Page 56 of Give Me a Sign
I raise my eyebrows in question—is he going to do it or not? I stand on my toes, tantalizingly close to him, until he finally closes the distance between us.
His lips are warm and soft. But they’re gone before it dawns on me that I’m kissing Isaac.
My bottom lip sticks to his as he pulls away. He leans back and opens his eyes, a smile widening across his face.
I raise my hand to sign as I mouth the words, “You still have to say it.”
He arches an eyebrow and gives a slow nod. “Yes, I like you, too.”
“Really...? Are you sure?” I tease him. “Hmmmm...”
There’s a twinkle in his eyes. “And you still like me?”
I shrug. “Maybe you should k-i-s-s me again.”
He taps his fingers against his chin, feigning deep thought. “Let me think.” He wraps his arms around me.
But something is nagging me, so I ask. “Wait, what’s the sign?”
“Kiss,” he demonstrates, using both hands. He presses his fingers against his thumbs and brings his hands together so that his fingertips touch, representative of two people coming together. He pulls me close. “Your signing was pretty good...”
“Right!” A big smile crosses my face. “That was good? Signing fast, too. I guess we need to fight more.”
He shakes his head, reaching out for my arms and drawing me toward him once more, for a long, slow kiss this time.
We’re pushing curfew, but I don’t care, because there’s nowhere I’d rather be.
Chapter Seventeen
At Sundaymorning lake time, we’re greeted by two very hungover lifeguards lying horizontal on the beach chairs. Oliver squints up through his sunglasses upon our arrival. He gives the smallest of waves. “Don’t drown.”
“And don’t be too loud,” Ben says, pulling his towel over his face to block the sun. “————if you must drown, do it quietly.”
The campers are waiting outside the fence playing games on the grass. Ethan clears his throat, but neither lifeguard moves.
“————two more minutes,” Oliver says. “We’ll be ready then.”
I suppress my laughter when I notice what’s about to happen. Down near the shoreline, Jaden and Isaac have filled two buckets with water and are slowly making their way back up the beach. Ethan holds out one finger and looks at his watch. When it hits nine o’clock, he nods.
A little too eagerly, Jaden and Isaac dump the water on Oliver and Ben, who lunge from their seats.
“Oi!” Oliver yelps, shaking his head and spraying droplets of water on us. “We’re ready. We’re ready.”
As the campers flock onto the beach, Mackenzie pulls our group aside. “Hey, girls,” she says and signs. “Line up here. I want to do a quick video.”
The girls seem intrigued. Honey waves for Mackenzie to hand over the phone, but Mackenzie shakes her head.
“I’m thinking, like, you all take turns saying your name and one thing you like to do at camp.” She holds out her phone with the reverse camera, and signs one-handed. “I’m Mackenzie and I love to dance,” she says and signs, followed by a painfully try-hard silly dance.
“Me! Me!” Honey raises her hand to go first, but Blake pushes her back.
“No, me first. I’m Blake, and I love to swim.” She tugs at Mackenzie’s sleeve. “Did you get that?”
“Actually, do that again with ASL,” Mackenzie says. “You know how to sign ‘swim,’ right, Blake?”
“Uh, Mackenzie?” I step forward between clips. “What’s this for?”
“A cute post for my story,” she answers while gesturing for Honey to repeat her line next.
