a drunken Friday night at the club.”
“Ayoooo! In the clurb, we all fam!” Vienna boomed, raising his pint glass at me.
“Not now, Vienna! And it’s not even lunchtime—in fact, it’s not evenbrunchtime! Put the beer down! Fuck me!”
“Rude,” he muttered, earning himself a beer mat thrown at him frisbee style from Doc.
“I did the exact same thing you were so amazed by, just sped up! It’s calledsign language,Rachel,” Riley said, completely ignoring Vienna.
“It wasn’t fucking sign language!” I snapped, feeling like pulling my own hair out. “You men are fluent in so many fucking languages. How is this so difficult to grasp?”
“Give me one other language we know,” Dante challenged, sounding proud of his ignorance.
“Challenge accepted,” I said, and began counting on my fingers. “English, audacity, arrogance, and spite. There you go, four languages. Should I keep going?”
“Shame you’re not fluent in being a decent teacher,” Vienna muttered.
“Yeah, and it’s no wonder you don’t have an old lady if you can’t even move your fucking fingers properly! How. Are You,” I repeated for the final time, feeling my temper reach its limit. “One at a time. Show me.”
I watched as each man did their version of “how are you?” and figured it was good enough.
“Fine. Next. I can’t go over that one more time. Moving on. Are you hungry?” I signed, and each man signed it back more or less correct. Although that was an easy one.
“Okay, great. Okay,” I repeated, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath.
Remember the contract, Rachel!
“Riley,” I said, my eyes still closed. “I’m sorry for snapping at you. You did really good.” I opened my eyes and focused on him, giving him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “It’s fine that you did it slower. It’s actually something we can work with, and something else we can learn. There are going to be times where Bee signs faster than you can keep up with. Do not give up and tell her to write it on her tablet. Instead, do this,” I brought mydominant arm outstretched, and ran my non dominant hand up it and said “slowly.”
The men copied me, finally beginning to take it seriously.
“She can hear perfectly well. Just because she doesn’t talk, doesn’t mean she’s not actively listening to everything we’re saying. So it’s fine to ask her to slow things down and please sign slightly slower. You will learn so much from her by just paying attention, but if you need her to slow down, just ask her. I shouldn’t have lost my temper, because you’re right. Bee is going to be advancing much quicker than us, because not only will she be having daily lessons at school, I’m also going to be doing daily lessons with her. So it's fine for you all to feel a bit overwhelmed. One day at a time, and we’ll all get there. Although, I’m sure we can all agree the hope is that this mutism isn’t permanent. Thank you, Riley. You did good, and I hope you accept my apology.”
“What the fuck?” Vienna said, looking around at the other members, a puzzled look on his face. “You’re all hearing this, right? Right?!”
No one said anything.
“She’s just apologised to us. And she said Riley was right. Nope.” he shook his head, making his stupid beard wave over his chest. “I don’t like it.”
“Vienna—” I began.
“You remember when she threw a dart, right?” Vienna almost shouted, seeming perplexed that no one else was as concerned as he was.
