The next day, Lauren woke up first and she made breakfast for the family. They all came down and were surprised to see that breakfast was already served.
Landon was the first to speak. "Lauren...you didn't have to do this."
Lauren knew that he was trying to be kind but she wanted to do it. "It's the least I could do for the people who have helped me through these tough times of mine. You guys deserve this and much more."
Landon walked his way over to Lauren. When he was sure that he had found her, Landon searched for her hands. When he found them he took her hand and with the other hand he felt his way around and stopped when he found the chair. He let go of her hand there and told her gently, "Sit. It's the least we can do for you, since you made us breakfast."
As he was walking away, Landon's hand brushed Lauren's arm. Sparks shot through Lauren's arm and Landon felt the sparks ignite, too. They both did their best to ignore the sparks and act like nothing happened. After all, Landon's entire family was there.
The truth was that Landon's family had no problem with that. In fact, they wanted Lauren and Landon to be together. They made such a perfect couple in their eyes. Nothing would have made them happier if Landon and Lauren would come with the news that they were dating.
Now they all saw how appreciative Landon was being to Lauren. Her son was a gentleman, Laura observed. And it made her proud to know that her son wasn't mean and cold. She was sure that if it had been any other boy, he would have been very cold and resentful. There was no saying in what could have happened, but she was thankful that it was Landon and not some other boy who was her son. She realized she sounded very mean, but it was nothing but the truth.
They all sat down around the table and began eating the breakfast that Lauren had made. The food on the plate was eggs, mixed with ham and a few quesadillas on the side. And the drink was lemonade. There was no doubt that they all loved this kind of breakfast in this morning. It was usually what Laura always made and to tell the truth, Laura was surprised that Lauren had read her mind to what she was going to do today for breakfast. It really shocked her.
They finished their plates and for once since Lauren got to the house, Laura washed them. Everyone else dispersed throughout the house to start cleaning. Bryan went to the backyard. There was really nothing to clean out there.
So he went back inside. Lauren and Landon went upstairs to clean the rooms up there. Lance went to the kitchen. The only place left was the garage. So Bryan went there.
An hour later, Bryan, Lance, Laura, Landon and Lauren were sitting in the backyard with glasses full of lemonade. They had worked hard for at least an hour but it was totally worth it. The house looked as if it shined afterwards. Everyone except for Landon and Lauren announced that they were going back inside the house.
When the glass door slid shut, Landon turned his head to where he smelled paint. "Remember that time I promised you that I would take you downtown or someplace?"
Lauren nodded. "Yes."
"Want to go today?"
Lauren looked up at him. Landon's face told her that he was being serious. She smiled and then she gave his response. "Sure."
"Okay, then. We'll have to catch the light rail. But make sure that we sit on the right side. Last time, I say on the side that was facing the front and they were going in the opposite direction. I felt like I was going to fall out of the seat."
Lauren laughed. She noticed that Landon always made her laugh, even in the toughest of times. And that was one of the things she loved about him. "Yeah. I'd like that."
"Okay then. Let's go and have fun. I'm going to take you downtown. I swear it's the coolest place ever. Well here in Sacramento. In my opinion, anyway."
"It's okay, Landon. I'm sure it's going to be fun."
"Come on." Landon stood up and told her to follow him inside the house. He bumped into his mom. "Mom?" he asked.
"Yes, sweetie?" she said.
"We're going to go downtown today. We're going to take the light rail."
"Landon, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Mom. Come on. I promised this to her. The least I could do is keep my promises, don't you think?"
Laura sighed, knowing that Landon was absolutely right. She then turned to Lauren and spoke to her, "Lauren, will you please take care of him while you're there?"
"Of course, Laura. I won't let anything happen to him. Don't you worry."
"Okay then." She turned back to Landon. "You guys can go. But don't be back too late; do you understand?"
"Yes ma'am." Lauren and Landon answered simultaneously.
Lauren and Landon walked out of the house and they walked all the way to the light rail station. The ticket cost two dollars and fifty cents. They each paid that amount and then they went to sit down to wait for the next light rail train. It came a few minutes later. Landon was led by Lauren. She was telling him where there was a step and when to lift his leg up. Remembering what Landon had told her about the direction the train was going, Lauren sat in the seats that were facing away from the door that they had entered.
"What now?" she asked.
"We wait. There are multiple stops the bus has to make, since it is a public form of transportation. It takes a few minutes for us to actually get downtown, but don't worry. It'll all be fine." he responded.
"I'm not worried when I'm with you." Lauren gasped at the words that she had said. What the hell did I just say? she thought.
Landon didn't seem to overthink the words that had been said and instead he asked, "Really?"
Lauren nodded. "Yeah. It makes me feel safe that you're here."
The smile that crossed his face was amazingly bright. It melted Lauren's heart. And it also made her happy that the smile that was now plastered on his face was because of her.
"Okay. That's definitely a good thing." he said.
"You say it like it doesn't happen at all." she observed.
He turned his head towards the sound of Lauren's voice. "It doesn't happen at all."
"Oh." was all that came out as a response. It was incredible what one person with a 'disability' for lack of a better word, had to go through.
"I don't understand why." she added.
Landon gave a small, sad smile. It broke Lauren's heart. "Well, I don't blame them. Someone has to see to keep someone safe from danger."
Lauren shook her head, forgetting that Landon couldn't see her. "But you have to rely on instinct as well. And your other senses are really good. That's enough to keep someone safe. And besides you workout with your uncle, so I'm sure that helps."
"I wish a lot more people thought like you."
Her heart broke as she heard him say those words. She wanted desperately to let him know how amazing he was and that if other people didn't see that, then they were missing out on something great. But as much as she tried to tell that, he never believed her.
"This is our stop." Landon said suddenly.
"Are you sure?" Lauren asked him.
"I'm positive. I've done this millions of times."
Lauren and Landon walked out of the bus. They walked for another few blocks and soon they saw a plaque that read Downtown Plaza. They walked under what looked like a bridge and when they came out on the other side there was a plaque that read Old Sacramento.
They went back to the area that said "Downtown Plaza." They were met with a bunch of small stores and places like that. Lauren was amazed to see that there were escalators going up.
"Come on," he said. "Don't just stand there."
Landon walked up to the place and went to find a Starbucks. But he wasn't really looking for the Starbucks. He was looking for the booth that was close next to it. "Are we in front of Starbucks?" he asked her.
"Yes, we are." she answered.
Landon turned to his right and pointed. "There's a picture booth right there."
Lauren's eyes followed the direction that his finger was pointing to and was shocked to see that it was true. "Yeah, there is."
Landon took out a five dollar bill and told her to put it in there. "Want to take a picture?"
"I'd love to," Lauren replied as she took the five dollar bill from Landon's hand. She went over to the machine and slid it in. Almost immediately she went to guide Landon as quickly as she could inside. There were four seconds left and they sat just in time. "Look ahead and smile." she instructed him.
He did as he was told.
"Funny faces." she announced.
He crossed his eyes and smiled, then to add it to it all, he held up a peace sign. Lauren crossed her eyes and made fish lips. She,too also added a peace sign to the mix. The photo was taken and she was happy.
Landon turned his head in the direction he knew that Lauren was. She looked at him, and at once, she became lost in his eyes. Landon, noticing the silence, smiled and asked "What?"
They didn't realize that the picture had been taken of them in that position.
Lauren woke from her hypnotized state and answered, "Nothing." Then she added, "Last picture."
Landon placed his arm around Lauren's shoulders. This surprised her, but her arm went instinctively around his waist.
"Look ahead," she instructed.
They both did, but Lauren realized that the picture had already been taken. "Aww man. We were too late."
"It's okay, Lauren. Two out of four good ones is okay." He added.
Lauren smiled, despite of herself. "Come on, let's see how the pictures came out."
She helped Landon come out of the booth and she went over to where Landon indicated that the pictures should come out of. When the photo strips were ready, she picked them up and studied the pictures. The last two pictures surprised her. In both of them, they were looking at each other. That's funny, she thought, I hadn't realized that he was 'looking' at me.
She also noticed that the last two pictures was when they had missed the countdown. But there was something more to them. There was something there that she couldn't quite pinpoint. It was nagging at her, but she'd eventually figure it out. In the pictures, it didn't seem that Landon was blind at all. On the contrary, it seemed as if Landon could see. That was probably what was nagging her, the thing that was in the picture that she couldn't quite say what it was.
"So..how did the pictures come out?" he asked her, bringing her back from her deep thoughts.
She looked at the pictures and she smiled again. "They came out looking pretty good. Worthy of an autograph, I would say."
Landon laughed. "Of course."
"I'm serious."
"I know."
"Then why did you laugh?"
"Because it's adorable how serious you get when you say something that's supposed to be funny."
A blush found its way to Lauren's cheeks. It was at moments like these where she was grateful that he couldn't see her. "Ummmm...thanks, I guess."
"Come on, Lauren. Let's go upstairs. There should be a restaurant up there. It's close to the Century Theaters."
"Okay," she said as he took her hand.
When they got to the escalator, Lauren told him when to step on the escalator, and when to step off. "Okay it should be somewhere there. Just keep walking until you find windows with tables on the other side and a lit up menu up somewhere." Landon instructed.
Lauren walked straight ahead from where the escalators left off. She searched and after walking for a few minutes, she found the restaurant she was looking for. "Found it. Come on, let's go." she said excitedly.
They walked up to the young man in front of the cash register and Lauren looked up at the menu. "What do you want?"
"I don't know." he said. "I've never eaten here before."
She picked something that she thought sounded or looked good. She then turned to Landon.
"I'll have the same as you." he said.
"Okay." then Lauren turned to the young man. "Two orders of the same thing please."
The young man, whose name tag said Matthew, input all the information into the cash register. Then looking up at her, he said, "That will be twenty dollars and ten cents."
Lauren took out her wallet and took out a twenty dollar bill and a dime and she gave it to Matthew, despite the protests that were coming from Landon. Then they went to sit at an open table. It was when they were going to sit down that Lauren realized they were still holding hands. She let go of his hand and immediately, she felt the cold take over what was once warmth.
"You didn't have to pay, you know." he said softly to her.
"I know, but I wanted to." she replied.
A few minutes later, their food came and they took their time with the food, always making conversation. After, they left.
"You want to watch a movie?" Landon suggested.
"But Landon-" she started to say, but was interrupted by Landon.
"Don't worry. I've done this millions of times before. It's okay. If you want to watch one, go ahead."
"Iron Man 3. I am absolutely in love with Robert Downey Jr."
Landon laughed with how much enthusiasm her voice was showing. "Sure."
They went to the ticket booth and they bought their tickets for Iron Man 3.
"Are you sure that it's going to be okay?" she asked him with concern in her voice.
"Yes, I'm sure, Lauren. Don't worry. I'll be fine."
They went to watch the movie. A few hours later, they came out of the movie and Lauren was fangirling about Robert Downey Jr.
"Did you see how cute he was when he was having his panic attack?!"
"Lauren. Please."
She looked around and then regained her composure. "Right. Sorry. But he was still pretty cute."
Landon laughed. "Yeah. You know what we have to absolutely do?"
"What?"
"We have to go to Old Sac to go to this candy store where you can pick two candies to sample for free. I swear, it's amazing. It's full of candy. Everywhere."
"Okay let's go."
Lauren took Landon's hand as an automatic reflex. They went under the bridge and were met again with the Old Sacramento plaque.
They walked around for a bit and they finally found it. Landon immediately went over to the taffy and picked a random one since he didn't know which one was which. Lauren went around just looking. She couldn't believe how many pieces of candy there were in one place. It was amazing.
Landon took a handful of taffy and put it in a bag. He took a twenty dollar bill from his pocket. Lauren came over to him.
"I don't know how much this is, but I hope that it's covered with this twenty dollar bill." he told her.
They paid the young woman standing behind the counter and then left off.
"You want one?" he turned to her.
"I'd love one." she said, reaching into the bag to get one. "Thanks."
"Of course."
They kept walking around and taking pictures. By the time that they had made it back to the light rail, they were tired and their feet was killing them.
"I think we did a little too much walking." Lauren said.
"I think it was just the right amount. What was your favorite part?" he answered.
"The boat. Definitely the boat. It was cool. And the bathrooms are so clean and nice looking. I was so impressed."
Landon laughed. "What about Robert Downey Jr.?"
"He was the second best part of all of this."
A small frown passed on his face, faking being hurt. "What about me?"
"It was great to have done all of that with you."
All the way back to Landon's house there was silence. Lauren slipped her hand in his. He squeezed gently, letting her know that he knew what she was doing.
"Thank you," she whispered. "I'd never had so much fun in my life."
Landon, then, did something Lauren never expected. He kissed her forehead lightly and said, "Thank you for giving me the chance."
Her heart fluttered as she felt his lips touch her forehead. It was at this moment that she remembered the photo strip. She took it out of her bag and ripped along the perforated lines. "Here you go." she said handing it to him and making sure that he had it in his hand.
"Thanks."
"What is happening to me?" was the thought that ran through their minds at the same time.