Painting Flowers

After saying goodbye for what seemed like the billionth time, Soph forced herself to go to the van and get inside. Jake was already sitting behind the steering wheel watching the rest of them say bye to their families. He was taking over as their driver once again now that they were back in the US and Kora was overly excited to have him traveling with them again. The month in Europe nearly killed her since Jake and her hardly ever spent any time away from each other. But now they were back together again and acting as mushy as ever.

Soph looked out the window of the van and saw Zane and Bram’s mom hugging the twins tightly and laughed at their expressions. Addie climbed in the van and sat next to Soph giving her a wide smile as Bram and Zane followed behind her. Kora was already in the passenger seat next to her boyfriend bouncing up and down in her seat while Jake tried to get her to put her seatbelt on.

Jake asked if everyone was ready and they all cheered as he put the car in drive and slowly pulled out of the parking spot. They had all met and Addie and Soph’s apartment since it was easier to park the van. Soph almost expected to see Jack in the crowd of family members waving goodbye as the van drove away but they had already said their goodbyes the night before when he had dropped her off after going to his parents for dinner.

She was glad that she went. Before he had picked her up, she had almost had come up with an excuse to get out of it. She had been nervous about it for the last two days worried that his parents would hate her for leaving their son in such a state after she had left. Alex and May had touched on how broken Jack had been when she left and she didn’t blame them if they had hated her for it.

But, the night before had turned out wonderful, and she had felt a little better knowing that May, Joe, Alex, and Zo had been there too. It was amazing to get reacquainted with May and Joe again and get to know Alex and Zo. She could tell how close Alex and Jack were and she wasn’t jealous at all or feel replaced when she found out Jack and Alex became friends soon after she had left. She had been glad Jack had found someone to help pull him out of his state after she had moved away.

Addie turned in her seat to face Soph and she saw her signature evil smirk grow on her face. So how was dinner with the in-laws last night?

Soph sighed, Do you really have to call them that?

Well what else am I supposed to call them? You and Jack are basically married already. We all know it’s going to happen someday. And why were you two even sneaking inside last night? It didn’t work that well. I could hear you both loud and clear.

The only reason you heard us was because you were acting like a over protective parent and stayed up to wait for me to get home. You know as well as I do that that’ the case since any other time you sleep like a dead woman.

“Hey! It’s not nice to sign when no one else can understand what you’re saying!” Kora said from where she was twisted around in her seat facing them.

Sorry Soph signed as Kora huffed.

“You’re forgiven, but no more. That’s the only word I can understand and I want to know what’s going on at all times. I have to make sure my precious angels are ok!” Soph glanced at Addie and rolled her eyes. “Oh speaking of that, how was your dinner with the in-laws?”

Soph glared at her best friend, “Seriously? Did you tell the whole damn world?”

“No, but Kora beat it out of me.”

Kora nodded, “Damn right I did. So spill, what was it like? Was it awkward seeing them again for so long?”

“Dear God Kora, slow down. I can barely understand you when you talk so fast.” Soph managed to calm their tour manager down and the rest of the drive was spent explaining, in very fine detail, everything that happened the night before.

Kora and Addie didn’t forget any moment of the night. From when she first got there to exactly what they had for dinner, it was as if she was reliving the night all over again. It was ridiculous how much the two girls wanted to know. Every single little detail was mulled over a billion times to see what it meant.

“Hey Kora, when do we get there? What are we even going to do? We don’t have a show until tomorrow right?” Bram asked as he came to sit in Addie’s lap.

“Yes Bram, for the billionth time. We don’t have a show until tomorrow so we’re going to stay in a hotel over night, which by the way because of my genius brain is across the street from the venue, and then we’ll all pack in tomorrow and meet the other bands.” Kora replied with a sigh.

Bram just shrugged and nodded not looking like he was even listening again and would probably ask her again at least twice before the night was up. But that was just Bram and it really was a common occurrence for him so Soph really didn’t know why Kora was freaking out so much about it.

When they got to the hotel, they checked in and went to find their rooms. No more than ten minutes later, the door to the girls room opens and the twins walk in. Bram flops down on Soph and Addie’s bed and sighs as he watches the girls walk about putting their things away.

“You know, we’re only going to be her for like a night. Why are you even putting things away and organizing everything. Nothing has changed since you put it in the bags this morning. Security doesn’t go through and repack everything making you fix it again when you get it back.” Bram said from where he lay on the bed. His twin was sitting on the small couch by the window with the remote in hand grumbling about the lack of good channels.

Addie sighed as she gave her boyfriend a exhausted look. “What are you even doing in here?”

“We were bored and wanted to see what we’re doing tonight.” Jake replied as he also walked in and sat next to Bram. Soph smiled as she joined the boys on the bed and pulled a pillow under her head leaving room for Bram to share.

“Addie and I were thinking about going out and checking out some of the shops.” Kora said as all three boys and Soph rolled their eyes. Addie and Kora were the worst shoppers ever. They could spend five hours in one store and still claim that they haven’t even seen the whole place. It was ridiculous and the other four tried to keep them away from shops as much as possible.

“So that means we’ll be in a pub while you two are shopping the night away?” Soph asked glancing at the boys to see that they were ok with that idea. Addie and Kora just shared a look as they grabbed their things and told them to get up since they were wasting precious shopping time.

They found a pub close by and Soph followed the boys inside pushing their way through the crowd to find somewhere to sit. It was a Friday and there so happened to be a game playing on all the tv’s inside so naturally the place was packed. But they managed to find a open table and sat down. Jake offered to go get the first round and walked off leaving the three of them to wait for him to get back. When he came back a few minutes later, everyone took their drinks and toasted to the beginning of tour before taking the first sips.

She really didn’t mind hanging around with three dorky guys while the girls went shopping. She was more comfortable being there than shopping anyway. For some reason she had always gotten along with guys better, finding that she could relate more for some reason. Her grandma always used to tease her for being such a tomboy, but if she hadn’t been, she would have never met Jack.

“Wait what did you say?” She asked when she realized that someone had asked her something. All three of the guys were looking at her and she felt a little embarrassed that she hadn’t been paying attention.

That was one of the bad things about guys. Certain things blew right over their head and one thing in particular with these three guys in particular, was the fact that forgot that she was deaf and they needed to speak to her directly so she could read their lips. She didn’t hold it against them or anything and they didn’t do it often, but when they started drinking, things started to get a little crazy.

She sometimes wondered what it would be like to hear again. Would she actually like it? Or would she want to stay deaf finding it easier after being so for 15 years. She knew that there was no cure, the doctors had made sure that she understood that even at the delicate age of 5, but if there was actually a way to get her hearing back, she wondered if she would actually do it.

Sometimes she believed she would. To see what it was like. To be able to hear the voices of her friends for the first time. To be able to hear the voices of her favorite singers in bands and to actually talk on the phone again. But other days she started to second guess herself on that decision. Would she really want to hear again? Sure there were some advantages but, would it be worth it? She had grown so used to the silence she might not be able to handle hearing again.

But when it really came down to it, she thought that if it was ever possible, she might actually give it a shot and see what it was like. But that was probably never actually going to happen right?