Blind Date

Chapter 17

It was Saturday, and I was going to plan a picnic with a few friends that could encourage Sara while she was going through the misery of losing someone. I made a list of who to call and checked them off if they said yes, and marked them out if they said no. Cameron, Chloe, Micah, and Ariana all said yes. Michelle and Brady said no. After I called everyone on my list, I went to the kitchen.

"John, can you come in here please?" I hollered. John came downstairs and rushed to the kitchen.

"Did you need me?" he asked.

"Yes! Can you help me pack a picnic lunch?" I pointed to the food I lied out.

"Sure. Can I come to the picnic?" John replied.

"Of course, but only if you get the chocolate chip cookie dough out and put it in the oven." I grinned at him.

"You've got a deal." he smiled and opened the fridge to get the cookie dough out.

I made eight sandwiches in case anyone wanted seconds, and John made enough cookies to feed the whole football team. I put water in one pitcher and milk in another, then put everything in a cooler.

"What am I missing?" I put my hands on my hips and looked down at the food we packed.

"The picnic blanket?" John looked at what I was bringing. Sure enough, I didn't get the picnic blanket out. I snapped my fingers.

"That's it. Let me get the picnic blanket and we can leave." I ran to the cleaning room and reached for the picnic blanket, but everything fell off of the shelf.

"Ugh." I sighed and put everything back, then rushed back to the kitchen.

"Let's go." I picked up the cooler and the jackets, and we went outside and walked to the park where everyone was meeting us. On the way, John started asking me about Cameron.

"Is that Moore guy your boyfriend?" John asked.

"Yes-well, no, but he likes me, and I like him, and we've been on two dates." I answered.

"Well, why doesn't he ask you to be his girlfriend?" John looked at me and shaded his eyes from the sun.

"I don't know. I'm hoping he'll ask me today." I smiled in confidence.

"Why are girls always like that?" John asked.

"Like what?" I replied.

" 'Oh, he's gonna ask me today, then we're going to live happily ever after.' " John mocked me and flipped his imaginary long hair. I playfully hit him over the head and laughed at his horrible imitation.

"Because we aren't like guys, I guess." I responded. John rolled his eyes and grinned, and we kept walking until we got to the park. When we got there, I didn't see Sara. I looked around, and spotted her sitting on a bench with Cameron. John sat up the picnic stuff for me and I went over to the bench they were sitting on. I "eavesdropped" on their conversation.

"It's hard to handle all of this. First my mom finds out she was pregnant then lost the baby, then my cousin comes to town and asks my best friend on a date and now she hardly ever has time for me, now my dad is gone, forever. I can't take all of this at once." Sara hesitated. Was Cameron Sara's cousin? No. That was impossible.

"Sara, you just have to trust God. He'll help you, no matter how hard it gets. Yes, aunt Caroline had a miscarriage, and I know it must have been heartbreaking to know that you were going to get a baby sister and you lost her, but God mended your broken hearts that time. And, hey, I like Jennette. I may be your cousin, but that doesn't mean I can't date Jennette. You never know, if it's in God's plan for Jennette and me, and we get married, your best friend will be your cousin. It was your dad's time to go, and God knows what's best. 'Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding,' from your perspective, God took your dad away, and now it's hard to trust Him because your dad is gone because of Him. That isn't how it really is, though. You have to trust God with all of your heart, because He can take more from you then what you expect, and God's plan is better than yours. He knows what He's doing." Cameron always replied to someone's hardships with one hundred word paragraphs, but it always helped. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Cameron. Sara's cousin. It explains why they're always hanging out together, but I don't understand why they didn't tell me. I also didn't understand why Cameron called Sara' mom and dad Mr. and Mrs. if they were his uncle and aunt.

"Come on, guys, everyone is arriving." John ran up and blew my cover. Sara and Cameron turned around, and Sara saw me, I had my mouth open, trying to say something, but the words weren't coming to me.

"Di- did you hear any of that?" Sara asked me.

"I-, um, it doesn't matter." I replied awkwardly. I walked away. This picnic was going to be extremely weird.

Everyone was eating and talking, and I ate slowly and stayed quiet. I was afraid I would come out and ask them if they were really cousins and shock everyone. I was going to let them tell me themselves. When everyone was finished eating and talking, we went wading in the water. Cameron tried to explain to me a bunch of times, but ended up closing his mouth before he could say anything. I was sitting on the bank, my feet dangling in the water, when Cameron came and sat down beside of me.

"I want to ask you something, but I don't want to scare you off." he said without his usual smile.

"Ask me, you won't scare me off." I replied curiously.

"Will you be my girlfriend? I know I'm blind and everything and I might not be able to-" I stopped him,

"Yes."

"You will?"

"I will. Even if you are my best friend's cousin and you didn't tell me." I replied, letting him know I knew.

"Oh, you know." he looked down.

"Why didn't you guys tell me at school when we first met?" I asked in a calm voice, so he wouldn't think I was mad.

"Because we didn't know how to. We wanted to, but it would've been weird. When my mom- Sara's mother's sister - called the Lowery's telling them we were moving here, Sara didn't want me to tell anyone I was her cousin, because she wanted to. But when she never told you, I asked her if I could, but I just didn't know how to tell you without making things awkward. I'm sorry, I really am." he replied, with his long paragraph.

"I'm not mad or anything. I understand. I'm just glad the truth is finally out- finally." we both grinned.