Signs (15 page)

She did, only a few moments after they’d sat down, looking hurried and a little disheveled. Luc waved her over, and she smiled, then pointed to the counter, signaling that she’d get her drink first.

“
I’m nervous
,” Caleb admitted as he turned back to Luc.

“
Don’t be. I’m sure she’ll love you
.”

It was awkward at first. Not the introductions, they went really well, but then Luc had to try and coordinate a conversation between people and translate Caleb’s responses to Ellery’s questions.

The three of them sat in a triangle formation to best be able to see each other, and Luc reached out frequently to touch Caleb’s arm or knee, just letting him know it was okay. Ellery was, as always, sweet and kind and wonderful, and Luc wanted to hug her so hard it hurt. She laughed and smiled and said she wouldn’t stay after her first mug of coffee was done, not wanting to interrupt their precious time together.

Before leaving, Ellery hugged first Caleb, then Luc.

“Thank you,” Luc murmured against her cheek.

“You really love him, don’t you?”

“Yeah. I really do.”

She was grinning as she pulled away. “Have a good weekend, guys,” she said, then signed “
Good-bye
.”

Luc and Caleb sat back down, and Luc collapsed dramatically into his chair. “Do you like her?” he asked.

“
She’s amazing
.”

Try as he might, Luc couldn’t keep the grin from his face.

T
HIS
WAS
Caleb’s favorite thing about New York, being able to walk along the sidewalk, his hand safely tucked in Luc’s, with no one judging or commenting or even looking at them. He wasn’t convinced they’d have that safety in Boston, even with the city’s liberal leaning.

The sun from that morning had burned away, and the light, fluffy clouds had grown steadily darker. For some reason—he was going to blame youthful optimism—neither of them had bothered to wear a jacket.

As the first fat drop of rain landed on his shoulder, Caleb regretted that decision.

They were almost in the middle of Washington Square Park with only the trees for cover. Luc looked up comically, then to Caleb with wide eyes. Unable to help himself, Caleb giggled as another drop of rain landed on Luc’s nose, making him go cross-eyed as it rolled down and gathered on the tip before falling off and disappearing.

Then the heavens opened.

Luc shrieked and pulled at Caleb’s hand, dragging him to the tree line, but it was too late and too early in the year. There weren’t enough leaves on the trees to shelter them, and within moments the heavy spring storm had soaked them through.

As far as Caleb was concerned, Luc’s reaction was hilarious. His carefully styled hair turned to soggy strands that stuck to his face, and wet lines of eyeliner ran down his cheeks. Caleb reached out and cupped Luc’s head, carefully wiping the lines away with his thumbs.

Impulsively he leaned forward and, still cupping Luc’s face, pressed their cold lips together.

He could feel Luc’s bottom lip pushed out in a pout and couldn’t help but giggle again.

Luc pulled away. “
You’re happy because I’m miserable
,” he signed, pretending to be annoyed.

“
Not miserable
,” Caleb signed back, feeling mischievous. “
Damp
.”

Luc held his expression for a few more moments, then, as thunder rolled ominously through the air, broke into laughter. He leaned up onto his toes and demanded more of Caleb’s kisses, warming their lips with each other’s tongues.

The rain only lasted for ten minutes or so, but it was enough to chase most people out of the park for cover, so when the downpour eased off into a lighter drizzle they were left almost alone in New York.

Caleb smiled into the bright blue eyes and felt a little piece of his heart shift allegiance, no longer belonging to him but the man who was smiling right back. He wiped at Luc’s cheeks again, cleaning the last of the black smudges away.

“We’re going to need to go and get changed,” Luc said softly. “And warm.”

“
Not cold
,” Caleb signed. It wasn’t. There was still a warmth in the air and a light breeze that tugged at their soaked clothes.

“
Dry
,” Luc signed, one he’d learned only that week, proud that he got the chance to use it.

“
Okay
,” Caleb signed. It was his turn to reach for Luc’s hand as Luc led them to the nearest subway station that would take them back to Queens.

Wet shoes got uncomfortable very quickly, and wet jeans chafed. Caleb thrust his discomfort away in favor of being amused at Luc’s attempts to fix his hair in the reflection of the window opposite their seats on the subway train. His hair—and the dark smudges under his eyes that Caleb hadn’t been able to shift. He pulled his T-shirt away from his slim body, where it had been sticking to his skin.

Eventually Caleb got bored of giggling and instead took both of Luc’s hands in his own, stilling their movement over his own body.

Caleb shook his head pointedly. “
Beautiful
,” he signed, letting go of Luc’s hands to make the movement.

Luc stopped fussing and smiled. Then he plucked at the hem of his T-shirt again.

It was only a few minutes later that the train pulled up at their stop, by which time Caleb was starting to shiver with discomfort and the cold.

“Come on,” Luc said. “Let’s get home.”

They rushed down the street, where it was now raining again, a horrible steady pulse against their bare arms, and Luc had to dig his key out of his wet pocket to let them in the front door.

“I’m home,” he yelled out into the house.

There was no reply. He shrugged and trudged up the stairs, each step making a wet squelch in his shoes. As soon as they crossed the threshold into Luc’s room, Caleb started to strip out of his wet clothes, all sense of embarrassment or modesty gone, overwhelmed by his desire to be clean and dry.

“
Shower
?” Luc signed.

Caleb nodded in thanks, relieved but strangely disappointed when Luc plopped down onto his bed in wet boxers. He extended his hand, not really sure what he was offering. Luc took it.

In the bathroom, Caleb turned the water on for the shower and let it heat up as he gently stroked his thumb back and forth against the soft skin on the back of Luc’s hand. When the room filled with steam, Caleb stripped out of his boxers and stepped into the shower cubicle.

L
UC
HESITATED
,
playing with the edge of his own underwear until Caleb huffed a laugh and extended his hand once again, beckoning for Luc to join him. Only then did Luc strip down to nothing and climb in too.

For all the exploring of each other’s bodies they’d done over the previous few weeks, this was a barrier they had yet to cross. Caleb backed up against the tiles to make room for Luc, who instinctively wound his arms around Caleb’s waist and rested his head on Caleb’s shoulder.

Luc’s shower wasn’t the best. Some of the sprays shot off in the wrong direction, and others didn’t work at all. But in that moment, with the warm water pulsing over his back and Caleb’s cool skin under his cheek, he couldn’t think of another place he’d rather be.

Luc’s fingers instinctively explored Caleb’s back, the imperfections in the soft skin, moles and freckles, down to the two dimples sitting on the curve of his ass. He could feel Caleb’s arousal starting to grow and let his hands explore lower as his face tilted up to kiss and lick at the long, elegant line of Caleb’s neck.

Soon they were both hard, two erections pressed against each other as water streamed down between their bodies. Luc let go of Caleb’s butt and grasped his arms for better leverage to rock their hips together.

When he dared to look up, Caleb was waiting to catch his gaze, his deep brown eyes heavy with lust. His breath caught as Luc closed his teeth around Caleb’s neck and thrust their hips together again.

F
EELING
BOLD
,
Caleb ran his hands down Luc’s back and grabbed hold of his cute, curvy ass, his fingers spread to get hold of as much as he could. Luc grunted in appreciation and worked on rising up and down on his toes to create a teasing, rocking rhythm to their thrusts.

“Caleb,” Luc moaned, liking the way the word sounded when he was this turned on, when Caleb was making him feel this way. The fact that Caleb couldn’t hear him didn’t matter. The way Caleb kissed his own name off Luc’s lips did.

H
E
WAS
sure Caleb didn’t know he even made the incredible noises he made when they were doing things like this together. Nevertheless, Luc cherished the sounds, knowing he was the only person who had ever heard them.

Luc came with a twisting cry, spilling over Caleb’s belly with his open mouth pressed against Caleb’s shoulder. While he still shuddered, Caleb took hold of his own cock and pumped it a few times until he came too.

For a moment the little bathroom was filled with harsh breathing and the smell of sex and come, until it was all washed down the drain. Then Caleb reached for the shower gel and bashfully started to wash Luc clean.

It didn’t take long for the water to start running colder, and Luc finished cleaning himself off while Caleb did the same. Then they tumbled out of the shower and into fluffy towels.

The sky had darkened even further, and the unexpected April storm lashed at the windows. Luc couldn’t find it in himself to care about their ruined plans and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a black sweatshirt bearing an image of The Cure.

Caleb had a slightly more conservative set of lounging-about clothes—a Red Sox T-shirt and his pajama pants, since he didn’t bring any sweatpants with him.

“
TV
?” Luc signed, feeling sleepy and sated and wonderfully lazy and close to his boyfriend.

“
Okay. Socks
?”

“Oh!” Luc exclaimed. He found a particularly fluffy pair with pink and white polka dots. Caleb pressed his lips together, as if to keep from laughing.

“What?” Luc demanded, putting his hands on his hips and attempting to look stern.

“
Nothing
,” Caleb signed innocently. He pulled the socks on and wriggled his toes.

When Ilse arrived home from work nearly an hour later, the two boys were lying on the couch, Caleb at the back, Luc in front, with the throw blanket over the top of them and a subtitled movie playing.

“I’m home,” she called, kicking the door closed behind her. “It’s vile out there.”

When Ilse walked into the room, Caleb struggled out of the embrace, which was difficult seeing as Luc had hold of his arm and wasn’t willing to let go that easily. He wasn’t quite comfortable letting Luc’s family see them being intimate with each other yet. Even Ilse’s raised eyebrow at their lack of proper clothing made him blush.

He made the sign for “rain,” guessing it was self-explanatory enough that she would understand.

She nodded and smiled, and Caleb jumped to his feet to help her with the groceries in her arms.

“
Thank you
,” Ilse signed as soon as he’d taken one of the paper bags from her.

From the couch, Luc rolled his eyes.

Caleb followed Ilse through to the kitchen and set the bag on the counter. After thanking him again, she started to unpack the vegetables into a tray in the fridge, more vegetables than they ate in a week at his house. He was convinced of that. But Luc was vegetarian, so maybe it made sense.

He wasn’t quite sure why he was lingering. There was something about Ilse that intrigued him. She was similar to her brother, would possibly be more similar still if it weren’t for the age difference between them.

Caleb couldn’t guess where she’d spent the day. Ilse was wearing a wrap dress in a bold red and purple geometric pattern and a chunky turquoise necklace. She could have easily come from the office, or maybe lunch with girlfriends.

When she turned and fixed him with raised eyebrows, Caleb guessed she’d asked a question while turned away that he’d missed. That happened a lot—people would look at him like they were expecting an answer, and he didn’t have one ready to give.

“Sorry,” Ilse said. “Would you like a drink?”

Caleb nodded and signed, “
Thank you
,” since he knew she understood that.

“Help yourself to anything in the fridge,” Ilse said easily. “Make yourself at home.”

Caleb collected a couple of sodas, one for Luc too, but hesitated again before returning to the couch.

“Are you okay?” she asked and reached out to lightly touch his arm.

It was one of the few situations where his inability to communicate caused both embarrassment and frustration, a combination that was particularly nauseating. He nodded, then held up a finger, asking her to hold on, and dashed back up the stairs to find his iPad.

When he returned to the kitchen, Ilse had just finished putting the groceries away, had put the kettle on for tea, and was folding the paper bags for recycling. Caleb opened the writing app and sat down at one of the stools tucked under the center island.

When I went on the first date with Luc we used this a lot
! he wrote, then clicked the button to turn the image upside down.

Ilse read the note, then looked up with a big grin on her face.

“I wondered how easy it was for the two of you to communicate,” she said. “Sure, online it’s easy. But in person….”

He’s learning ASL very quickly
, Caleb wrote.

“Sure. He’s very intelligent. And determined, when he puts his mind to something.”

Caleb signed, “
Luc
,” then “
awesome
.”

Ilse laughed.

“A colleague of mine has a brother who’s deaf,” she said. “I’ve been learning bits on my coffee breaks.”

That’s really nice of you. Most people wouldn’t bother
.