THESE HIDDEN WINGS

[76.1]DAVID

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"What I mean is... You, Claire, and Lira were the first people to invite me to anything since I got here,

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WE WERE TWENTY minutes into the second half of the game and David was trying his best to explain to Claire and me how this game was played.

Sure, I knew what basketball is, the basic rules, and its ultimate goal of getting a ball into a hoop but truthfully that was about it. We watched intently as a blue dribbled the ball to the opposing side, setting up a slam dunk and the crowd on our side went wild.

After a few more minutes of the game, I decided I wasn't enjoying this as much as I thought I would and it was unbelievably hot in here.

I tried to let some air inside my shirt using my hands as fans but it still felt like the air was running out and so I jotted down an excuse to leave, the classiest excuse ever invented-'I needed the bathroom' which technically wasn't a complete lie.

I did have to go but maybe not as urgently as I was making it seem.

"It's down the hallway, Take a right and then to your left," Lira muttered eyes still hovering over the players on the court.

"Oooh left, red! The one with the short hair," she grinned glancing over at Claire who adjusted her glasses to see better. David who was sandwiched between them looked uncomfortable.

"I think I need a break too," he said looking up at me.

I replied to this statement with a warm smile and he got up following behind me until we made it safely out of the basketball court.

Finally standing outside the doors, fresh air liberated our skins and David took in a deep breath, glancing over at me with a wide smile, relief all over his features.

"Yeah, that's a whole lot better."

I chuckled at this, agreeing with a nod, allowing my body to stretch. It had been much too crammed up in there for my good. David stood by me with a deep sigh, eyes trailing down the empty large white hallways, doors sparsely lined up indicating there were many gym rooms identical to the one we had been in, all the way down to the end of the hallway.

Who's to say they weren't many more after that?

"You don't have to go to the bathroom do you?" he asked me, raising one of his slim eyebrows.

I sighed shoulders falling before confessing with a simple shake of my head.

He nodded, silence spreading between us once more as he looked down the hallways,

"We could explore a little..." he offered glancing back at me, but I could see that was his goal all along. David didn't strike me as the sporty kind.

He said it himself. He was a nerd.

I shrugged, not minding this idea at all and so we decided to explore the rooms further down the hallway. He was silent at first but I could feel his eyes on me and since I was already familiar with blue I had a feeling he was about to ask a question.

"What do you want to see first?"

Well, not the exact kind of question I was expecting, but I brushed it off pointing at a random door-

"Oh-" he paused looking at the door for a moment and I could see his jaw tick, he suddenly turned to me his eyes nervously narrowing down on me.

"Sorry, I just thought maybe you would... sign it-" he confessed.

I stopped abruptly in my footsteps feeling slightly more self-conscious and uncomfortable at the blatant request. I couldn't help but think he was mocking me, why did he want to see me sign?

He seemed to be quick to read my unimpressed expression, quickly backtracking his tone in a stuttering mess, "oh shoot, that came out wrong I-I didn't mean it that way- I don't want to make you more uncomfortable.." he explained trailing off, the muscles in his throat tightened his Adam's apple bobbing which to me was a clear expression about how nervous he was at the moment-

" I know you can't- talk.." he paused looking down at me for a second before sighing, letting his shoulders fall, his hands rubbing the side of his pants, as he took a deep breath out, trying to explain with a calmer tone.

"What I mean is... You, Claire, and Lira were the first people to invite me to anything since I got here, " he explained, "I just...I want to be able to communicate with you guys the best way I know how and I just kind of feel that since you're more comfortable with signing- I would like it if you were freer with me..." he trailed off seeming to gauge my reaction.

My eyes squinted at him trying to read his sincerity-

"May I add my dilect is super learning?"

After a lingering moment, I caved in at this, taking in a deep breath before slowly signing.

'I think we should try that one," he seemed to be watching my hands move intently before nodding and moving toward the door that I wanted to try.

I watched all of this slightly impressed. I walked toward it after him and we both peeked through the glass doors into the closed room.

It was kind of dark because the lights were off so David pushed the door open and we walked in, finding a switch not far after,  lighting the room.

It seemed identical to the court that we had just left, with the same hoops located on either side of the court.

"Either basketball or netball," David commented walking into the middle of the court, "identical except you can breathe in this one."

I chuckled at his joke moving up the bleachers to the top so I could get a better view of the court in a bird's eye view, almost tripping but catching myself in time, something ringing in the air as it fell from where I had been down to the court.

I immediately panicked patting my pockets and verifying that they were indeed empty- my eyes settled on the shiny metal object glimmering at the bottom of the court.

"I got it," David offered before I could do anything moving towards it.

My eyes widened when I saw him pick it up for me a panic settling inside me whilst I tried to get down to his level as quickly as I could, watching him examining it for a second.

When I finally reached him, he looked at me with confusion in his eyes and slight intrigue, glancing from the trinket I had stolen from Daya to me momentarily, his thumb rubbing against it.

"Where did you get something like this?" he suddenly asked, his eyes narrowing down at me curiously.

I froze in my tracks for a moment, my jaw slightly dropped unable to find the right word. He glanced back at it and then back to me still trying to read it.

I shouldn't be showing any panic as there was no way David would know what it was, and yet there I was.

My hands sweating like a pig.

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Mistakes happen...
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