Love Is Blind

Brothers

I stared at Lacey in silence, unable to actually stop myself. This time, though, only part of me was cataloging her every feature. The rest of me was trying to figure out why she couldn't see me like I could see her.

"What's wrong, baby?" She asked softly, her hand reaching blindly out and finding my cheek, caressing it softly and I could see concern scrunch her features up. She probably assumed I had jolted up from a nightmare.

Pulling away, I stumbled to stand. Glad to still be fully dressed from yesterday, I grabbed my cane. More of an act than anything, I made it skid and skitter across the wooden flooring, stuttering as I spoke, "I-I've gotta... I've gotta go, Lacey."

Her whole face dropped and it twisted a knife into my heart to see it. "But.. Why? What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing. Swear. I've just uh..." I fumbled for some sort of excuse, anything to get me away from the hurt coating the soft planes of her lovely face, "I have to get home. I forgot I had something to do for work. It's due tomorrow. I've gotta go."

Without giving her any time to actually argue with me, I hurried down the stairs, doing my best to keep the cane sweeping the ground. Muscle memory did more than I consciously did, in the case of the cane. Hearing Lacey practically sprint after me made my heart clench and I tried not to seem too out of sorts.

Just as I slid my shoes on, glad I had left them lying near the front door, Lacey caught up and the accusation in her tone shattered the small bit of control I had, "Jacob, I'll help you with it. Come on. Don't go, please. I'll make waffles and we can talk this out, okay?"

"I can't, Lacey! I can't stay, okay?! I have to get home. Now," Gritting the words through my teeth, I made sure my laces were tucked into the shoe and grabbed the door knob.

"Jake...baby, please," She begged and her voice was no longer angry or concerned, it was pleading and broken.

Swallowing a shaky breath, I shook my head even though it hurt to know she couldn't see me, "I'm sorry, Lacey... I really can't. I'm so sorry...."

I opened the door and walked out, trying to shut it quickly, but I could still hear the pained rage come into her voice, "Screw you, too, Jacob Anderson! Don't come back!"

Ignoring the shattering of my heart as it scattered to the sidewalk, (odd, sidewalk had never seemed so ugly and mundane) I practically sprinted back to my place. Thankfully, my subconscious continued to count steps and work out when I would be home before I realized I had no clue what my house even looked like.

It didn't seem to be very extraordinary in the grand scheme of things really. It was just plain, looked quite a bit like almost every other house on the block, too. An off white color, like when light was soft behind my eyelids. The front door was a deeper shade of the color Lacey's eyes had been, seemingly almost blackened.

Not really stopping to pay attention to the coloring, (no matter how amazing being able to see it really was) I bolted inside and locked the door behind me. Pulling out my phone, I slammed the button on the side and demanded, "Phone, call Gabriel!"

My phone whirred annoyingly, and I watched as it went through processing my request and instead of putting up the call screen it just went back to what I assumed was the home screen. "I am sorry. Please say that again."

Growling, I gritted out, "Call. Gabriel."

Another round of annoying whirring and I got the same response, "I am sorry. I cannot process your request at this current moment. Please try again later."

Groaning, I jammed down the button and as calmly as I could, I said, "Phone. Please, call Gabriel."

Some more whirring and finally the call screen popped up and I listened to the deafening ring. A few moments later and I got an answer, albeit a distracted one, "Hey, I really can't talk right now. What's up?"