Falling on Dead Ears

I sat watched as she pressed herself to Travis despite how many times he pushed her away, or tried to. She was persistent and it was bugging me. I didn’t have an actual voice to voice my annoyance that she was pushing herself against my boyfriend.

Glancing up at Andy still cowering behind me, I patted his shoulder and took a deep breath.

All my attempts to get this woman to leave Travis alone fell on foreign and deaf eyes and the one time I moved to actually speak everyone stopped me. Telling me it wasn’t a good idea.

Erik and Special had pushed them self out on the raft for safety and were currently watching. Jolene was hiding behind Andy. What was so horrible about this woman? That’s what I wanted to know, but everyone answered: You don’t wanna know. Honestly if I didn’t want to know, I wouldn’t ask!

Tapping Parks shoulder at the small glitter of silver, I pointed at it and shrugged. He knew ‘hello’ in sign language and everything else confused him. Parks pointed at it, I nodded again and tried to ask, in the simplest least confusing way, what it was.

‘The key.’ He stated simply.

A smirk.
That’s all it took for Jolene to come out of hiding. Smirking at her I watched the wheels begin to turn in her head as mine were already working full force.

Glancing at Travis trying to keep the woman at bay, I moved and quickly and as silently as I could across to the smaller boat. Grabbing the key I moved back. Jolene covered her mouth as Parks eyed me confused.

Pointing at Erik and Special I waved them in, despite what they wanted. Turning to Parks, I pointed at him to take the drivers seat again.

‘Oh I get cha.’ He smiled. ‘Very smart!’ He tapped his brow and moved to the seat cautiously. Travis glanced at him concerned then at us. I smiled weakly as he frowned, rubbing his fist over his chest. Nodding I glanced down, making sure I had the key hidden behind my back in both hands.

The boat jostled and I looked up at Andy laying on his back, in the other boat. Jolene gave me a sheepish grin as she stepped back. Slowly sliding my hand out by my hip, she slapped her gently against mine. Both of us fighting smiles and smirks.

Andy’s head shot up. It literally took him point five seconds to be standing and moving to the back of the boat as the small woman moved towards him. Her arms waving and her shoulders tense.

I squeaked at the hands suddenly on my hips. Turning, my shoulders relaxed at Travis sitting behind me, using my as a shield. His eyes lifted to mine, and instantly he began rolling his fist over his chest again.

My hands gently ran through his hair as I watched him. Gently swaying and rocking back and forth I knew the boat was pulling away from the other one so I leaned down and kissed Travis’s forehead and pointed at the blue boat. The two of us looked up just in time to watch Andy jump off and begin swimming towards us.

‘What’s going on?’ Travis asked. Smiling I waited for Andy to climb on the boat, looking frustrated and terrified.

To make him feel better, I held the key up.

‘I love you soo much right now!’ Andy’s smile couldn’t be missed for miles as he began dancing happily.

Turning to Travis I smiled weakly as he smiled brightly. He laughed and pulled me down into his lap.

‘I knew I liked you for a reason.’ He beamed, kissing me gently. His lips soft against mine as I kissed back. ‘Ok Parks, take us home.’ Glancing at Parks the man nodded, making sure to swing past the woman stuck on her boat.

I pushed the piece of paper towards Travis. ‘Who is she?’ He glanced up from his mathematical equation to my simple question. His eyes slowly lifted to mine, nervously.

‘My ex…’ The slow words showed his hesitance. ‘I don’t know why she’s here though.’ He added quickly.

Licking my lips I pulled my paper back and put my pen to it.

‘You’re scared of her…like everyone else.’ He nodded weakly. ‘Why’He licked his lips and looked away. Turning his back to me, I rubbed his cheek soothingly.

‘When I first met her, she was nice…and normal…’ He trailed off, focusing on something across the room. ‘We ended up dating and as the relationship progressed I discovered she wasn’t nice nor normal. She was crazy, mean, and horrible. It took forever to find a way out of the relationship in a way I knew I’d survive. I haven’t seen her in a couple years and why she’s here now…beyond me.’ His soft breath hit my face. Smiling I nodded pulling my paper back to me.

‘Is she the one that loves horror movies?’ Travis nodded weakly. Pursing my lips I nodded. It made sense now.

Leaning over I kissed his cheek gently, and fit myself into his side. He smiled and went back to what he was working on as I just found myself content with sitting there. His thumb gently rubbing over my hip bone as he wrote numbers, drew horrible pictures, scratched numbers out and re-wrote them.