I See Through Your Eyes

3. The Aftermath

The date seemed to have gone great but the final comment left a bitter taste. The ride home was silent, only disturbed by the music on the radio. For the first time in a long time, Alex had actually enjoyed going on a date and could potentially have made a friend. However, she thought that if Erik kept bringing up his blindness as a problem, it could make everything uncomfortable and stressful for both. Alex considered just being honest with him as he seemed to be a very straight-forward guy, but maybe it was better to just not say anything. For the moment, she was going to focus on her work.

During the lunch break, Alex's phone rang but she did not recognise the number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's... ah... Erik."

"Oh, hey. How's it going?"

"Good, I guess."

"That's... good..."

Alex did not know what to say, and it seemed that Erik didn't either, shown by the awkward long silence.

"So you called because..."

"Oh, yeah. I wanted to ask if you'd be up for a coffee this weekend."

"Oh, ok. Sure, why not?"

"Good, good. Meet at the Teapot around 3pm?"

"Yeah, sounds good."

"Good, good."

"Great."

Alex waited for an answer from Erik but nothing came through.

"Anything else, Erik?"

"No. See you on Saturday?"

"Yeah, bye."

"See ya."

It was the weirdest call Alex ever had, but it was kind of funny, and it made her somewhat happy that Erik called. Maybe it meant that dinner did not go as bad. The meeting could be a chance for them to talk about what happened at the end of the night. It would be good to add a new friend to her very small friend list.

The rest of the week went so fast and Saturday arrived in a blink of an eye.
When Alex arrived, Erik was already there, fiddling and staring at a mug. Or at least looked like he was.

"Hey. Have you been waiting long?"

"Oh, hi. No, no. Just got a coffee. Thought it would be weird for everyone if I was just staring at the table or into infinity."

"Yeah, you should worry about not looking crazy."

"Ahah, exactly..."

Once seated and with a warm coffee in her hands, Alex glanced at Erik. He was looking back. There was this weird feeling of comfort and easiness as if hanging out with Erik was not forced.

"I'm glad you called."

Alex let out the words and it was too late to take them back when she realised.

"Really? I was afraid you would say no because of the way I behaved last time."

"Yeah... it was a little bit too much, you know?"

"I have spent the past days going over it. And I want to apologize. I'm used to the expectation of not being able to take care of myself. And to the pity."

"Maybe people just want to help you."

"There's help and there is looking at me as an invalid person."

"How do you know that's how people look at you if you can't see?"

"Good point. But you just... know. It's a feeling you develop."