Leap of Faith by Cassidy Shay (the giving tree read aloud .txt) 📕

Jake just rolls his eyes. “Take your little girlfriend and get in the house.” He looks at me for a second, grins, and then looks back at Mikey. “Better hold on to her, she might get stolen.” His tone almost implies that something like that has happened before. Not that I’m his girlfriend. Of course, I don’t think I’d mind being his girlfriend.

I shake my head again, clearing my mind of these thoughts. Mikey’s face is getting red, and he’s clenching his fists. He looked like he’s seriously considering punching this guy. He grabs my wrist and pulls me into the house. “Let’s go,” he says.

“Mikey, what was all that about? You two looked like you were going to kill each other.”

He shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it. I want you to have fun tonight.” Mikey’s grown up with a lot of the guys that we go to school with, and he’s basically friends with everyone. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that he would also have enemies. If, of course, that’s what this is. He leads me into the kitchen. “Do you want something to drink?”

I almost say no. I’m not really into the drinking and drugs. But I think about the rest of my day, and I nod. The hot chocolate helped, but maybe something a little stronger will help even more. He hands me a red plastic cup and I just stare at if for a minute. My nose wrinkles. Just the smell of it is disgusting. I take a deep breath, and then I take a drink of it. It’s warm, and obviously cheap. Not good at all. But tonight, I don’t care.

I follow Mikey around as he talks to people he knows. I try to follow all of their conversations, but with all the people around, it’s hard to focus on one mouth at a time.

Every once in a while, Mikey will try to bring me into the conversation, but it doesn’t last long. I don’t know most of these people, so Mikey introduces me to them. I smile and nod, but it still doesn’t make it any easier to have a conversation. I kind of recognize some people from school, but not by name. It doesn’t take long for me to feel like I’m all alone here, and I start to wish we hadn’t come.

After a while, my cup is empty. I’ve been slowly sipping it to give me something to do, and it doesn’t taste nearly as bad as that first drink. “I’m gonna go get some more,” I say to him. “I’ll be back in a couple minutes.” My throat is really dry as I walk back to the kitchen. I think about getting some water instead of more beer, but I shake my head. Nothing’s going to happen from having two cups of cheap beer, right?

As I enter the kitchen, I feel like I can relax a little. It’s much less crowded, much less busy in here. There’s a couple over in the corner, talking about something. Two girls stand by the fridge, but they stop talking when I walk in.

“Hey,” says the red head. “You came with Mikey, right?”

“Yeah,” I say.

She smiles. “That’s what I thought. Are you guys going out?” I shake my head. Another one of these guys? “Why not? You guys would be such a cute couple. You’re so pretty, and you seem super nice. And he’s… well, he’s Mikey. You know.” She’s facing me straight-on so I can see her lips clearly. Usually, when I first talk to someone, they forget that I need to watch their lips.

I look down at my still-empty cup. “We’re just friends.” I look back up, and she’s sharing a knowing look with the other girl.

“Well, I just think you’d make a cute couple. But if you want it, you’ll have to make the move. Mikey won’t do it. He’ll be too scared of ruining your friendship.” She sighs, and looks at the other girl, almost as if for support. “Mikey and I went to the same school since kindergarten, and we used to go to the same church. I used to know him really well. Hopefully you’ll have better luck with him than I did.”

As she walks out of the kitchen, she briefly puts her hand on my shoulder.

“Wait,” I say. She turns around. “What’s your name?”

She smiles. “Brittany. See you around, Amia.” She turns around again.

“One more thing,” I say. She faces me, laughing. “You’re sure he likes me?” There’s a pit in my stomach, and after what Joe said, I have to get confirmation. Even from an old girlfriend, or whatever she is.

She smiles. “Like I said, we knew each other really well. And he definitely likes you.” I nod my head. “But Amia? Don’t hurt him. I haven’t talked to him in a long time, but I still care about him. I don’t want to see him hurt.”

“I won’t,” I say. “He’s my best friend. I’d never hurt him. Thanks, for… this.” She smiles, then turns around and walks back into the crowd.

I start to fill up my cup, and then just leave it on the counter. I’m not so thirsty anymore. It takes me about ten minutes to find Mikey.

“Woah,” he says when he sees me. “Took you a while. Everything alright?”

I nod. “Yeah, I was just talking to someone. And then it took me a long time to find you.”

He looks around the room. “Yeah, I can see how you’d have trouble finding me. Our whole school’s gotta be here.” I look around for myself. Maybe not the whole school, but a good portion of it.

Mikey and I decide to walk around some more, and as we reach the outside of the crowd, he turns to me again. “Are you having fun?”

I smile. “I actually am,” I say. I wasn’t earlier, but the conversation with Brittany has lifted my mood considerably.

“Good. Want to go talk to some more people?” I nod my head. Why not? He looks around for a second, chooses a direction, and heads off. I follow him, leaving very little space in between us.

He finally stops once he sees someone he knows. Once he stops, I take one step to the side so I’m not behind him, and then slide my hand into his.

He looks at me, questioning. Double checking that it was on purpose, I guess. I nod my head once, and his hand tightens around mine.

“This is Amia,” he says to the other people. He introduces them to me, and I immediately forget their names.

“You’re that deaf girl, right?” asks one of the girls.

I nod. “Yeah.”

She gasps, and a huge smiles splits her face. "Oh my gosh. You're, like... famous. You were in newspapers and magazines and the news. I can't believe I'm talking to a celebrity!" I think back to those weeks with reporters following me, camping out on my lawn, invading my privacy. I’m sure this girl doesn’t realize all that. I never read any of it, I never wanted any part of it. Most of the material that they got was from “anonymous sources” anyway, so I didn’t really care to see what was being said about me. But whatever they said, it must not have been too harsh.
     "Matt! Matt!" the girl says, getting the attention of someone standing next to her. "Matt, this is Amia Chasor." He looks confused, trying to remember why my name is important. The girl gives a little huff, and says, "The girl from the radio? She's deaf, but can hear that one station? I showed you all the newspapers and stuff? Remember?"
      He nods. "Oh, yeah, yeah. I know. Hi, Amia." But his face doesn't show any recognition. 
     "Hi," I say, then look at Mikey. He just smiles. 
     "Amber," he says to the girl, "how's your brother doing? Where is he again?"
     She smiles a proud smile. "He's doing well. He's in New York right now, for school. But he's coming home soon for Christmas break. It's really good, because I miss him. We were practically inseparable when we were little, and this is the first semester that he hasn't been here."
     Mikey faces me and explains, "Her brother graduated last year. My aunt used to babysit Amber and her brother, so we sort of grew up together. We all played together almost every Saturday." Once again, I’m reminded of how many people Mikey knows, and how many people he’s known for a long time. Which makes me think of Brittany again, and what she said. And she must have been at least a little right. I look down at our hands, clasped together. It feels comfortable, even familiar.
     Now, back in the circle, Amber gives Matt a frustrated look. She looks back to me and says, "He still doesn't remember who you are. I've showed him every article and news broadcast that there ever was about you, and he still doesn't remember." She steps to my side and links arms with me. "But he's not important anyway. Don't take it personally. Sometimes, it seems like he doesn't even remember me, and we've been dating for two years."
     I look at Matt. His slouched shoulders and look of slight confusion definitely makes him look like he's not able to remember much. Or maybe he's just drunk.
     We talk to them for a few more minutes, and then they go to talk to other people. Mikey leads me to other people, choosing smaller groups than when we first got here, so it's easier to follow the conversation. After a while, I look at the clock on the wall and see that it's almost midnight. "Wow," I say. "I should probably call my mom. She'll want to know where I am and that I'm alright." I consider texting her, but figure that she would probably rather have a phone call. However, I know that if she gets a call from my number, she’ll automatically think it’s an emergency, because why would a deaf person make a phone call?

Mikey hands me his cell phone. I dial the number, but I don’t press send yet.

“Let’s go somewhere where there’s not so much noise.” We make our way to the kitchen, which is just as empty as it was earlier.

I hand him the phone as I press send. After a few seconds, Mikey says, “Hi, this is Mikey.” A pause. “Yeah, I still have her with me. She’s standing right here. I’m sorry that I didn’t call you earlier. I hadn’t planned on being out this late.”

Our fingers are still intertwined, and he squeezes my hand as he listens to my mom. His thumb moves in circles against the back of my hand. “Is there a time when you want her home? No? Okay. I’ll try not to keep her out too much longer. And I promise that nothing will happen to her.” He smiles at me. “Okay. If you need to get ahold of her, this is my cell. Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Bye.”

He hangs up and puts the phone in his pocket. “She doesn’t care when you get home, as long as you’re not wasted or high.” He laughs. “We’re okay on that end. You didn’t seem to enjoy the beer much.”

I shake my head. “No. It didn’t taste very good. And it was warm.”

He nods. “Yeah, that’s how it usually is.” He looks around the kitchen, which is starting to fill up with people. “What do you want to do? Stay here? Go home? Find somewhere else to go?”

I shrug. I really don’t care, as long as I get to spend some time with Mikey. It’s weird how much my mind was in denial of how much I like Mikey. I wouldn’t even admit it to myself. What was I afraid of?

“We could go to my house, and watch a movie,” I say. “We have a ton of them. Everything from horror to chick flick to action to documentary.”

I watch as he starts laughing. His shoulders shake, his mouth splits open, revealing his teeth, and his eyes squint. "We should definitely watch a documentary," he says. "That's the only thing I can