He points to the corner where a girl is locking lips with a guy. “My ex is here,” he says.
I look at them. “How long has she been an ex?”
“Since two weeks ago.”
Okay, that’s…recent. “You don’t look heartbroken.”
He shakes his head. “Nope. Happy.”
“Should we leave? I mean…is this too awkward?”
He draws his piercing into his mouth and then signs, “If she comes over here, just pretend you don’t speak sign language.”
“But I do.”
“But you can hear. She won’t understand why I’m with you.”
“I don’t understand either.”
His brow furrows like he’s thinking. “Deaf people think deaf. It’s different for hearing people who learn sign language. Culturally, we’re not the same.”
“So she wouldn’t like me because I can hear?”
“She wouldn’t dislike you. But she would definitely question the relationship.”
“Interesting.”
He smiles and shrugs.
“So…you’ve never dated a girl who can hear?”
He shakes his head, and then looks down at the menu the waitress leaves.
I tap the table in front of him. I’m annoyed and I’m trying to bite it back. I don’t say what I was about to say, because it wasn’t terribly kind.
“What?” he asks. He must see the look on my face.
“Nothing.”
“It’s something.”
“No, it’s not.” This time, it’s me who stares down at the menu. He pulls it out of my hand.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“I don’t understand why you can’t have hearing friends.”
His mouth falls open in mock shock. “I have plenty of hearing friends.”
“But you couldn’t take a hearing girl home to meet your mother.” I watch him closely, looking for subtle clues about how my prying makes him feel.
“It would be a challenge.”
“Why?”
“Hearing people sometimes look down on deaf people.”
“I’m not looking down on you.”