“So you learned how to read lips?” I asked, and he patted me on the back.
“Good job, smarty-pants. And Sketch said you were a little slow,” he told me with a wide grin that only enhance his good looks.
“Sketch?”
“Julie, sorry. Most everyone calls her Sketch,” he said, shaking his head. “And my name's Liam.”
So the boyfriend had a pet name for her too. Great.
“You know, I think you and me are going to be good friends. I like a raw sense of humor,” he told me, nudging his head toward the tables, and started walking.
I stayed by his side and he kept his eyes on my face as I said, “If honesty is raw then I think we'll get along just fine.”
There were three tables, each with their own color, and own shape. One was square, one was round, and the other was in the shape of a triangle. Blue, Red, and Yellow.
He picked up the blocks that were beside the table, scatter across the floor and turned to me. “Sketch tries to keep everything picked up as soon as the kids move on to another toy, so you might pick up the same thing ten times in one day,” he told me while rolling his eyes.
“We organize everything in their own areas. This is suppose to be the drawing tables, but we had to start taking the coloring books and crayons out of her when we left because the older kids, like myself, would come and draw on everything just for spite,” he said.
“Why would they do that? Don't they have better things to do than mess with a bunch of kids?” I asked.
“You know how it is. You get sick, or lose something,” he said, pointing to his ear. “And suddenly, you have nothing left to lose.”
“Were you one of those kids?”
Liam nodded. “Once upon a time. That's how I met Sketch though, and after that, everything changed,” he said, smiling slightly.
“So, you've been together for a while?” I asked, the question bitter. I tried to mask my obvious disapproval, because I actually kind of liked Liam. I thought he might be hitting the nail on the head when he said we'd get along fine.
Except for Julie. But, I would get over that eventually. I hoped.
Liam started laughing, and then sat down in one of the chairs, looking up at me with a wide grin. “Did I read that right? Did you ask if me and Sketch have been together for a while?” he asked.
I nodded, and that really cracked him up. He was laughing like a maniac, and even one of the kids looked at me with a brow raised.
“I think you broke Liam,” he said.
I nodded. “I think you might be right.”
Liam calmed himself down, but he had tears in his eyes. He wiped under his eyes, and breathed in slowly, and then out, until he had managed to control himself more.
“Sorry, but do you really think Sketch and I are dating?” he asked, brow raised, and a cocky grin on his face.
“Well, I did, but now I'm thinking I obviously missed something,” I told him, and he began nodding.
“You are, my man. Sketch is my sister. Adopted, but she's my sister in every form of the word,” he replied.
I raised my brow, and sat down. “Now, I'm really missing something,” I told him.
Liam sighed and then grinned. “Sketch was here one night when we were in here, and my so called friends didn't warn me that she was coming, and I couldn't hear her. She caught me red-handed. She was only thirteen. I was fifteen at the time, so I could have gotten away from her if I wanted, but she talked me down. After that, I was everywhere she was, and then her parents started allowing me to stay with them when they found out about the foster home that I was living in. It was only about a month later before they asked for my permission to adopt me.
“They asked for my permission,” he said, smiling wider. “I couldn't have been happier. I know it was a huge decision, to take on a fifteen year old that's deaf, but they really are great. They've been through a lot,” he told me, and I nodded.
My sister was the same way.
“So, to answer your question, yes. We've been together a long time, but I couldn't look at Sketch that way without feeling sick. She really is my little sister, and she feels the same way,” he told me.
I nodded. I could feel the weight lifted from my chest as he said it. I really did like Liam now, knowing he wasn't kissing on Julie, and holding her.
“She doesn't have any guys at the moment,” he said, and I looked to him. He had his corner of his mouth turned upward in a wicked smile. “So if you're thinking about making the moves on her, you might want to work fast.”
I only looked at him for a moment before getting on the floor and picking up the rest of the blocks. I heard Liam laughing as he got on the floor with me and started picking up the blocks with me.
I was surprised at how many there were.
“I think my sister might like you. Don't ask me how I know,” he told me. I began trying to ignore him too.
Knowing that she might like me was not something I cared to know. She could also think that I was like her adopted brother. She could just pity me, rather than like me. There was
