Chapter 6
Royce~
It’s been three months, and they’ve been perfect months. We’d had our first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas together, and my parents absolutely adored Roxie. Even Quincy had taken to her when they’d first met, and he wasn’t easily impressed.
As for Roxie’s parents, we got along great.
At least, as of yet, no one had said anything to the contrary.
Her parents always spoke to me respectfully, and they invited me to dinner often, to which I accepted just as often.
Being around her family also helped me with my signing, and I had come a long way in these past few months.
While I still had a long way to go, I’d made some incredible strides.
Life was going along smoothly, and I had even managed to outsmart homecoming.
Roxie had wanted us to go because it’d been kind of assumed that I was going to win homecoming king, but there’d also been a good chance that Kaley could have won homecoming queen, and there was no way in hell that I would have been okay with that.
So, when it’d gotten around that I was going to play in the homecoming game but not attend the rest of the festivities, Coach had pulled me aside to tell me that I was going to win, and that I had to show up.
I had politely declined, and me and Roxie had spent the rest of the night watching movies at her place.
It hadn’t been until Hudson had texted, informing me that Kaley had won homecoming queen, that I had thanked God for my common sense.
At any rate, the past three months had been perfect, and with New Year’s Eve being tomorrow, I saw great things for the year to come.
Right now, Roxie was sprawled across the couch, her head in my lap, my fingers twirling her curls around. Her parents were out on a date night, and we were watching Deadly Women, some program that she liked to watch on Investigation Discovery.
Tugging on one of her curls, she looked up at me, and I asked, “Have you already applied to colleges?” I signed it the best that I could, but I couldn’t remember the sign for college.
“Of course,” she signed back, her eyes narrowing a bit.
“Where to?”
Roxie sat up, and I knew that we were going to have to sign at a snail’s pace for me to understand her answer.
“Grandstone University,” she ended up spelling out.
“It has a good hearing impairment program.” She smiled sheepishly, as if she were embarrassed, and I hated that.
“It’s a small college, but it’ll work out fine for what I need. ”
While sports had always been a bit of a factor, Roxie wanted to go into special-ed teaching, and she had the patience and kind heart for it. I had no doubt that she was going to be successful if her plans panned out.
“Do they have a football program?”
Her beautiful hazel eyes widened right before she started shaking her head. “No,” she whispered, and I felt like my entire world had just been knocked on its ass.
Roxie could speak.
“What did you just say?” I asked, stunned beyond belief.
“I-” She immediately stopped, and her eyes slid away, and I’d never seen someone look so crushed. Though I was shocked as fuck, when I saw her lower lip tremble, panic set in like I was on the goddamn Titanic.
Quickly grabbing her face, I forced her to look my way. “Baby, what is it?”
Her eyes were glossy, but tears weren’t falling just yet. “I’m sorry,” she signed. “It only happens with my parents and Pepper, or when I’m really serious.”
“But...you can talk?” I signed after removing my hands from her face.
Roxie nodded. “I can,” she signed back. “I just don’t know how I sound, so it’s...scary to test it with strangers.”
That got my back up.
I leaned back, and I couldn’t recall a time that I’d ever felt this...shredded. “So, I’m a stranger?” I signed. “Really?”
I was in love with this girl and have probably been in love with her since I first saw her, but she still had me in the category of a stranger.
Christ, that felt brutal.
Roxie started shaking her head, her eyes wide. “No,” she voiced. “No...you’re not a stranger.”
I just stared at her as I listened to her speak, and her voice sounded thick, but lyrical.
She also sounded clear enough that a vocal conversation shouldn’t be a problem.
If Roxie was able to read lips and speak, I hated to think about where her preference for signing must have come from.
The girl was confident enough from what I could tell, but she just admitted to the fear of putting herself out there, so it was obvious that I still had a lot to learn about deafness.
“But you just said-”
“It’s not that,” she repeated, but I wasn’t entirely sure that I believed her.
“You wanted to learn to sign, so it was easier this way. I feel more comfortable signing, and you wanted to learn, so why speak?” She must have seen the doubt in my eyes because she quickly climbed into my lap, straddling me, her hands cradling my face.
“Royce, you are not a stranger,” she said. “You’re everything to me.”
My chest felt like it’d just been kicked in. That’s how powerful her statement had been. It wasn’t a profession of love, but it might as well have been. Telling someone that they were your everything was big. At least, to me, it was a big deal.
“Then why don’t you want me going to college with you?” I asked, my hands finding her hips to hold her prisoner on my lap.
“Because going to a non-football college might change your future,” she said. “There’s no way that I’m letting you do that.”
“It’s my future,” I pointed out. “Do you honestly think I give that much a fuck about football? Because I don’t.
Sure, I’m good at it. Sure, I might get drafted.
Still, that’s not my future. I’m going to college to get a degree in business management and economics.
Football has always been second, Roxie. And since you? It’s been third.”
The girl scrambled off my lap, her hands flying a mile a minute.
I couldn’t understand most of it, but I caught the words crazy and insane in her physical rant.
Since she’d admitted to feeling more comfortable signing, my guess was that she had reverted to signing because she was so upset.
Staring at her going off, I didn’t have the signing experience to have an ASL argument with her, so I had no fucking idea what we were supposed to do now. We were arguing, but we weren’t.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure what the fuck we were doing. However, there was one thing that I did know without a doubt.
I hated seeing Roxanne upset.
~
Roxanne~
My hands were going non-stop, and I knew that it wasn’t fair, but I could admit to being an emotional wreck right now. While Royce hadn’t told me that he loved me, wanting to follow me to a little, no-name, special educational college was close enough.
The problem was that I loved Royce too much to let him make such a sacrifice.
Sure, it’s only been three months, but it’s been a fantastic three months.
We’d really gotten to know each other, and my parents absolutely adored him.
They thought Royce was a great guy, and they weren’t wrong.
He was polite, respectful, and not too cool to love on me in public.
He held my hand at school, walked me to classes, bought my lunches, all the stuff that guys no longer did.
Plus, he’s been extremely patient in the bedroom department.
There was also the fact that I got along with his parents as well.
His mother had confessed to taking ASL classes about two months after Royce had signed up because there’d been no way that she wasn’t going to have a relationship with the girl that her son adored-her words, not mine.
While Mr. Cameron didn’t sign, he always made the effort to speak clearly, so that I could read his lips.
It was perfect.
Everything was perfect.
Still, how much would his parents like me now, knowing that their son was debating attending freakin’ Grandstone University?
Royce was smart, stunning, athletic, and charming.
He could go to any college in the country and rock the hell out of the experience.
There was no way in hell that I was going to hold him back.
No freakin’ way.
Finally, realizing that we weren’t going to get anywhere with me signing like a dope fiend and Royce just standing there, stewing, I calmed down enough to talk to him.
While I still hated talking because I didn’t know what I sounded like, Royce had obviously been hurt when I had unintentionally lumped him in with talking around strangers.
“Royce, think about it,” I implored. “Even if Grandstone does have a football program, I doubt that it’s one with a lot of NFL recruiting power.”
I watched him do his best to gather himself together before repeating, “Football isn’t my future, Roxie. It might be part of my future, but it’s not my entire future.”
“Royce-”
“No,” he interrupted, walking towards me.
“Even if I go into the pros and have the best career of any quarterback ever, football isn’t forever.
I want a solid future. Playing a sport as physical as football doesn’t always guarantee that.
What if I get hurt during my rookie season?
What if I end up sucking against the pros?
” His hands came up, then started rubbing my arms. “Baby, the only thing that I am certain of in this world is you and my educational future. I want my degree more than I want to play football. If I do make it to the pros, I want to be knowledgeable enough to know what to do with all that money. Sure, I can get an agent, manager, and financial planner, but I’m not one to trust my financial future to anyone but me.
When they speak, I want to know enough to understand what they’re telling me.
Like hell am I trusting strangers with my future, no matter how reputable. ”
“But don’t all athletes do that?” I argued.
“Not all athletes have you to look after,” he replied, and his words were like a warm wave throughout my body.
“I have every intention of marrying you one day, Roxie. I have every intention of giving you the most perfect life that I can, and I can’t do that if I let someone else mismanage my money or career.
” His hands went to my face, and those green eyes of his were like lasers.
“My future goal has always been to be able to take care of myself. Now that my future includes you, I’ll pick my education over football any day. And I choose you over both.”
“Royce...” I whispered, humbled beyond what I thought that I could ever be.
Dropping his hands from my face, he spoke and signed, “I love you, Roxie.” My heart skipped at finally seeing him say those words to me.
“I love you so fucking much, baby. You’re it.
You have been the only one since I first laid eyes on you.
So, if I want to go to a different college because I’ve already wasted too much time by not asking you out last year, then let me.
Please, Roxie. Please, let me, baby.” His signing had been a bit erratic, but I’d also been watching his lips, so I understood everything that he’d said.
So, I did the only thing that I could do.
Letting the happy tears fall, I threw myself in his arms, then just held on like something might threaten to take him from me.
When Royce’s arms wrapped around me, he held on just as fiercely, and I wondered how in the hell I’d ever managed to meet such a wonderful person.
Royce Cameron had chosen me, and I wasn’t going to throw away what that meant over college.
I wasn’t sure how long we just held each other, but as soon as the tears dried up, I released the poor guy, happily embarrassed to have our first argument out of the way.
As soon as I stepped back, Royce was right there, grabbing my face, then kissing the hell out of me. I grabbed his wrists and let him, knowing that my heart and soul were moving too fast. My mind kept trying to shove reason into all this emotional mess, but it wasn’t working.
Pulling back, I looked into those bright green eyes as I said, “I love you, too.”
Royce threw his head back, but not before I caught him saying, “Oh, thank fuck.”
I smiled and waited until he was looking at me again. As soon as he was, I signed and voiced it again. “I love you, Royce. And I’m not just saying that in response to you saying it first. I love you, even if you don’t love me back.”
His arms reached down, and after grabbing me by the hips, he lifted me until my arms were wrapped around his neck and my legs were wrapped around his waist. Leaning his head back, he said, “You have no idea what you mean to me, Roxie. I swear to God.”
Before I could comment, I noticed my parents walking into the living room. Now, while I had the excuse of deafness for not hearing them coming into the house, Royce had no excuse. However, he didn’t seem at all embarrassed as he turned us around, so that we could both face my parents.
“What’s going on here?” Mom signed and voiced.
I glanced at Royce, and he just had the biggest smile on his face. “Roxie loves me,” he announced, his lips moving fast, but I still understood him.
“Well, congratulations, son,” Dad signed and voiced, and it was easy to see that he was trying to contain his smile.
Still grinning like a loon, Royce said, “And I love her. I will always love her.”
I tapped his shoulder, signaling to put me down. As soon as he did, I looked at my parents, then said, “I love him. Very much.”
Mom had tears in her eyes, and Dad was just looking at me like he was happy for me. Finally, the burden of wondering if I was going to have someone to look out for me and love me was lifted from their shoulders. Not only did I have Pepper, but I had Royce now, too.