Finally, the Climax (tm)!

This is the twins' birthday from Jerome's POV

Walking up the seemingly endless driveway of the Kuznetsov family home, the pit in Jerome's stomach only grew with time. His palms were sweating profusely and his knees were wobbling with every step.

"Uh, Jay? I know we make a lot of jokes about you being an alcoholic," Buggs looked down at his friend's sweating and shaking form. "But are you ok?"

"Yeah!" Jerome said with a trembling voice. "Why wouldn't I be?" He tried to soothe Buggs' concern with a joking tone and a wave of his hand.

"You look like a scared chihuahua," Monty spoke up from behind them, trailing behind them on purpose as he dragged his feet on the asphalt.

Jerome looked behind him to glare at his best friend. He opened his mouth to say something but Buggs cut him off. "He has reason to be nervous, after what he did to Diana." Buggs shrugged and kept walking.

"Gee thanks, you guys are a wonderful support system." Jerome rolled his eyes and balled his fists. Buggs shrugged and kept walking.

The four of them walked up to the front step and rang the doorbell. The twin's mother answered and took them to the back where the party was taking place. The shorter woman slid the back door revealing a loud bustling party with almost all of their graduating class. The twin's mother gave the teens a polite smile before shutting the door behind her and returning to the large mansion.

While the other three stood stunned by the door, Jerome scanned the crowd like a man on a mission. Diana's height prevented her from sticking out in a crowd, the size of the yard didn't help either. Taking the first steps away from the porch he felt a hard yank on his shirt sleeve. Tripping slightly, he turned to face Cindy with a hard expression on her face.

"What?" He asked impatiently.

"You aren't actually gonna talk to her, right?" Cindy had a furrow in her brow with her head cocked to the side.

"Of course I am." He pulled his arm away and glared at the girl behind him. "Why shouldn't I?" The question was rhetorical. Jerome knew all the reasons he shouldn't talk to Diana, he had been going over them again and again in his head last night while he tossed and turned in his bed.

"I mean, you guys left off on a bed note last month, maybe give her time-" He spotted Diana in the distance. She was sitting on a bench talking to one of the other members of the gardening club. Her hands moved fast with excitement while Emmy watched, enraptured by whatever Diana was talking about. Jerome pushed Cindy to the side, way harder than necessary, and strode over to her in reinstated confidence.

Emmy looked up from Diana and gestured with her hands for the smaller girl to be behind her. When she did turn her eyes went wide, her skin paled, and her jaw dropped. To anyone observing this scene, they would think Diana saw a ghost.

"H-hey, D..." He waves awkwardly. Suddenly his body feels too tall, too heavy, his hand feels as though it weighs a thousand pounds as he drops it back down to his side.

Diana says (nor signs) nothing, just stares at his face with an undiscernible look on her face. Not quite fear, but not quite anger. The girl sitting next to Diana looked back and forth between the two of them with her eyes frantically, as though she was trying to telepathically decipher the tension between them. "Um, Diana," she tapped the girl on the shoulder, seemingly knocking her out of her trance. "I'm gonna go. I'll see you later." She shot Jerome an apologetic look before scurrying away. Leaving the two of them alone.

(Well, as alone as they could be at a party surrounded by your entire grade.)

Jerome was prideful. He wasn't used to apologizing, sincerely anyway. Now, standing not four feet in front of Diana, he knew he wanted to apologize but he didn't know where to start. So word vomit it is!

"Diana, I am so sorry! I was drunk- you were drunk- and I know that's not an excuse but-!" She quickly shuffled away. Not even bothering to spare Jerome a glance while running off.

He stood there dumbfounded. The words he was going to say died off on his tongue as he stared down at the bench she was sitting on not five seconds. He turned after what felt like an eternity to go back to the corner where his group stood watching this entire ordeal. He walked back with his head hung low, unable to face the sympathetic looks he was sure to receive if he met their eyes.

Buggs met him with a pat on the back, his lips pursed into a thin line. Cindy on the other hand, crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. 'I told you so...' she thought and she would let those words actually leave her mouth on a later date when Jerome wasn't feeling so delicate.

Monty stood in front of him, leaning against a table in support, he placed his hands on Jerome's shoulders to make him look up. "You ok?"

He thought about it for a second before shaking his head. "Yeah ok, umm," Monthly thought about his next options to cheer up his friend. He knew they couldn't leave yet, as Cindy hadn't confronted either Felix or Lily about their... situation, so he had to do the next best thing. "I heard someone stashed some booze in the garage. Unless you're still on your sobriety kick?" He tried to pose his question as a joke, ending his sentence with a hopeless chuckle.

Jerome sniffled and stood up tall. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Alright cool. Buggs, Cin..." he gestured to the other two next to him, his way of telling them to stay put to make sure Jerome didn't do anything stupid.

"Got it!" Buggs yelled, even though they were all huddled together. He grabbed Jerome by the shoulders while Monty hobbled away on one crutch towards the large garage in the distance.

Monty didn't come back for nearly thirty minutes. Jerome was growing impatient as he scanned the crowd for orange hair. Cindy had wandered off too, finding waiting too boring, and decided to venture off to find her own booze, leaving only Jerome and Buggs to stand awkwardly by their designated spot by the back porch.

The teen tapped his foot on the grass impatiently with his arms crossed. "What's taking him so long?" He groaned.

"I don't know," Buggs checked his phone and refreshed the text chain with Monty. "I'm gonna go check on him." He rose to his full height. Buggs walked a couple of feet away before turning to look at Jerome. "Are you gonna be ok?" Jerome scoffed in return.

"I'll be fine, Buggs. It's just a party." He said the last part was quieter. Buggs nodded and headed towards the garage.

"Hey! After I find Monty and Cindy, we'll go, ok?" He yelled to Jerome from behind his back.

"Yeah ok..." Jerome muttered under his breath, mostly to himself. He stood there for a beat, looking around the party seemingly out of habit. Orange-yellow fairy lights surrounded his view. Faces of partygoers blurred by the lights, Jerome looked around once again, his head tilted upward to see over the crowd. Looking for Cindy so he could go home sooner. They'll make it up to the twins eventually, but he just... can't be near people right now.

He watched the crowd with foggy eyes, not really connecting with anyone in the crowd. A tap on his lower back knocked him out of his head. He turned and looked down at his side. There stood Diana with an apologetic look in her eyes.

She waved timidly. Jerome, shocked, waved back. "Hey..."

They stood in front of each other for a moment. Gazing into each other's eyes, trying to read the others' thoughts.

"So where did you-" Diana started to sign at the same time, Jerome cut himself off to let her communicate with him. She stopped signing as well to let him speak. They both looked at each other in silence before laughing softly with each other. "You go first." Jerome chuckled while gesturing to the girl in front of him. She nodded and began to sign.

'I just wanted to say, sorry.' She signed slowly as Jerome wasn't as fluent as her. '...for running away...'

"Why did you?" He spoke quietly, he could tell Diana was struggling to hear him due to her hearing aids picking up on the louder sounds around them.

So he signed it.

'Why... did... you?' His signs were sloppy as his hands shook. He was unsure he was doing them correctly but hoped Diana understood what he meant. Her eyes lit up and she was quick to respond.

'I didn't know what to say to you.' She signed slower, but confidently, for Jerome to pick up. Jerome thought about what he could say with his minimal vocabulary.

'I'm sorry,'

His ' I'm ' wasn't correct, he really said ' I sorry ' to her but Diana understood regardless and stayed quiet to let him speak. 'I'm sorry for what I did last month..." Jerome remembered the lesson from his ASL teacher, about conveying emotions through your hands. 'I just wanted to impress you because..."

He paused to gauge her possible response. 'I really like you, D.'

'God, could I sound more cheesy?!' Jerome thought to himself. His face had a slight hue of pink to it. Diana smiled up at him while he was mentally kicking himself. She began to sign back. 'I like you too,' she pushed off her toes, creasing her shoes in the process, and leaned in close to his cheek. Jerome moved down hoping to reduce the strain on her neck. His heart beat out of his chest, and the knife that was previously embedded slowly inched its way out, as her breath touched his cheek and neck sending shivers down his body that Diana, somehow, didn't notice.

She brought her lips to press against his cheek. She rested it there lightly before retreating her face back down in front of him. Jerome stood on the grass, his face hot as he peered down at her. Diana looked down at the dirt beneath her feet, a smile plastered on her face.

Looking up, she began to sign again. 'You're a great friend.'

Friend. That word left a bitter taste in his mouth, the knife stabbed deeper in his chest. His smile faltered but returned a bit strained as her words settled within his bones. ' Friend. She wants to be friends.'

She left him standing there, smiling as she walked back inside.

This was a good thing. Right?

Then why did it feel like the knife in his heart got bigger?

"Jerome!" Buggs waved him over. He was still by the garage, this time accompanied by a red-faced Monty. "You won't believe what just happened!"

The other two chapters are finished and will be posted Tuesday and Wednesday !!