Love is Blind (11 page)

“Because we want you to. Right Sophie?”

Sophie bit her lip, but the look on my face must
have convinced her. “Yeah, that would be fun.”

When I looked back at Blake, I saw that he was
scowling, but I could also detect a bit of fear. Without looking
away from him, I spoke to Sophie. “Sophie, why don’t you go take
Abby out in the yard? We’ll be there shortly.”

Sophie looked between the two of us once before
nodding and closing the door behind her. I waited until I was sure
she was gone before speaking again. “You haven’t been out to dinner
since the accident, have you?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want everyone staring at me,”
he snapped.

“Don’t get all snarky with me. Why would
everyone stare at you?”

“Because I’m blind,” he said in voice that
indicated I wasn’t too smart.

“Yeah, but it’s not like it’s easy to see that.
You look like every other teenage boy that I’ve ever seen.”

“Why are you being so damn pushy about
this?”

“Because you need to get the hell out of this
house. It’s not good for you to keep yourself so cut off. You’re
being a wimp.”

He bristled. “I am not a wimp.”

“Well, you sure as hell act like one a lot of
the time. Come out to dinner with Sophie and me tonight. It might
end up being fun.”

Blake sat with a blank face for a few minutes,
his jaw tense. Finally, he blew out a breath. “Fine,” he said
grudgingly.

I grinned and bumped his shoulder with mine
lightly. “Don’t be such a sourpuss.” I looked around his room and
spotted his guitar sitting in the corner. “Are you any good on the
guitar?”

“I guess so.”

“Will you play something for me?”

He debated for a moment. “Sure.” He climbed off
the bed and made his way to his guitar. He picked it up and walked
back to the bed, sitting on the edge. “What do you want me to
play?”

“Something happy.”

“Okay.” He positioned his
fingers over the strings and strummed it a few times before
starting the song. He chose to play Mud on the Tires by Brad
Paisley.
I closed my eyes as I listened to him sing. His
voice was deep and beautiful, and it sent shivers through my
body.

After the last note, I opened my eyes again.
Blake had a look of utter peace on his face, and I understood it
completely. The feeling after I sang a song was always one of
contentment and it was clear that he felt the same thing. “Well,
you aren’t horrible,” I told him.

He grinned. “Thanks. Should we go outside now?
Sophie is probably wondering what’s taking us so long.”

“Sure. You going to get dressed? Or are you
going to go around in just you pajama pants all day?”

He smirked. “Well, I know you like my body, so I
just figured I’d let you ogle me for a little longer.”

Heat crept into my face, because I had been
discreetly checking him out. I wasn’t about to admit it thought.
“It’s not bad, but I’ve seen better,” I said with a shrug.

He chuckled. “You keep telling yourself that.
I’ll meet you outside in a few minutes.”

I muttered under my breath about egotistical
jerks as I left the room, the sound of his laughter following
me.

That evening, the three of us got into my car to
go to the restaurant. Blake decided to leave Abby at home, because
he figured that would just draw attention to him, which he didn’t
want.

When we got to the restaurant, we all got out of
the car and I walked to Blake’s side, laying my hand on his arm.
“You ready for this?”

“No, but let’s do it anyways.”

I slid my hand down his arm and linked my
fingers with his. I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze before
lightly tugging on him, leading him forwards. Sophie fell into step
on my other side, and the three of us entered the building
together. We’d chosen a fairly casual restaurant, because none of
us had the desire to dress up.

The hostess quickly seated us in a fairly
private booth, and I was grateful for that. I knew Blake would be
more comfortable if there weren’t as many people around. We settled
into the booth, Blake and I on one side, and Sophie sitting across
from us. Blake had asked me to sit beside him, because he knew I
wouldn’t try to help him unless it was needed.

Once the hostess had made sure we were settled,
she told us that our waitress would be here shortly, and then she
disappeared. I turned to Blake. “We’re in a pretty private part of
the restaurant, so you can relax a little.”

He nodded. “I could tell it wasn’t too crowded,
because there aren’t a lot of voices around. Can you describe the
layout of the table to me?”

I nodded and quickly told him where everything
was. He used his hands to feel everything and by the time the
waitress arrived to take our drink order, he was fairly comfortable
with where everything was.

The waitress stopped at our table and smiled
brightly. “Hi! I’m Shannon and I’ll be your server tonight. Can I
get everyone something to drink?” She was on the small side, with
light brown hair and hazel eyes. She looked to be around our age,
but I didn’t recognize her.

Sophie and I ordered coke and Blake ordered ice
tea. Shannon gave us another smile, her eyes lingering on Blake for
a second, before she went off to get our drinks. Sophie and I
grinned at each other.

“Blake, I think you have an admirer,” Sophie
said.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The waitress was checking you out. It was
subtle, but we both caught it,” I explained.

“Really? What does she look like?”

I rolled my eyes. “Typical guy, worried about
looks over personality.”

“Aw, don’t be jealous Hailey,” Blake said in a
fake sweet voice. “I’m sure she’s not as pretty as you.”

“You think I’m pretty?”

His face turned to stone immediately. “I never
said that.”

“Hate to break it to you Blake, but you kind of
did,” Sophie said with a grin.

Blake scowled. “Shut up,” he grumbled.

I laughed. “You obviously didn’t listen to that
book I got you, if that’s the best you can come up with.”

“Just read the damn menu to me, will you?”

I chuckled again, but obliged. The rest of the
evening went really well. The three of us had a lot of fun, and
Blake stayed relaxed for the most part.

When I dropped them off at their place, Sophie
got out of the car quickly and practically ran to the front door. I
watched her go with a slight frown. “What’s her hurry?”

“I think she has a crush on a guy and she’s
probably going to stalk him on Facebook like she does every
night.”

“That’s cute, in a creepy kind of way.” I turned
my gaze to him. “So, did you have fun?”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he
admitted.

“Told you so.”

“Yeah, yeah, no need to rub it in.” He was quiet
for a moment. “Thanks.”

“What for?”

“For everything. For trusting me with your
story, for calming me down this morning and for forcing me to go
out tonight.”

“Hmm, I seem to have done a lot for you. I’m
thinking you might owe me in the future.”

He shook his head in amusement. “I was trying to
be serious.”

“I know. But you don’t need to thank me for
anything. I’ll be here for you no matter what.”

“And I’ll be there for you as well. I may not be
the nicest person around, but even I’m capable of compassion.” He
reached over and brushed his finger over my cheek. “I’ll call you
tomorrow, okay?”

“Sure. Have a good night.” After he had gotten
out of the car, I blew out a long breath and laid my head on the
steering wheel. The few times he touched me today had set my body
on fire, and that worried me. Was it possible I was falling for
him?

Chapter thirteen

As I walked to Biology on Monday, I couldn’t
help but be a little nervous. I knew that my friendship with Blake
had changed over the weekend, but I wasn’t sure what he was going
to be like in school. I had talked to him on the phone yesterday,
and we had bantered back and forth, but I was still unsure of how
he would act around me today.

I walked into the classroom and took my seat
beside him. “Morning,” I greeted him.

He turned his head and gave me a small smile.
“Morning,” he replied. He turned back to face the front.

I frowned a little. “What, you don’t want to
talk to me today?”

He turned to me again. “What makes you think
that?”

I shrugged. “You just turned away from me right
away.”

“Did you have something in particular you wanted
to talk about?”

I let out a frustrated sigh. “No.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Nothing,” I grumbled, pouting a little.

He chuckled quietly. “You’re pouting now, aren’t
you?”

I quickly made my face blank. “No,” I lied.

The teacher chose that moment to come into the
room, saving me from listening to Blake’s response. The class went
by fairly quickly, which I was grateful for. We were supposed to
start dissecting things soon and the thought caused me to shudder.
I was going to have to find a way to get out of that one.

After class, I grabbed my bag and linked my arm
with Blake, but he refused to move. I looked at him questioningly.
“Why aren’t we going?”

He held out his free hand. “Give me your
bag.”

My brows furrowed. “Why?”

He sighed. “Because I know it must hurt your
back to carry that thing around. So give me the damn thing and I’ll
carry it.”

Wordlessly, I took my bag off my shoulder and
handed it to him. He threw it over his shoulder and then waited
until I had linked my arm with his again. We headed out of the
classroom and down to his next class. Once we got there I led him
back to his desk. He sat down in the chair and I leaned against the
desk. “I’m going to see Jake after school tonight instead of
Wednesday, but I’ll be at the park after that. Will you be
there?”

“What time?”

“Probably just after five. Jared will be with
me, which is why I’m going tonight, so we won’t stay there too
long.” I’d decided yesterday that it might be a good idea to have
Jared come with me. I hoped that maybe it would make it a little
easier on me.

He laid his hand on my knee for a moment. “I’ll
be there. Just send me a text when you’re on your way back from the
hospital.”

I smiled. “Thanks.” I got off the desk. “I have
to get to my class before I’m late. I’ll see you this evening.”

“See you later.”

I left his class and went to my own, just before
the bell rang. I greeted Rachel and David and they both smiled at
me.

At lunch, Rachel nudged my arm. “Hey, do you and
Jared want to come out bowling with us tonight?” Jared had tagged
along with me the last time I’d gone out with them and both Rachel
and David really liked him.

“We have plans already, sorry. But we could do
something this weekend maybe?”

“Sure! Why don’t you guys come over to my place?
You haven’t been there yet.”

“He might have a date or something, but I’ll
definitely come.”

“Great! We can have a movie night or
something.”

I smiled. “Sounds like fun.”

After school, I went straight home and Jared
was waiting for me in the garage. I jumped into his truck and we
drove to the hospital. When we got to Jake’s room, we settled into
the chairs on either side of the bed. “Hey buddy,” Jared said.
“Hales and I decided to come together today.”

“Yeah, we figured you could handle the
awesomeness of both of at us at once, since you’ve done it for most
of your life.” I took his hand in mine like I usually did. “I don’t
know if you remember me telling you about Blake, but I made a lot
of progress with him over the weekend. I told him about the
accident and we had a good talk about a lot of things. I feel
lighter now than I ever have since the accident.”

“And I’m starting to think I might get serious
about Laurel. I’ve been out with her a few times now and I really
like her,” Jared stated.

I raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t tell me about
this.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t want to say anything
until I knew if I really liked her or not. There’s no need to
subject the poor girl to your interrogation if she isn’t going to
stick around.”

I made a face at him, but didn’t argue. “I want
to meet her anyways.”

“Fine. But I want to meet Blake then.”

“I’ll see if he wants to come over after we’re
done at the park this evening.”

“I’m going out with Laurel, but I’ll make sure
to be back early if you’ll be there with Blake.”

We spent another forty- five minutes with Jake
and then Jared and I got back into his truck and he drove me to the
park. I had sent Blake a text already, telling him that I was on my
way.

When we arrived at the park, I climbed out of
the truck. I stuck my head back in for a moment. “Thanks for the
ride, Jared. I’ll see you later tonight. Have fun with Laurel.”

He flashed me a smile. “Oh, I’m sure I
will.”

I made a face at him and then shut the door on
his laughter. I headed straight for the benches and saw that Blake
was there already. I also noticed a group of five girls around our
age standing a little ways off. I saw that they kept glancing at
Blake every couple of minutes and I frowned a little. Had he always
attracted this much attention and I just hadn’t noticed?

I shrugged it off as I reached the bench
where Blake was waiting and sat down. “Hey,” I said to Blake.

He turned to me. “How’d it go?”

I shrugged. “It was actually a little easier
because Jared was with me. It was still hard to see Jake like that,
but having someone to share it with made it more bearable.”

Blake lifted his arm and put it around my
shoulders. “I can only imagine what it must be like.”