Fly With Me

Constant movement of the hands and fingers was tiring, but I’ve grown used to it. After all, it was practically my way of life. From playing musical instruments such as piano, guitar, and drums to using it to communicate was normal for me. It was as normal as breathing or blinking to me and to my best friend. At times, it was our only way of communication besides text message or lip reading. Juliet was my best friend, and I could tell her anything – literally.

Juliet Gray, my best friend since we were four, has been completely deaf since she was three years old. She was born with hearing problems, and it was no surprise to her parents, although extremely depressing for them, when she went deaf. I’ve listened to Juliet’s slurred talking for years, but she’s never heard the sound of my voice. And now, as big as my brothers and I are, she doesn’t hear anything except the beat and pulse of our music. As weird as it sounded, I depended on Juliet just as much as she depended on me to be her ears. I went with her to school dances, despite my fame, and other school productions. I stuck up for her when people said something behind her back. I was there at three in the morning to answer her distraught text messages since she couldn’t call. People made fun of her a lot, and she often received odd looks, but she didn’t appear to care. It was her life, and nobody could tell her how to live it.

The Gray’s had recently run into financial problems, and refused to accept any money from my family. They couldn’t afford to send Juliet to a private school for the hearing impaired any longer. I wasn’t sure if Juliet knew about it because she hadn’t brought it up, so I didn’t say anything. Or, sign anything.

It’s been a few months since I’ve seen the Gray’s, and I was expecting them at the venue we were to play in, in New Jersey. They had special passes so security wouldn’t try and stop them. Juliet was my age – actually, one month and four days younger – so they usually thought she was a crazed fan girl who had paid her way to us. I see you. my phone read. It was from Juliet herself, and I perked up, looking for my best friend.

We exchanged wide smiles when we saw each other and embraced in a large hug. I kissed her hair in a brotherly gesture, not even able to say anything before she hugged the rest of my family. My mother taught me and my brothers ASL – American Sign Language – and we’ve used it quite a bit over the years. I have missed you Juliet signed to me. There were few abbreviations or slang terms in sign language, so I was used to the proper way of life.

I have missed you, too I signed back, grinning like crazy. I wrote a song for you.

Her eyes glistened in the mid morning sun. Really?

We are going to play it tonight. I will show it to you later, I paused my signing when I heard somebody announce that it was time for our sound check. But I have to go get ready for the show.

She nodded and hugged me again, her brown hair filling my sight. She’d changed since I’d last seen her. Her hair was shorter and straight instead of wavy like it was naturally. Her blue eyes were more perky than usual, and she just looked beautiful overall. She was skinny and tall, almost my height, and everything about her was perfect: her skin, her smile, her hair, her smell, her style, her laugh…

I never had a crush on Juliet, nor did I intend to form one. She was my sister that looked nothing like me. I didn’t think she’d ever had a crush on me either, because she told me about a boy she found attractive who was deaf as well. His name was Ben.

I sent Juliet a text, telling her to come to the stage. We had a large, round stage for this tour, and I wanted her to experience what I did, minus the tens of thousands screaming girls. This is huge, she replied via hand signals. I smiled and nodded, agreeing silently with her.

“Mom,” I called as I saw my mother enter the venue. “Can you sign Fly With Me for Juliet tonight?”

My mom was happy to oblige and agreed while walking up to the stage. As my mom and Juliet began a conversation, I put my guitar strap over my head, allowing it to rest on my shoulder. I strummed the beginning of Paranoid, waiting patiently for our sound check to be over so I could spend that time catching up and reminiscing.

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Juliet read the lyrics to Fly With Me before she saw it live. I dedicated it to her on stage, and a camera was on my mom, who was signing along with my voice. Juliet didn’t want to come up on stage because she was shy, but I didn’t blame her. Even I got stage fright sometimes.

After the show, we went to her hotel and stayed in her room for a while. Our parents had gone to dinner, so we were left for ourselves. After a few hours, we went to the hotel restaurant when we decided we were hungry.

“Do you know sign language?” Juliet asked the man behind the counter. She was deaf, not mute. She knew how to talk, and often spoke aloud. She knew “Mom”, “Dad”, “Juliet“, “Nick”, “Joe”, “Kevin”, “Frankie”, “Denise”, “Jonas Brothers”, and several other titles. She also knew emergency terms such as “Help”. She could ask people questions and lip read their response. Her speech was somewhat slurred, but she’d learned how to correct that in school. She just preferred ASL because it was easier for her.

“Non,” the man said. He had a French accent. “I do not.”

I told Juliet that he didn’t in case she couldn’t tell with the accent. “Oh,” she said. “Thank you.”

The man looked at us with an odd expression. “Can you get us a table for two?” I asked, ignoring him.

The man looked down at his seating chart. “I’m sorry, but we’re full. Maybe tomorrow night?”

I shrugged. “Thank you anyway.”

We walked back to her room. In the elevator, she told me that her parents had made her pack more than she thought was necessary, and I had a feeling I knew why. I’d overheard both of my parents on the phone with Juliet’s, and my parents were trying to convince hers that Juliet should stay with us on tour since her parents couldn’t afford special schooling. My mom would be her teacher, and she’d get to spend the time with me and my brothers.

Our parents were in Juliet’s hotel room, and she seemed more surprised than I was. “You’re back early,” I said out loud.

“We have been talking,” Juliet’s mom, Beatrice, both signed and spoke. “And we have finally decided that Juliet is going to stay with you until the end of the tour. In the meantime, Daniel” – Juliet’s dad – “and I are going to figure out how we can come into more money for school.”

I glanced at my impaired friend and saw that she was smiling. Really? Juliet signed.

All of the adults nodded. “We are moving your things to the tour bus tomorrow morning,” her dad said/signed.

I stayed in Juliet’s hotel room with her that night, neither of us feeling awkward about sharing a bed. We’d already seen and gained enough knowledge of each other that it didn’t matter.

“Nick,” she said, Turing to face me in the bed. I looked at her so she could continue her silent conversation. Will you promise that we will be friends forever?

That’s a weird question, I thought. I smiled. Much like in the spoken language, I could used tone with her though ASL. Well, I can‘t promise you forever I raised my eye brows and smirked to show sarcasm on ‘forever’. But, Juliet, I’ll certainly try.