edited by OhhPapiHarder
Chapter 9
“You still haven't answered to me why you keep coming to the cafe. I mean I would expect from you to stay at home and dedicate yourself to your books. I am sure you have deadlines to meet. How do you keep up staying almost all morning in the cafe?
“You always keep your eye on the target aren't you Cupcake? I promised to tell you everything and I will.” He removed his hands from her face and sat back on his chair, his food totally forgotten in front of him.
Nicky looked at him expectantly. She was very excited she would finally find out his secret. She only knew him for a few days, but in her uneventful life, something like that was too intriguing. She fidgeted with her food on her plate, rotating it from one place to the other without really eating anything either. Mike’s sensitive ears caught on that movement and he couldn’t help himself but respond to that.
“I see the food we worked so hard to prepare is actually going to waste since neither of us are eating it...” He commented not really trying to evade her question since he had already told her what he considered his big secret. His professional identity as a writer.
“You are changing the subject again. If you really don’t want to tell me the real reason why you are coming to the cafe, it is alright, I don’t want to put any pressure on you. I mean you already shared a big secret with me. I am positive none of the girls know that you are one of the most famous writers in the country.”
“I wouldn’t go that far appraising me. I am not that good and let’s not forget that we are living in a decade that most people don’t read any books. They prefer watching movies and listening to music. Books are out of fashion. I am certain that even if you mentioned my name your colleagues, none of them would know me.”
“No! That can’t be. Your books are amazing and are adored by many people and especially children!”
“Nah. You are just saying that cause you are obviously one of the leaders of my fan club. You are not objective at all.”
“You’re wrong, I am very objective. I read many books each month and I can assure you, yours are some of the best ones the town’s library has.”
“Wow you are reading a lot. And here I thought I was a regular bookworm. How come you are so different from the rest of the girls your age? Most of them spend their time after work in shopping and partying. How come you prefer to spend it reading?” he was the one to be intrigued this time.
“I’ll tell you if you tell me first.” She retorted and left him speechless. She had totally turned the tables on him.
“OK! Here it goes. Blindness can be quiet limiting. Even though I would love to live a very exciting life and experience many things, I don’t have that opportunity. So I borrow the experiences of the people around me. I come each day and listen to the other customers that come to the cafe and talk to their friends, their family or their lovers and I get ideas for the characters of my books. They talk about their problems, their workplaces, the places they travel or spend their time. All that is a great source of information for me and a great way to stimulate my imagination. They make me travel to worlds and emotions unknown that I share afterwards with my readers. I never put any of the stuff I hear as I hear them. They just inspire me to create new characters and situations my heroes get involved in. You could say that they help me to better understand how the human mind and psyche works. That is why I usually come without anyone else. If I had company with me they would just interrupt my concentration on the people surrounding me.” He waited for her reaction, but got nothing. If he didn’t hear her breathing he would have assumed she had vanished from his house.
“So you mean you are spying on people?” She whispered
“No silly I am not spying on people. I just hear about their lives and get inspired by it. If you think about it, not only I don’t know who they are, I don’t even know what they look like. That adds up a little bit to their anonymity. And like I told you I never write about the personal life of any of them, I write about the feelings I get from listening to them.”
“Are you going to write about me?”
“I think have already written about you.” He smiled at her warmly. “Your kindness really affected me yesterday and helped me add a whole new dimension to the leading character of my new book.”
“I don’t know if I should feel flattered or annoyed by that.” She said clearly baffled from the whole predicament she had found herself these past two days. “Please tell me your new character is not some kind of crazy stalker.” She said desperately.
“Hey I said you added kindness to my heroine. I knew you weren’t a crazy stalker. Us blind people have an extra sense for things like that.” He winked at her and she blushed like crazy. He was so kind to her and she couldn’t understand why. Could it be that he liked her more than a typical waitress in the place he goes to work? Could it be that he was interested in her as a woman? She rejected that idea as soon as it was formed in her head. She was not the type of woman that men usually went for, let alone a famous writer that could have any woman he liked at his peg and call.
“So are you still going to keep my secret safe?” He asked for affirmation even though deep inside he knew that she would never betray him.
“I already told you I would. I promise!” She said adamantly.
“So now that we have that out of our way, are you going to tell me what makes your habits and interests so different from the other girls your age?”
“Hmm I am not sure I want to tell you. It will probably end up on your next book. I am not sure I want to share my personal story with the whole world.” She said devilishly. She was half serious half teasing him.
“Oh come on, you are just being a tease. I spat out everything. Its your turn to tell me.”
“Nope” She said obviously happy with herself.
“OK, OK I promise I’m not going to write anything of what you’re going to tell me.”
“Can you also promise me that you’re not going to feel sorry for me?”
“Why would I feel sorry for you Cupcake?”
“Promise?”
“All right, I promise.”
“Well I already told you that my parents died when I was young and I went to live with my grandmother.”
“Yes”
“Well she was an adorable old lady that loved me a lot, but her pension money weren’t enough to support both of us, so I started working after school to earn our living. After work I used to go straight at home to help her with the housework and do my homework. To cut the story short I didn’t have the time or money to buy all the expensive toys and clothes my classmates had or to hang around with them. The few friends I had slowly drifted away. My financial situation did not ameliorate after I graduated from high school and after my grandma died I had to work overtime to make ends meet. I still can’t afford an expensive lifestyle and because of that I am not ‘friend’ material for people my age. Nowadays I don’t even make an effort to befriend people. I have books to keep me company and let me tell you they are the most loyal company I could ask for.” He was frowning by the time she stopped talking.
“Why wouldn’t people your age want to be friends with you? You are a very interesting person, kind, smart and funny to be around. And from what I gathered after touching your face you are beautiful too. I don’t get it.”
She could not believe he had called her beautiful. Nobody had called her beautiful before. Well wasn’t it ironic that the only person who thought that she was beautiful was a blind man. She did not know whether to laugh or cry. “I am not beautiful Mike and my appearance is probably the main reason people don’t want to befriend me. They never get close enough to me to get to know me for my character, so they just stay at the first appearance that is obviously not very appealing.”
“Well that is just nonsense and they are clearly stupid. I have felt your face and I know for a fact that you are a beautiful young lady. So that is definitely not the reason they are not your friends. They probably can sense how smart you are and feel intimidated by you. That is the only rational explanation I could give you. Well you are better off without them. You have me now, and I am going to introduce you to some smart people that will appreciate you and beg to be your friends.” He was angry now, and she couldn’t understand why. She didn’t like she somehow made him angry and she tried to make him smile.
“Hey I don’t want you to blackmail people to be friends with me. I told you I already have my books and I am just fine with them.”
“Well tough. Now you have me too and I am not going to let the matter go. Now give me your plate, I am going to reheat our food because it is cold now.”
“Hey don’t get mad but I don’t want your pity Mike. I can handle just fine the way I am. I have been for many years.” He left the plate in front of her and leaned in so close that she could fell his breath to her face.
“I don’t pity you Nicky. Never say that to me again. I like you and I trust you. I have shared a big secret with you. I am not going to accept people mistreating you.” She was mesmerized by how gorgeous he looked so close and couldn’t say a thing to him. So he took her silence as confirmation and took the plates to the microwave to reheat it. When he got back she was still rooted to her place.
“Come on let’s eat before it gets cold again.” They ate in silence, each to his own thoughts. When they were both finished Nicky thanked him for a wonderful dinner and got ready to leave.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay a little more. I mean it is still early. We could see a movie together. I mean you will be seeing it, I ll only hear it, so no action movies unless you want to be describing me everything that happens on the screen. I am a sucker for detail you know.” He winked at her.
“As tempting as that sounds, I really have to go. It is getting late and I don’t feel very safe walking around by myself.”
“You are right I didn’t think of that. So I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Yea we will talk at the cafe in the morning.”
“Wait before you leave I wanted to know what day is your day off from the cafe.”
“It is Thursday why?”
“Well next Thursday we are going to spend it together. I want you to meet my best friend and my nieces.”
“Mike I am not sure that is a good idea.”
“I am not taking no for an answer Nicky. Now go, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She wanted to disagree a little bit more but he placed a hand on her back and moved with her to the door, giving an end to their conversation. She said goodbye and he responded with a tender kiss to her cheek. She quickly went home so totally lost in her thoughts that she had nearly lost her stop while in the bus. This was definitely not her usual day.
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hey guys hope you liked it!!!!!!!!!!!
a big thank you to my new editor OhhPapiHarder
till next time
XXX