Through Her Shattered Eyes ✔

Chapter 6

Ah, yes. Nathan Yamamoto. So many, many memories of him bubble up to the surface of my mind. Both good and bad. The one that flashes across my mind, though, is the day I met him, the first time we spoke to each other. It was ten months ago at a Barnes and Noble down at Ashley Park. I remember it was a Saturday afternoon and the weather was utterly miserable. It was overcast; the clouds were very dark and ominous-looking. Initially, I was going to have James drive me to the library in Fayetteville. It's where I was supposed to go just to catch up on some of my leisure reading. He was coming along merely to browse the young adult section. However, when both of us got to the library, it was packed with people. Mainly young couples with their little ones. It was noisy, too.

We changed our minds and wound up going to Newnan instead. The Barnes and Noble there, odd as it was, was so much more quiet than the library. From there, James and I went our separate ways. He went off to browse the young adult novels while I went over to the cafe. After ordering myself a blueberry muffin and a tall cup of coffee, I sat at a table that was set sort of like a mini booth. I brought out my Divergent book from my purse and started reading it, tracing my fingertips over the Braille. It was when I took a sip of my coffee I suddenly felt the presence of another person standing across from me.

"Don't tell me you're finished browsing already. We just got here," I joked, thinking it was James.

"Well, if you say so, miss," the person replied.

Oops. Not James. It wasn't his patented deep, Dennis Haysbert voice. I looked up at the person, even though I couldn't see who it was. I then looked back down, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry, I thought you were someone else," I said to them.

"Don't apologize, it's fine. Would it be all right if I sit here? I can't seem to find a seat anywhere, they're all taken."

"Um, yeah. Sure. No else is sitting there."

"Thank you."

"Uh-huh." I smiled politely.

He slid into the booth and I went back to reading my book. It was kind of quiet between us for a few minutes. But I could sense a set of eyes watching me.

"You look familiar. Didn't we take a class together?" the guy asked.

I shook my head. "I don't think so, we haven't met."

"What's your name?"

"People call me Ali, but my full name is Alexis. Yours?"

"I'm Nathan."

"That's a lovely name. Very nice to meet you."

He chuckled. "Same here."

I let out a soft chuckle as I looked back down and started reading again.

"What book are you reading?" Nathan asked. Holding up the book cover to show him, I pointed. "Oh, Divergent. I read that, too."

"Have you?"

"Yeah, a couple years back when I was twenty."

"Did you like it?"

"Meh, it was okay. It's not something I'd read again."

"Seriously? I love Divergent. This is actually the second time I'm reading the series," I said.

"That's pretty cool," he replied. "Are you reading it in Braille?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Are you blind?"

I bit my bottom lip. "Yes," I repeated hesitantly.