Love is Blind

by Shayna B

  I allowed my body to relax once again. “Oh. Well in that case, sure. Let me just call my uncle to let him know.”

  “Will he mind letting you stay here?”

  “No, he’s pretty cool that way. He also trusts me. Will your aunt mind?”

  “Definitely not. She’s so happy that I’m actually talking to someone that I’m pretty sure you could move in here and she’d welcome you with open arms.”

  I laughed. “That’s good I guess.” I rolled away from him so I could dig into my pocket and get my phone. I quickly called Liam and let him know what was happening. He was fine with me staying, which I had expected, though he did tell me to be careful. After I hung up, I snuggled into Blake, who had stretched out onto his back. “Do you have something I can wear to bed?”

  “Yeah. You can either wear one of my shirts or ask Sophie to borrow something.”

  I shrugged. “I’m good with just wearing one of your shirts. It’s getting late, so I don’t want to bug Sophie.”

  He sat up, bringing me with him. We got off the bed and he led me to his dresser. He ran his hands along the front of the drawers, and I leaned in to look a little closer. I realized that there were stickers over every drawer and I assumed that there was a difference to each one, which was how he knew which drawer was one he wanted.

  He located the right drawer and pulled it open. He grabbed a pair of pajama pants for himself and a t-shirt for me and then shut the drawer. He handed the shirt to me. “Here you go.”

  I took it from him and moved back to the bed. I looked at him over my shoulder. “I guess one advantage to you being blind is that you can’t peek while I get changed,” I said teasingly.

  “You think of it as an advantage, I think of it as a disadvantage,” he replied.

  I laughed. “You really are a pervert.” I quickly pulled off my jeans and shirt and put his shirt on instead. It fell to about mid- thigh because he was so much taller than me. When I turned to face him again, he was wearing the pajama pants and nothing else. I let my eyes wander down his chest and subtle abs.

  He chuckled from where he was standing. “I can hear you drooling,” he teased.

  I tore my eyes away from his body to look at his smiling face. “Hey, I’m allowed to look,” I said. “How do you stay in such great shape?”

  “Well, I haven’t had much to do in the past two years, so my aunt had a home gym installed for me. I spend a lot of time in there.”

  “That makes sense.” I watched as he made his way over to me. I was struck once again by how confident he was in moving around his room with nothing to guide him. “How can you move around here so easily?”

  “Again, I’ve spent the past two years pretty much stuck in this house. I learned how to maneuver around the whole house without running into anything.”

  “But you’re comfortable in my house too, and you’ve only been coming there for a couple of weeks.”

  He stopped in front of me and shrugged. “I learn things pretty quickly. As long as nothing moves without my knowledge I only need to go somewhere once before I learn where everything is.”

  “How did you avoid everything you’d thrown on the floor that morning that your dad called?”

  He shrugged again. “I’m the one who threw stuff, so I knew where it all landed.”

  I started to reply, but a huge yawn interrupted me. Blake chuckled and climbed onto his bed. I followed behind him, stifling another yawn. Once Blake was lying on his back, I scooted closer and laid my head on his chest. He wrapped one arm around me, holding me firmly to him. His free hand traveled to my chin, and he tilted my head up so he could kiss me.

  When he pulled away, I snuggled closer to him, letting out a sigh of contentment. It felt… right, being in his arms. As if I was meant to be there. I kissed his chest before letting my eyes close. “Good night,” I murmured.

  “Night Hales,” he replied.

  Waking up in Blake’s arms was something I could definitely get used to. We had shifted in the night so that he was spooning me from behind, his left arm wrapped snugly around my waist. I tried to move so I could go to the bathroom, but his arm tightened around me, not letting me leave the bed. “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked sleepily.

  “I have to go to the bathroom,” I replied.

  “Hmm, well I’m not done sleeping, so you can hold it until I feel like letting you go.” He buried his face in my hair and inhaled deeply

  I laughed. “Oh you think so?”

  “Yeah,” he replied.

  I managed to flip over so that I was facing him. I put one of my hands on his chest and started tracing patterns on his skin. “I’ll come right back,” I promised.

  “Uh uh, you’re not allowed to leave the bed yet,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

  I moved my head closer to him and pressed my lips against his neck, smiling when his breath caught briefly. “Please?” I asked, my mouth still against his skin.

  He let out a sigh and finally loosened his hold on me. “Fine, but you better not take too long.”

  I climbed out of the bed. “I’ll be back in a minute,” I said and scurried over to his attached bathroom. Once I was done, I went right back to the bed and returned to my previous spot, curling into him once again. “See? Told you I’d be right back.”

  He put his arms around me and nuzzled at my neck. “It was cold without you,” he whined.

  I chuckled. “Poor baby.” I kissed him softly. “Warmer yet?”

  “Not yet, maybe another kiss will help.”

  I complied, pressing my lips lightly against his again. But this time his hand came up to the back of my head, preventing me from pulling back. He made a sound of pleasure as he rolled us over so that he was hovering over me, not breaking the kiss.

  I allowed my hands to play over his smooth back. I loved the feel of his skin; it was so silky and soft. Blake pulled his lips away from mine and ran them over my jaw and down my neck. He lightly sucked on the skin on the side of my neck and I wasn’t able to prevent my back from arching, pressing us together intimately.

  He pulled away immediately. “Okay, I think I’m warm now,” he said breathlessly.

  I smiled. “Yeah, me too.”

  He rolled off of me and sat up. “I need to get better control of myself, or I won’t be able to take this slowly.”

  I sat up as well and rubbed his back. “I’ll let you know if you’re going too fast, Blake. You just found a sensitive spot on me, which is why I reacted like that.”

  His lips tugged up into a smile. “How many sensitive spots do you have?” he asked.

  “You’ll just have to find out for yourself,” I told him cheekily.

  He groaned and rubbed his hands over his face. “Come on; let’s go get some breakfast before I never let you leave my room.”

  “Okay, let me just get dressed first.”

  He shook his head. “No, I like thinking of you wearing something of mine. Is that weird?”

  “No, it’s a good thing because I like wearing your stuff. But I can’t go out in the house wearing just your t-shirt. What if Sophie or your aunt are awake?”

  “Go to the top right drawer of my dresser. There’s a bunch of boxers in there that you can wear underneath the shirt.”

  I climbed off the bed and went to the dresser. I opened the drawer he told me too and grabbed a pair of plain blue boxers while he went to the bathroom. I put the boxers on and waited for him at the door.

  He came out of the bathroom and walked to my side without missing a step, which made me frown a little. “How the heck did you know where I was standing?”

  “I could hear you breathing,” he replied.

  “Wow, your hearing really is good.”

  “Told you so. Are you hungry?”

  “Yeah, I’m starving.”

  He opened his door and ushered me into the hall. He took my hand and we went into the kitchen. Sophie was sitting at the table eating a bowl of cereal, and she looked up
when we came in. Her jaw dropped when she saw me, but she quickly recovered. “Morning Blake, morning Hailey.”

  “Good morning Sophie,” I replied cheerfully. Blake just grunted in response and I rolled my eyes. We walked over to the table and Blake motioned for me to sit down. I did as he asked and watched in mild interest as he went around the kitchen gathering bowls, spoons and milk, placing them on the table before moving to another cupboard.

  “What kind of cereal do you like?” he asked.

  “Whatever you’re having is fine.”

  He nodded and grabbed a box from the cupboard, then came and sat next to me. The three of us ate in silence, lost in our own thoughts. Abby wandered in at one point and flopped down beside Blake’s chair. Blake absently rubbed her with his foot and that made me smile a little. For someone who pretended not to really care about anything, he obviously loved his dog.

  We spent the rest of the day hanging out with Sophie, playing games and goofing around. I think Sophie was surprised that Blake was willingly doing stuff with her, but she was also obviously pleased.

  When it came time for me to go home, Blake walked me to the front door. He pulled me into his arms and held me tightly. “I think my bed is going to feel empty without you tonight,” he said.

  “Maybe I can stay over one night next weekend,” I suggested.

  “I like that idea.”

  “So I was thinking, maybe I could start picking you and Sophie up in the mornings before school. That way your aunt doesn’t have to worry about driving you and I can spend more time with you.”

  He was quiet for a minute. “I wish I could be the one offering to pick you up,” he said quietly.

  I ran my hands up and down his back. “Well, I like driving the Camaro so it works out for me that you can’t,” I replied.

  His lips twitched a little. “I don’t deserve you,” he replied softly.

  My heart melted a little. “Sure you do. I’m not exactly perfect.”

  He chuckled. “True, but you’re a better person than me.”

  “Well, that’s just a given.”

  He pushed me away from him slightly. “Okay, you can leave now.”

  I laughed and gave him a quick kiss. “So I’ll come get you in the morning?”

  “Yeah. See you then.”

  I kissed him again and then walked out the door.

  Chapter seventeen

  When Blake and I walked through the hallway at school the next day, a lot of people did double takes. I knew it was because Blake and I were holding hands, which was something new. Sophie was walking with us as well and she rolled her eyes when she realized people were staring. “It’s pretty sad that you and Blake holding hands is likely going to be the talk of the school in about five minutes.”

  I laughed as I watched a bunch of people whip out their phones and start typing madly. “It is pretty sad,” I agreed. “But that’s part of the joys of living in an age where cell phones are practically an extension of people.”

  “Did you ever think they were just staring at us because we’re hot?” Blake asked.

  I turned my head to look up at him. “Of course that’s why they’re staring. Why else would they be?” I asked innocently.

  He snorted and shook his head but didn’t say anything else.Sophie split off from us when we reached my locker to head to her own. When I was done at my locker, we went to Blake’s and then we headed to class.

  Once we were seated, I scooted my chair closer to him so that I could lay my head on his shoulder and close my eyes. He slid his arm around my waist. “Tired?”

  I nodded without opening my eyes. “Yeah, I think I missed having you with me,” I replied.

  “I know what you mean. My bed felt empty without you last night.”

  The bell rang suddenly, causing me to jump and snap my eyes open. Blake cracked up laughing beside me, and that managed to get everyone’s attention, since no one besides me had heard him laugh in two years. I shoved his shoulder. “It’s not funny, that really scared me.”

  He grinned at me. “Come on, that was a little funny. I felt how much you jumped because of the bell.”

  I mock scowled at him. “You’re mean,” I said.

  He nodded. “Yeah, but you knew that from the beginning.”

  I sighed. “I suppose you’re right,” I muttered.

  The teacher called the class to order then, so any more conversation was made impossible for the time being.

  After class, we walked down to his next class together. Once he was sitting in his chair, I hopped onto his desk so that I was facing him. He put his hands on my knees and drew little patterns absently. “Are you going to eat lunch with me today?” I asked.

  His hands stilled. “I don’t know,” he replied.

  I leaned forward and placed a hand on his cheek. “Please?” I pressed a light kiss to his lips.

  He groaned. “Are you seriously going to start this again?”

  I smiled against his lips. “Oh yeah.”

  He raised his hands to push on my shoulders a little. “Fine, I’ll eat lunch with you. But you’ll owe me.”

  “Hmm, and what exactly am I going to owe you?”

  He grinned wickedly at me. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

  I sighed. “Why do I have a feeling I’ll regret this?”

  “Because you probably will.”

  “Oh well, it’ll be worth it if you’ll start eating lunch with me.” I stood up and looked down at him. “I need to get to class before I’m late.”

  He grabbed my hand and tugged on it until I leaned down. He pressed his lips to mine in a sweet kiss. “I’ll meet you in the cafeteria then?”

  “Yeah, I’ll see you there.” I left the classroom and headed to my own. Rachel and David were both there already, and I quickly took my seat beside David.

  “So how did the date go?” Rachel asked.

  I smiled. “It went really well.”

  “Are you guys a couple now?”

  I nodded. “Yeah. We decided that I’m the only one who will put up with his cranky ass.”

  David chuckled. “He seemed more like himself the other day. You’re good for him.”

  I shrugged. “He’s good for me, too. We seem to level each other out.”

  Rachel leaned forward a little so she could see me better. “Did he kiss you?”

  I blushed a little. “Yeah,” I mumbled.

  “What was it like? Is he a good kisser?”

  “He’s a very good kisser, but that’s all I’m telling you.”

  She pouted a little. “Spoilsport.”

  I grinned. “Don’t worry; you can grill him at lunch. I convinced him to sit with me.”

  David’s eyes widened. “He’s seriously going to eat with us?”

  “Yeah. But don’t expect him to really talk or anything. He might be starting to socialize again, but I don’t know if he’ll be ready to talk to anyone else or not yet,” I warned.

  “The fact that he even agreed to eat with us is amazing enough, so I won’t be offended if he doesn’t talk,” David replied.

  Rachel just waved her hand in dismissal. “I’ll get that boy to talk. No one can resist my charm.”

  I lifted an eyebrow. “By all means, go ahead and try. But if he snaps at you, don’t take it personally. He doesn’t really have any manners yet.”

  The bell rang, so we turned our attention to the teacher. The class seemed to drag on today, but that was probably because I was eager to have lunch with Blake.

  When the bell finally rang to signal lunch, I got out of my seat. “See you in a bit,” I called out to my friends as I hurried out of the room. I stopped at my locker to chuck my bag in and then made my way to the cafeteria.

  Blake and Sophie were waiting outside the doors, and I saw Sophie say something to Blake. His head turned in my direction and I stopped in front of him a moment later. He reached for my hand and entwined our fingers. “Ready to get this over with?” he asked.
>
  I chuckled as the three of us walked into the cafeteria. “You make it sound like this is going to be torture,” I teased.

  “It kind of is to me. I don’t like people, remember?”

  “You like me,” I replied.

  “Yeah, but that’s just because you let me kiss you.”

  I rolled my eyes and shoulder bumped him. “Just for that, I might not let you kiss me for the rest of the day.”

  “We’ll see about that,” he responded with a smirk.

  Sophie chuckled. “You two make such an interesting couple.”

  I grinned at her as we stood in the food line. “That’s because we’re both awesome.”

  “That’s what I was going to say,” Blake said.

  “I know. That’s why I said it.”

  We bought our food and then went to the table where my friends were sitting. Blake fell silent as we took our seats, but I’d been expecting that. He ate his food in silence beside me and even though Rachel tried to talk to him a couple of times, he blatantly ignored her. She wasn’t perturbed though; she just shrugged and turned to talk to Sophie.

  When I finished eating, I moved my chair closer to Blake so I could put my hand on his knee. I leaned closer to him and whispered in his ear. “Thank you for sitting with me.”

  He sighed before turning to kiss the top of my head. “You’re welcome. And you so owe me later. Rachel doesn’t shut up, does she?” he asked quietly.

  I chuckled quietly. “No, she really doesn’t. But she really is a nice person. Maybe you’ll see that eventually.”

  “I know she’s nice, and I’m glad she’s with David. But her chattering is giving me a bit of a headache.”

  I kissed his cheek. “Don’t worry you learn to tune it out eventually.”

  I saw his eyebrows rise from under his sunglasses. “Really? You think with my sensitive hearing, I’ll really be able to tune her out?”

  I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. “Okay, maybe you won’t be able to,” I said, amusement evident in my voice.

  “Oh yeah, just laugh it up,” he replied sarcastically.

  “You’ll survive,” I promised.