The next few weeks flew by for Chris. He kept telling himself he was not avoiding seeing Claire. He was busy, his Show with Agony Revisited was a great success last weekend and they had spent a few more days practicing before that, he had hung out with his friends, playing War Craft and Halo and had gone to a few parties. The one at the house on 6th and Hill did have good weed like promised. Not as good as he had had on his trip to Amsterdam last summer with his Uncle George, but that was not even a fair comparison. The joints were the size of Chris's grandmother Rose's cannolis and just as good. They also had these awesome coffee shops that sold amazing brownies where you could hang out all day and listen to music. But, Chris felt a bit like he was on auto pilot even doing his usual things. Even his show wasn't as great as it would have been before he had seen Claire and then found out she was deaf. He kept thinking about her and felt torn about it. He liked her a lot, but felt like pursuing a relationship with her would be an epic failure. Music was such a big part of his life and who he was, how could he relate to her? What would they talk about? His friends had noticed Chris was "off" but didn't ask questions, they had been busy too. And Chris had never mentioned Claire to them so they didn't know how hung up on her he was. They didn't really discuss one nighters, unless it was to brag, but Chris had nothing to tell. Not really, he hadn't even spoken to Claire. All he knew was that he thought about her a lot and on a different level than any other girl since Kelly. And he knew she liked him, that tiny girl at "The Pad" had said so. Maybe he would talk to Brian about it. They had been friends since 3rd grade and had taken guitar lessons together until Chris switched to bass. He was "the other Son I never had" according to Chris's mother they had spent that much time together as kids. Chris called Brian and he came over. After Chris told Brian all about the dilemma Brian sat on the recliner for a while; silent. "Dude," he finally said after several minutes "This is messed up. She can't hear and you are a music junky and a musician. I don't know if it will work, but I've never seen you into a chick since Kelly, I think you should at least talk to her. That's all I can say, I don't even know what else to say. She seems worth something to you so go for it, man" Chris decided then and there he would at least talk to Claire and see if the spark faded or not. He hoped not, but wasn't betting on it.