9 | toffee and flapjacks

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart.

Helen Keller

________________________

- L I L A -

Helena stood at the threshold of the door, her head lazily leaning against the frame as she crossed her arms in front of her. "Not your boyfriend, huh?"

I looked up at her mid-bite, setting my flapjack down on my desk. "What are you talking about?"

Yasmine pushed past her, and flashed me a grin. "She knows about your date with Matthew."

A half-laugh, half-groan was emitted from my mouth as I allowed my head to fall against the headrest. "Right... my date with Matthew." My fists clenched in my lap and I smiled. "It doesn't mean he's my boyfriend."

"Yet." Yasmine interjected with raised eyebrows whilst Helena entered my room, and plopped down on the desk chair.

"So where's he taking you?"

Yasmine nudged my legs with her knee, causing me to cross them whilst she took a seat at the end of my bed. I shrugged and positioned my elbow on the side of my knee, placing my chin in the palm of my hand. "I don't know, he said it was a surprise."

Yasmine giggled and scooted back to rest on the wall. "See, I told you he liked you."

I tilted my head to glance at her, and rolled my eyes. "It doesn't mean anything, though." I pointed out. "This date could go horribly wrong."

"Or miraculously right." Helena challenged, reaching for the rest of my flapjack. Staring at her, she smiled sheepishly, and offered me the crumb that lingered in the packet.

I tightened my jaw, and blinked. "You're going to get me another one from the kitchen."

Yasmine slapped my ankle and screamed quietly. "He's picking you up at 7 and it's 6; you need to get ready."

Helena rose from her seat and proceeded to exit my room, turning her head at the last step. "And on the way, I'm going to tell mom and dad. They ship it."

---

As soon as there was a knock on the door, my mom squealed whilst I had to remind myself that I actually had inhale oxygen to breathe.

My dad released a shaky laugh. "Okay, as much as I want you two together, don't have too much fun." He winced and rubbed the stubble on his chin. "Say hi to Matthew for me, and don't stay out too late."

My mom ushered me out the door and waved at Matthew, shaking her head at her stupidity when she processed that he was unfortunately blind.

"Hi." His voice was a gentle whisper, a lazy, soft smile adorning his features.

For once, he wasn't wearing his glasses. His eyes almost glimmered in the soft light the gibbous moon provided; his eye were a cloudy grey.

"Hey." I breathed, taking a step forward. "My dad says hi."

"I hope you don't mind us walking, the place I want to go isn't that far from here."

Looking over my shoulder, I noticed my mom and Helena watching both of us from the window, closing the curtain instantly once they noted they were caught. "I don't mind." I grinned, beginning to walk with him.

Matthew sighed, ruffling his hair. "I don't want you to feel awkward or uncomfortable on this date. Just think of it as us two getting to know each other better."

The nighttime air was warm, and naturally, I smiled. "I was surprised you actually asked me out on a date."

An expression of slight surprise overcame his facial features. "Why wouldn't I have? Who wouldn't want to go on a date with you?"

He cringed and bit his bottom lip whilst I couldn't control my laughter. "I'm nervous, sorry."

I agreed and grinned widely, ducking my head and huffing when crimson flooded my cheeks in an instant. "So, we've both established that we're nervous. Let's just relax."

He nodded and rolled his shoulders back, sighing. For the next couple of minutes, he continued to lead the way, stopping in the middle of the street, next to a pizza parlour.

"Yasmine said that you always wanted to eat here." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck and directed a smile my way.

One thing I noticed was that he was always smiling. Whether it was a closed-lip smile or a toothy grin, he always looked happy. That was one of the qualities I admired about him.

"I'd feel much better if you were more sarcastic." He laughed anxiously, looking down. "Like you were at the bakery."

I winced and sucked in a breath. "I was being so rude when I spoke to you, I'm so sorry." I said as I pushed the door, and placed a hand on his forearm.

He shrugged his shoulders and ran his tongue over his bottom lip. "It was highly amusing, I mean, it took you quite a while to notice that I was blind."

Laughter came from my mouth as my nerves calmed slightly. "I just thought you were being odd, and wearing glasses inside."

He shook his head and chuckled to himself, stopping once his cane hit the base of my foot.

- M A T T H E W -

The delicious scent of the pizza wafted up my nose as my mouth watered, causing me to lick my lips in anticipation.

My left hand shook under the table, a shiver surging down my spine once my right hand brushed Lila's slightly as I reached for a slice. "Try a pick up line on me."

She released a breathy laugh, presumably smiling before she responded. "Is your left eye hurting because you've been looking right all day." Her volumed decreased shyly at the end, which caused me to chuckle.

At least I have some sort of effect on her.

Focusing on Lila, I blocked out all the surrounding noise; from children's laughter to the sound of glasses clinking, and tried to imagine what she looked like.

It was hard since I didn't know what the colours looked like because although I wasn't completely blind, my eyes never picked up on anything but the outline of something if they were really close up, like someone I was about to kiss.

To be honest, looks didn't matter to me that much. My grandma had once told me that when you're old, your good looks would fade away, and the person who loved you would continue to love you because they fell in love with your personality and everything else.

Isaac, along with my parents, had already told me that Lila was beautiful, though. "Lila. On a scale from 1 to 10, how good are you at ice-skating?"

She was silent for a few moments, pushing the plate closer to me. "7?"

I smiled to myself, inwardly praising Isaac for giving me the idea to go ice-skating with her. With me being blind, I'd have to hold onto her for the whole time.

The whole time.

"Good, because I'm like a 4."

---

"Are you sure you've got the hang of it now?" she asked, slowly taking her hands from mine.

I nodded and straightened out my back, beginning to ice skate on my own. "Yeah, but tell me if I'm going to bump into-"

A grunt was drawn from my lips as I bumped into something solid - which was probably a wall before Lila had her hands back on me.

She giggled and laced our hands together again to hold me upright.

Thank you, Isaac.

Honestly, I wasn't that bad at ice skating, but I wasn't going to tell her any time soon.

"You said I was going to fall in love with you, but here you are, continuously falling, literally."

She elicited a laugh from me. I'm not in love with you... yet. "But I still look hot doing it."

Trying again, Lila skated backwards whilst pulling me forward. My grip on her hands remained steady as our movements went swimmingly.

When she was backed up against a wall, I quickly dropped her hands, and placed them flat against the wall to prevent me crashing into her. "You know," I whispered. "Pick up lines should be our thing; it's entertaining."

"I'm probably going to get all of them from Google, though." She responded, chortling.

Smirking, I moved my head further away from hers. "I'll let it slide - if you go on a second date with me.

"Deal."

_____

Standing at her door step, she passed my jacket back, exhaling a soft sigh. "Thank you for tonight, I had fun."

My lips pulled back into a large smile. "I had fun too, it was nice, but does it change anything between us?"

"In what way?"

"Like," I sighed, "it's not going to be awkward between us tomorrow at school, and we can continue being how we were before, having no awkward moments."

She hummed in response and moments after, she had her arms around me, her head against my chest.

I sucked a harsh breath in, wrapping my arm around her lower back, and wincing when my heart rate sped up substantially. "No awkward moments, I promise."

We stood there for a while before Lila laughed silently. "My family aren't really being discreet on spying on us, you know."

"My parents are worse," I chuckled. "They made a bet that we were going to go on a date, and now, my dad owes my mum 50$."

She stepped back, laughing. "That's something Helena and Dan would do."

"It's getting late; good night, Lila."

"Good night, Matthew." She replied, pressing her lips to my cheek and giving me a soft kiss.

I guess the wishing fountain worked.