GUYS THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ONE THOUSAND READS I NEVER IMAGINED ANYTHING I WRITE WOULD EVEN GET ONE HUNDRED!!!!! okay now that that's out of my system, seriously thank you guys so much and as a thank you, here's a prompt!!! Thanks again y'all!
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Sign Language.
Bethany laughed at Derek from behind her hands, watching him jump up at the scary movie. He turned around and gave her a small glare, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Derek turned around and grabbed the book from the couch, trying to find the way to sign 'I hate you.'
It had been that way since the accident- the constant having to look in a book to be able to communicate with Beth.
A month ago, about a month after Dancing with the Stars ended, Bethany had been in a car accident. A car accident so bad that she was lucky to escape with her life, but the only memories that were left were the scars, and the constant difficulty they had to live with everyday.
The noise of the crash had permanently damaged Beth's ears. The doctors had broken them the news that Bethany would never hear again. Derek had been devastated at the news, he remembered that day perfectly. It had been a rainy Monday in December. He had been remembering all the previous weeks that he had danced with Beth, missing her more than ever. His mind wandered to topics, all of them leading back to Beth: the new Starbucks coffees, the new Taylor Swift album, the fact that Christmas was just around the corner. Everything reminded him of Beth.
He had been sitting with Mark on the couch, both of them talking about their dance partners and how much they missed them, when Derek's phone started to ring. Derek looked over at it, standing up straight, a smile already on his face when he saw Bethany's number light up the screen. He picked it up excitedly, already longing to hear her bubbly voice that she always greeted him with, but his excitement died down when he heard a voice on the other side of the line, a voice that certainly didn't belong to Beth.
"Hello? Mr. Hough? Are you there? Can you hear me?" Derek snapped out of his mind, "Yes, Who is this?" Mark looked at him suspiciously, sitting up straight on the couch.
"I'm calling from the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, and.. I'm very sorry, but Ms. Bethany Mota has suffered an accident. We found her phone and saw that you were listed on speed dial and decided to call you. Are you in LA?" Derek felt his words get stuck in his throat, he couldn't imagine why Beth deserved this. Mark looked at Derek with shock, barely hearing the woman call his name. Mark snatched the phone from Derek's hands, leaving Derek to put his head in his hands, tears already streaming down his face.
Mark put the phone to his ear tentatively, almost scared of the news that could be delivered at any moment from the other side, "Yes, we are in LA. We will be there are soon as we can, Thank you." Mark hung up and closed his mouth. He felt himself start to shake, if this was how we felt, he couldn't' possibly imagine what Derek was feeling. Derek maybe didn't even know it, but Mark knew his best friend. He knew when he acted differently, especially around girls, and with Bethany it was different: He was in love.
Mark stood up shaking his head, yanking Derek up with him. Derek was a mess, constantly just whispering to himself that Bethany was a fighter, that she would be okay, that they would dance together again. Mark tried not to listen to Derek, he didn't need anything in his mind while he was driving, or they would be in the same position that Bethany was in.
He drove to the hospital in silence, with Derek occasionally asking him if Bethany would be okay, and everytime he answered the same thing, "Yeah Derek she will be." "You promise Mark?" "I promise." He always said, though he didn't know if he was saying it for Derek or for himself. He too needed to make himself believe that Bethany, his little sister, would be okay.
They made it to the hospital, with Derek finally stepping out of his trance and running into the hospital, immediately asking for Beth. The nurse gave him a number and he rushed into her room, expecting something horrifying but instead saw Bethany sitting on the bed looking down at a book. Both of them smiled, seeing that it wasn't as bad as they thought.
"Beth." Derek called. He frowned when Beth didn't look up. He raised his voice a little, "Bethany." Still no answer. Bethany must've sensed somebody looking at her and she raised her head, her eyes glittering in excitement when she saw Derek and Mark. "You guys come over here!"
They both walked over to her, each of them giving her a huge hug, neither of them had seen her since the season had ended. Derek broke apart from his hug, giving Bethany a huge kiss on the cheek, "Why did you ignore us when we walked in?" Bethany just stared at him, a huge smile on her face. Derek whipped his head to look at Mark, a confused look on his face, but Mark was looking at Bethany the same way.
As if one cue, the doctor walked in. "Oh I see you two arrived." Derek walked over to him, "What's wrong with her?" The doctors smile slipped off his face, "Well weren't you two told? Bethany suffered permanent damage to her ears. She's permanently deaf." Derek's jaw dropped from his face, he moved his head to look at Bethany, who had picked up her book again. No wonder she didn't hear them when they talked to her.
Derek closed his mouth and walked back to Bethany on the bed, leaving Mark with the doctor. Bethany felt a dip on the bed and looked up smiling at Derek. Derek smiled back at her, this didn't change anything. He still loved her, she still loved him, and she wouldn't be treated any different. Derek picked up the whiteboard from the side table, and scribbled something, not letting Bethany see it. He turned it around, 'I love you.' was written in bright red letters.
And here they were one month later in their new apartment together, boxes of furniture and clothing surrounding them. Derek just glared at Bethany, then started to laugh at her when she jumped at the movie. Bethany hit his arm lightly, grabbing her whiteboard and writing out 'You're a jerk.' Derek smiled and picked up the book and started to look for the words he wanted to use.
Though Bethany insisted that he just write out what he wanted to say to her, he refused. Bethany was fluent in sign language and Derek was doing everything in his power to learn it as well. He wanted Bethany to know that he cared enough to learn her language. Derek had recruited everybody close to Beth to learn sign language. Just about everybody could sign a few words now and Bethany loved him for it.
Their doorbell rung and Derek rushed to open it, smiling when he saw Mark and Sadie standing on their doorbell all bundled up. Mark started to explain, "We brought you some housewarming gifts, plus we want to see Bethany, so please be kind and get out of our way." Sadie smiled brightly and held a thumbs up. Derek laughed at his best friend and his dance partner, welcoming them in.
They both rushed to their living room, both rushing to hug Beth. He found Beth held in a tight embrace by Mark, with Sadie signing how much they missed her. Sadie had beat Mark and Derek at learning sign language, she had taken it up much faster. Bethany signed back and Derek felt his mood sour a little.
Everytime she signed it bothered him, it bothered him that she had to deal with the burden of never being able to hear again. She was so scared of talking just because she wasn't able to hear her own voice and what she sounded like, that Derek rarely got to hear her voice again. The only time he would hear it was when Bethany signed to him frantically but he didn't understand her. The first time that had happened had been a disaster.
It was about a week after the accident and Bethany had decided to stay at his house overnight. She couldn't find a way to tell that she had missed him. She was frantically signing to him the words, but he didn't understand her.
"Baby I don't know, please just use your voice." Bethany had broken down, she had been crying on the couch, still trying to sign to him. "Babe, please." Derek pleaded. "I missed you." Bethany whispered. All of Derek's prior frustration had melted away at the sound of her voice. He hadn't realized how much he missed it during the week he hadn't heard it. That was the first time Derek had learned something in sign language, those very words being 'I love you.'
And now Derek looked at her with love in his eyes, watching her sign to Sadie. Mark looked over at Derek and instantly saw the love shining in his eyes. Derek walked over to Bethany, not caring about the rude interruption he was making.
He said 'I love you', needing her to know though she couldn't hear it. Bethany smiled at him, reading his lips. It's okay if she couldn't hear him say it.
She already knew.
