Disabled.

Fifty-Four

Fifty-Four

It had been more than two hours since Nadia had gotten home after speaking with Mason as she lay on her bed, just looking at her phone. When Mason had sent her home, she had told him to text her when he got home safely. 

Knowing that his home was less than two hours away, she was beginning to worry that something might have happened to him. And to make matters worse, she had sent him a message a few minutes ago with no reply.

She closed her eyes tightly, wishing with every fiber of her being that he had gotten home safely. But as she closed her eyes, she was reminded of what Mason had said to her after she had told him what his aunt had said to her,

"As much as those words she said hurt you, I can't believe she would go behind my back to do something like this. I thought she of all people, knowing everything that I've been through, would be happy for me."

He placed both of his hands on either side of her face as he looked into her eyes.

"As hard as it might be for you, I want you to ignore her and just look at me. Just know that my feelings for you are serious and there's nothing and no one that's going to change that. I..." 

She looked at him with a slightly confused expression as he trailed off, hoping that he would take that as a sign to keep talking. But instead of finishing his sentence, he placed a soft kiss on her lips.

What was he going to say to her? she thought now as she finally opened her eyes, just in time to hear her phone vibrate beside her pillow. She quickly picked it up and felt her lips turn into a smile as she saw Mason's name as the sender of the text.

And instead of finding an explanation for why he was now sending her a message, his text simply said,

What are you doing tomorrow night?

Nothing, why? she texted in reply. And a few moments later, she received a reply,

"Let's go on a date."

---

To Nadia's relief, the next day came very quickly. However, the day itself seemed to go by slowly as she impatiently waited for it to be 7:30pm. 

The time was now 12pm as she was finishing her physiotherapy session. She thanked the therapist who she had gotten to know over the months before getting her things and following her mother to the car. 

"What are you guys going doing on this date?" her mother asked as she pulled out of her parking spot. Nadia shrugged as she looked down at her phone.

"Mason wouldn't tell me anything about it. He just said to be ready by 7:30," she told her mother. She looked up to find her smiling at her as if she knew something.

"Why are you smiling like that, mom?" 

Her mother chuckled as she continued to focus on driving.

"What are you talking about? This is how I always smile."

Nadia squinted her eyes at her mother, hoping that the gesture would get her to say whatever it was that she knew. But to her disappointment, it didn't work.

Nadia went back to using her phone as her mother drove. And to her surprise, when she stopped it wasn't at their home but a grocery store.

"Why are we here? Do you need to go shopping?" Nadia asked, unbuckling her seat belt. But before she could move, her mother stopped her. 

"You don't need to come with me Nadia, I'm just picking up a few things. I'll just be a few minutes so why don't you wait here?" 

Nadia nodded as she watched her mother turn off the car, and grab her wallet and phone before getting out of the car. And when her mother was no longer within her site, she returned her attention to her phone. She opened her text conversation with Mason and attempted to determine what they would be doing on this date.