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It was a warm Tuesday in the Spring when Sam spotted a new face.
He was walking home from work when he noticed a girl he had never seen before leaving Pierre’s shop, her arms laden with groceries spilling out of plastic bags. A few oranges and a small carton of sugar fell out, but she didn’t seem to notice as she headed towards the bus stop. He hurried forward to pick up her spilled items to return them to her.
“Excuse me,” he said as he rose from the ground, her produce in hand. “You dropped these.”
She didn’t say anything; just kept walking as though he hadn’t called to her.
He walked a little faster to catch up with her. “Excuse me?”
Still, nothing. He frowned a little and reached out to lightly touch her shoulder.
Clearly, that was the wrong move. She was startled, and dropped the bags in her hands, sending the rest of her items flying. She whipped around to face him. Her thick black eyebrows knitted together in frustration.
“Oh, shit, I-I’m sorry, I didn’t know if you heard me, you –”
She held up a hand to stop him and shook her head. Her other hand pointed in the general vicinity of one of the ears peeking out from her dark hair.
“Slow down. I can’t hear you.”
Her words were a little over enunciated, and her voice sounded like it came directly from her throat. It also almost sounded like she was trying to talk through swallowing her tongue.
Realization hit Sam, followed immediately by guilt.
“You’re deaf…” he said slowly, allowing her to read his lips. “I-I… I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
She shook her head. “It’s not like I wear a sign advertising it. You scared me, is all.”
As she spoke, her hands moved almost absently in what Sam assumed was sign language. She probably didn’t even notice she was doing it.
He suddenly remembered her dropped groceries, strewn about the town square, and helped her pick them up and put them back in their bags.
“I’m Noura,” she said, pointing to herself. Sam smiled.
“Sam,” he replied, remembering how to spell his name in sign language. It was all he knew, but he figured he’d pull out the big guns to impress her.
She smiled back, brightness filling her dark features and crinkling the corners of her brown eyes. She held two fingers up to her eyes and said, “see you around.”
He copied her gesture tentatively, but she was already leaving.
As he watched her go, he figured that a trip to the library would be necessary.
---
Months passed from the day Sam met Noura, and he managed to keep his secret to himself.
It turned out that Maru knew sign language well, and with her help and some books lent to him by Gunther, Sam slowly picked up the language. He had also picked up idioms and slang from watching Noura’s hands move, even though sometimes she went too fast for him. Although it was Fall before he was able to have a full conversation with Maru, he was proud of himself.
He had gotten by with Noura by just speaking slowly and letting her read his lips. He knew it wasn’t ideal for her, but he wanted to surprise her.
In the time it took him to learn how to better communicate with her, Sam found himself very quickly falling for her, quicker than he had ever done for anyone. Sure, he had had crushes in the past, but never ones as burning as the one he had for Noura. There were so many things about her that made his heart stop.
The one thing he really loved was her hands. He was endlessly captivated with how expressive she could be just by using them. Her long fingers elegantly signed letters and made words and he couldn’t get enough of them.
She met him outside his house on Spirit’s Eve. She was wearing a thick sweater with her name on the sleeve in Arabic (she had kindly shown him that language as well), and he could feel the heat creeping up his cheeks just looking at her.
“Hi, Sam,” she said aloud while simultaneously signing a greeting. “Happy Spirit’s Eve!”
He smiled warmly at her and signed a hello back. “Are you ready for the maze?”
He knew it would be dark enough soon that she wouldn’t be able to see his mouth move, but would still be able to see hands. For something that might, to some, seem so trivial, Sam was incredibly nervous to carry on a full conversation with her in ASL.
“Don’t let me get lost,” she replied, playfully elbowing him. He slid his sweaty hand into her dry one, and led her to their destination.
“It looks scary,” she said as they stood at the mouth of the maze. She looked darker at night, and it made the worry in her eyes stand out more than it would have in the day. “Will you protect me?”
It was now or never, he supposed.
He withdrew his hand from hers and positioned them in front of him.
“No worry,” he signed shakily. “Be right here.”
She looked at his hands, then his face, then his hands again. The worry that had previously etched itself into her skin had faded into a sort of happy surprise.
“Sam,” she breathed, not bothering to sign this time. “You signed.”
His heart was threatening to beat out of his chest, and his skin felt as though it was at a boiling point, but the sensations were oddly pleasant to him as he looked at her.
“I learn… to speak… with you.” His hands moved slowly, unsure of themselves, and he concentrated on their movement harder than he had ever concentrated on anything before. When he pointed at her, she reached up and covered his hands with hers. “Maru helped me. And books."
“You are the sweetest boy I have ever met,” she said, then took her hands back to sign. “You are so special to me.”
She looked up at him and he looked down at her. Her eyes were wide and wet. He boldly reached up to cup her cheek and signed with his free hand.
“I… like you.”
She leaned her face into his hand and copied his one-handed signing.
“I like you too.”