Seeing Blind |NH|

Chapter Thirty Eight

The next day, I woke up a little earlier than I wanted but decided that I would run down to the bakery across the street and pick up something for breakfast for us before we started painting again.

Without really knowing what she'd be in the mood for, I bought a little bit of everything – bagels, muffins, scones.  Walking back across the street, I felt good.  I felt like today was going to be a good day. 

Knocking on her door, she answered, covered in paint.   "Morning, Niall!" she said, cheerily, planting a kiss on my cheek.  She'd been doing that a lot, lately.

"Good mor—" I stopped.  Walking in, I saw that she had painted her kitchen and the hallway.  Looking to my left, I saw that she was working on her bedroom.  "You started early," I stated, placing the box of breakfast goods on her couch.

"Well, I never really stopped.  Couldn't get to sleep."

"You should've come and gotten me.  I would've come back."

"Nah, I don't want to wreck your sleep more than I already have this week."

"You couldn't wreck my sleep.  Or anything else, for that matter."  I mumbled, before smiling up at her.  Opening the box, I said, "Hungry for some scones?  Or a muffin?"

She giggled a little at me, but peeked in.  She moved her fingers around, deciding what to pick.  She looked especially cute doing that, with her clothes and hair the same way it had been yesterday.  She grabbed a scone and a bagel.

"Cream cheese?" she asked.

"Right here," I said, holding up a bag.

"Awesome.  Thanks, Niall."  She looked around her apartment.  "I think the only place not covered in plastic is my bathroom.  I don't really want to eat in there."

"The floor right here, works for me," I said, sitting down on her living room floor where we had had dinner the night before.

She sat down across from me.  "I'm excited for dinner tonight.  Patrick seems so excited about Miriam.  And she's so cute."

I nodded, having shoved a bit of bagel into my mouth.  "Yeah, he seems really excited about her."

"He told me you had said she needed our approval.  That's so cute."

"Well, she does!" I exclaimed.  "Patrick's a good guy and he deserves to have someone good in his life."

"Yeah...he does," she said, trailing off.

I looked over at her and saw that her mood had dropped.  "You deserve someone good in your life, too, Esta.  You know that, right?  You deserve someone who'll take you out on cute breakfast dates and get you an iced coffee; someone who'll reach around your waist from behind and give you neck kisses, head massages, play with your hair.  You deserve someone to sit with you and talk about big ideas and life.  Someone to remind you how dope you are when you aren't feeling so cool.  Someone should do that for you.  Because you shouldn't settle for anything less."

I said all this while simultaneously raising my own hand and placing strands of her hair behind her ear.

She half-smiled at me.  "I got you for all that.  Don't need anyone else."  I smiled at her.  "And what about you?  You deserve someone good, too, Niall.  Got any prospects lately?"

"Nope.  Been too busy.  And, honestly, I don't know..." I trailed off a bit, uncertain of where I was going.

"Don't know what?"

"Don't know if I'm really in the mood for dating.  I mean, we're about to get a break for the foreseeable future which would certainly give me more time but, yeah, I don't know.  I guess there's just no one who has really struck my interest."