Blind Love (Edited)

Chapter 9: After the walk

"Hi," Lauren answered. She drew closer to him and when she was close enough to him, she recognized him immediately. "You're the guy who bumped into me a while back."

Landon's eyes darted to the direction that the voice was coming from and he asked, "You remember that?"

Lauren nodded still not knowing that Landon was blind. "It's not that easy to forget. Look I'm really sorry about that. I didn't mean for you to get hurt or anything."

"It's fine, really. I'm the one who should be sorry. I mean, I practically almost blew up on you. It was beyond mean and I should have been nicer."

"I still think that I should have been more careful."

"No, it's fine. Really." Lauren looked down and she realized that she was nervous. His jade green eyes were looking in her direction and it made her feel weird. Then she realized that she hadn't even introduced herself. She offered him her hand and and said, "I'm Lauren, by the way."

Landon hesitated but he knew that she had offered him her hand. He couldn't just leave her hanging like that. He raised up both his hands and felt the air until his right hand found hers. "I'm Landon. Nice to meet you."

Lauren had frozen a few moments before when she saw Landon feel the air. It seemed like a funny thing to do. But she didn't mind it, It was weird but it didn't make her feel uncomfortable. And then she realized that he had said his name was Landon.

"Landon?" she repeated.

"Yes..ma'am. That's me."

"I'm Lauren, the neighor who was at your house the other day for dinner."

At the mention of these words, Landon stiffened. He had not been at the dinner precisely because he did not want them to know he was blind. He didn't want to be subjected to the stares and the judgements.

Lauren noticed that his eyes looked beyond her, just like that time when he bumped into her. She didn't understnad it until she remembered a soap opera that she had watched. The protaganist of the soap opera had that same look. When she looked at someone, her eyes would always look beyond the person and they would wonder all over the place. They would never focus on the person she was looking at. At that moment, she remembered why the protagonist did that. She had been in a car accident which left her blind. That was why she would never look directly at the person who would approach her. Then she looked up at Landon. She studied him, especially his eyes and then she realized that blindness was the perfect explanation. Wow, she thought, he's blind and I never noticed. He's so brave though. I don't know if I would be able to be this strong, to isolate themselves from the rest of the world because I knew that they would never accept me. I admire him already. Crazy, but it's true."You're... blind." Lauren said slowly, waiting for his reaction. He was still frozen in his stiffened state. And the response to her statement was barely above a whisper," Yeah, ever since I was four."

"Is this why you weren't downstairs at the dinner?"

"Yes. I usually get the 'you're a freak' reaction, or something in between."

"There's nothing wrong with being blind. It doesn't make you a freak of any kind."

At these words, Landon began to feel better and he let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. In fact, he was surprised."Really?" he asked her.

"Yeah. I believe what I said."

"You're the first."

Lauren heard these words and she thought about that. "I'm the first to think what?"

"You're the first to think that there's nothing wrong with me just because I'm blind. Everyone else thinks I'm a freak and they don't even turn my way. They avoid me on the street and school...don't even get me started on school. People are not very nice to me. They don't give me the chance," he answered back.