“Summer!” Nakyra hissed then started moving her hands quickly.
Summer rolled her eyes and signed back. The two went back and forth for a second longer while I watched on the sideline, confused.
“Anyway, it’s nice to meet you, Creed. I’m happy my cousin has someone there with her when I can’t come around.”
“It’s all good. I’ve been enjoying hanging out and getting to know my future sister-in-law.” Leaning back I tossed an arm on the back of the couch so it was behind Nakyra.
“That’s good to hear! It’s nice to know not everyone in your family is an asshole.”
“Summer!” Nakyra shrieked while I laughed. “I’m sure you have some work to do so I’ll talk to you later.”
Summer cut her eyes at her cousin and she moved her hands in front of her. Nakyra soon responded and the two got lost in conversation. I was curious to know what they were saying. I wasn’t familiar with ASL, but Nakyra seemed at ease when she did it.
“It was nice meeting you, Creed, hopefully next time it’ll be in person,” Summer said, peeking at me. “Bye, cousin!”
“Bye!” Nakyra hit the red button and sighed. “Excuse my cousin, sometimes she forgets her manners.” Her hand raked through her braids.
“It’s all good. You two seem close.”
That gained me a small smile. “We are. She’s more like my sister than my cousin.”
I swiped my bottom lip with my thumb and peered down at her. Since staying here, Nakyra mostly had her aids in and used her voice to speak. Seeing her use ASL was interesting to me. Not like she was a sideshow or anything, but seeing how fluent she was in it and how quickly her hands moved fascinated me.
“Do you prefer ASL over speaking?”
Nakyra jumped and looked at me. “Huh?” She reached up and adjusted something with one of her aids.
“ASL, do you prefer it over speaking?”
She opened her mouth then quickly closed it. “Why do you ask that?”
I shrugged. “I just noticed sometimes it looks like you go to speak with your hands but suddenly stop. Not to mention how easily you and your cousin communicated.”
“I don’t remember being hearing, honestly. My first memories are of being deaf. Once I got the aids, it was weird to be able to hear again. Oddly, I found comfort in the silence. My parents pretty much ignored me growing up, so if I wasn’t with Summer, I was alone. Even though speaking is my firstlanguage, ASL became important to me because I was able to still express myself and still embrace my silence.”
“Does your whole family use it?”
She snorted and her eyes saddened. Her tongue swiped over her lips and she fumbled with her hands. “Summer’s the only one I have a relationship with. I didn’t start learning ASL until sixth grade. I got a bad ear infection and couldn’t wear my aids for a while. One of my teachers I was close with knew it and offered to teach me. She told me although my hearing may be gone at times, my voice shouldn’t be taken away. Summer found out and decided to learn to communicate with me when I couldn’t verbally.”
“And your parents?”
“Never saw the point in it.” With that, she stood up. “I should let Bella inside.”
Her comment caught me off guard. I didn’t come around much, but now that I thought about it, since knowing Nakyra this was the first time I’d ever met any of her family. When she and my brother first started dating, and I was around a little more before I moved, she never talked about her family and they never came around. I didn’t even know what her parents looked like.
Nakyra soon came back into the living room with Bella at her side. When she noticed me, her tail began to wag faster as she pranced over in my direction.
“Hey, girl.” I petted the top of her head, causing her to grow more excited.
“She likes you,” Nakyra mentioned.
“You think?”
She nodded. “I’m sure she likes everyone. She’s a good dog. Aren’t you, girl? Your brother was against her at first. He’s not a dog person and doesn’t really interact with her. I hate wearing my aids all the time, especially at home, and since he workedso much, it was easier for me to be here by myself and still be alerted if need be.”
Bella eventually grew bored of me and walked over to her doggy bed across from the couch and plopped down, grabbing her bone in the process.
Digging into my pocket, I pulled my phone out to check the time. “You got any plans tonight?” I wondered, standing up. I had finally gotten everything settled to go to Club Onyx and tonight was the first night I’d be attending.
