Vanilla Ch. 01-05

I heard the waitress say in a cheery voice, "Hey, Honey! Go ahead and grab a seat and I'll grab you a menu!"

And then I heard the one sound that could have made my blood go cold.

I heard the tapping of a cane.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw the beautiful blind, blonde girl that I had insulted like an idiot in my previous visit. She had her backpack on, and her heavy black glasses.

She moved in a way that amazingly impressive, using her cane to tap her way around the restaurant and negotiating the obstacles in her way without bumping into anything.

Grimacing, I turned away from her, thankful that she was blind and that I could just get away with quietly sitting in the booth and pretending that I didn't exist...

She started working her way past me...

And to my horror, she stopped just as she reached my table.

She put her nose out, sniffing as moved her head back and forth a little...

Looking up, I made a face and stayed quiet.

She smiled widely, "Thank you for buying me dinner the other night..."

I had to admit; I was very surprised...

The words tumbled out of me, "How did you know it was me?"

She smiled and my heart stuttered, "I can smell you."

Taken aback, I answered, "I smell?"

I sniffed at myself, suddenly worried that I might smell that strongly...

She laughed, "Only in a good way. You smell like leather and sandalwood."

I sniffed at myself again, unable to detect whatever it was that she smelled on me...

"Cologne?" she asked.

I shook my head, not realizing that, like an idiot, I was using a non-verbal signal that she couldn't really see...

I found my voice, "No. I hate cologne. My soap has a sandalwood scent..."

I couldn't really explain to her where the leather scent came from...

"Yeah, and the leather scent is from all the BDSM gear that I manufacture at home!"

The thought of saying that to a complete stranger made me laugh. It wasn't that I was ashamed of it, hell, on a regular basis I talked with total and complete strangers about it...

At the same time, I knew it was shocking and for most people, totally unacceptable.

That meant that it was something that I normally had to keep completely quiet about.

She tilted her head, smiling as she stared out into space, which, for me, was both disconcerting and somehow very endearing all at the same time, "Something funny?"

I found myself smiling at her, "Just my own stupidity. Thought of something I'd never say in a million, billion years to a stranger."

Her smile widened, "Care to share?"

I made a face, grateful that she couldn't see me, "Has it been a million, billion years?"

She threw her head back and laughed, her voice musical and full of life, "Okay. Point taken."

She pointed to the open bench across from me, "Can I sit with you?"

I held a hand out, again feeling like an idiot for pointing instead of using my words, "Absolutely."

She smiled, stopping just long enough to fold up her cane and pull off her backpack, which seemed plenty full, and throw them on the bench before she slid into the booth with me.

I studied her intently as she made her way in. She was cautious, her hands searching out in her own personal darkness as she felt her way around the confines of the booth, looking for hidden dangers that she was unable to see.

She was still amazingly efficient. I couldn't have, not in a thousand years made my way into that booth with that little trouble.

There was an amazing sense of respect for her that filled me.

I couldn't even imagine having to work my way around my house in that kind of darkness, much less going out and into the world day in and day out. Just the thought of having to do that every day filled me with an existential terror that I have never even thought about before.

The world was a scary place...

I couldn't imagine facing it without being able to see...

It took her voice breaking the silence to remind me that I was sitting there, staring at her...

"You can go ahead and ask." She told me.

I felt a stupid grin on my face as I, quite cluelessly, asked, "Ask what?"

She pointed to her glasses, "Well, it's usually," she held a finger out, ticking off her points on her elegant fingers, "either, how did you go blind, or when did you go blind? Maybe," she held a single finger up, "and this is a rarity, are you fully blind?"

I shook my head at her, a look of disapproval on my face, "I would never ask someone something like that."

Now...

That was a little funny. I would ask someone if they preferred a flogger or a whip. I could ask someone if they liked to be choked during sex. Could ask someone if they liked the feel of a spiked wheel. If they enjoyed being tied up...

But I could not ask a pretty girl how she had gone blind.

She tilted her head, her gaze not quite locking up with mine, "Why not?"

I shrugged, "Seems like a shitty thing to ask. Seems like the kind of thing that if you want to share, you can, but at the same time isn't something that you can, or should, just force out of someone."

I wrinkled my nose, "Also seems like something that's pretty traumatic. Probably not the greatest idea to just force someone to relive something like that just to satiate a bit of curiosity."

She chuckled as she grabbed her cane, folding it as she put it in her lap...

Most people would probably have just taken it for an unintended gesture, but I saw it for what it was, or at least I thought I did.

She didn't like to talk about whatever it was that blinded her...

Her cane brought her a sense of control and comfort, so when something pushed her outside her comfort zone, she grabbed it because in her mind she was able to use her cane to help her to control her world.

"Why did you buy my dinner?" she asked.

I tapped my fingers on the table, "I was an asshole. I said something stupid and I felt bad about it. It seemed like a good way to apologize."

Her head wandered, her gaze never falling on me, focused on some hidden point above my head, "You could have just come over and apologized..."

I shook my head, though she couldn't see it, making a face, "That, in my mind would have been even ruder. To me, that would have been a further imposition. I was an asshole and forcing myself upon your solitude to apologize in order to make myself feel better would have simply been..."

I stopped, thinking, "I guess it would have just felt selfish."

"And if I hadn't been blind, and you had said that?" she asked.

I shook my head, looking straight into her face as I answered, "I would have still felt bad about it."

Shrugging, I added, "Not about saying something rude to someone else, but in the loss of control and allowing myself to say something rude. That isn't me, I don't care what the situation is. Probably wouldn't have bought them dinner, but it still would have bugged me."

It was hard to tell with the heavy, dark glasses, but I got the sense she narrowed her eyes at me, "I get the sense you don't have much of a filter..."

I snorted at her, "Nope. Not really. I figure that life is too short to be wasting time lying to each other."

"And if I asked you something that you'd want to lie about?"

My eyes bored into her, "Then I'll just tell you that it's none of your business, or if I'm feeling generous, that I don't want to talk about it."

She smiled mysteriously, "You seem like an interesting person..."

I made another face, wincing this time, "Not really..."

She smiled wider, holding her hand out to me, "I'm Mia."

I took her hand, which was cold, and so soft, her nails trimmed neatly back to the cuticles and well kept, "Isaac."

She wrapped her hand in mine, and I felt something in my chest warm as she asked me, "Isaac, would you mind having dinner with me?"

I shook my head, "Not at all. I really think I'd enjoy it."

The waitress, who'd nametag informed me was named Meg, intruded on us, a smile on her face as she remarked, "Oh! Hello! Didn't realize the two of you were together!"

Mia smiled, her face turning to address Meg, "We weren't! Making new friends!"

Meg smiled again, wider this time, her eyes landing on me as she appraised me, "Sounds good! Do you know what you're having, or do you need more time?"

I grabbed the menu, flipping it open really quickly, "For me, chef's salad? And coffee?"

Meg wrote on her little notepad as she nodded her head, waiting for Mia's order.

Mia once again lifted her head higher, her delicate nostrils flaring as she sampled the air, "Is that apple pie I smell?"

Meg was taken aback, glancing over at the pie stand which was behind glass and a good twenty or thirty feet away...

"Yeah."

Mia sniffed the air again, "And pecan?"

Meg seemed impressed this time, smiling as she nodded, "Yeah. We have a really great cook here that makes them fresh every morning!"

Mia smiled wide, her white teeth flashing, "I'll have a slice of each, and a vanilla milkshake?"

Meg scribbled once again in her book, "Sounds great!"

She busted away from the table, and I regarded Mia as she looked at me smugly, "Sometimes you just have to throw caution to the wind and have dessert for dinner, Mister Chef's Salad!"

I giggled as I shook my head, watching her as the silence stretched on...

I hated this part of meeting someone. That moment when all the natural conversation just sort of bleeds away into an awkward silence that I didn't ever really seem to know how to break.

Mia was an expert though...

Her head moved a little, her gaze, once again, not quite landing on me as she asked, "Do you want to play a game?"

I was instantly reminded of the creepy dude from the Saw movies...

Instead of remarking on it though, I just answered, "Sure."

She slapped her palms down on the table lightly, "I hate those uncomfortable silences that accompany meeting a new person, and I've found an easy way to break them up. Truth, or dare!"

It was so weird, I turned my head a little, looking at her askance, "What?"

She drummed her fingers, wiggling them, "You get to pick, either a question that you have to answer truthfully or you have to take the dare."

It made sense.

Hell...

Now that I thought of it, it was a brilliant strategy for meeting a new person. It was just a conversation couched into a game...

Mia was a smart cookie!

"Okay, who goes first?" I asked.

She smiled, "Well, normally I would say ladies first, but you seem a little bit like an uptight bitch..."

I laughed, seeing the playfulness in her...

She giggled along with me, her voice husky as she added, "so I guess you can ask first."

I don't know what overtook me.

One second I was sitting there with her, trying to think of something clever and witty to say to this beautiful girl that had, for some unexpected reason decided to sit with me...

And the next second, I was overcome with the dirtiest-minded things that I could possibly think of...

I mean, I, theoretically had the ability to ask her anything, right?

Not that I ever would...

I wasn't a child.

I was still a man though...

I briefly considered asking her her cup size...

Or her favorite sexual position...

Or about forty other, entirely inappropriate questions...

But, being a gentleman, I settled on, "So what are you studying?"

She smiled, tilting her head, "Who says I'm studying anything?"

So she wanted to play it like that, huh?

"I saw you with the textbook. Or, at least it looked a hell of a lot like a textbook, and you seem like you're about that college age, so it makes sense." I observed.

She held up a hand, "So many assumptions there..."

I narrowed my eyes, picking up on her brattiness...

I had to admit, it was an enormous turn on for me.

Brats where an entire subgenre in the BDSM community, and I had to admit, I fucking loved brats.

They were people that excellent at just slightly pushing your buttons while entirely avoiding doing something that was strictly verboten. You would tell them to complete a task and they would do it, but it would still not be entirely what you wanted...

It was a behavior that was modeled on constant attention and correction, usually with a sexual component.

They were my absolute favorite as they needed constant love and attention and correction...

Not that I was saying Mia was a brat or that she was even into the BDSM scene. That would be an extraordinary coincidence...

That didn't mean though that she didn't have bratty qualities though...

I knew the best way to deal with a brat...

Smug overconfidence.

So I told her, "And each of them is straight on the mark, bet me."

She held her hand out, filled with confidence, "Okay. We'll bet dinner on it."

Most people would have been nervous about her confidence, but I knew it to be a bluff, so I shook her hand, "Deal."

As soon as I shook her hand, she growled, a disappointed look on her face, "Fuck! Remind me not to play poker with you!"

I laughed, pleased to know that I was right.

"Well... looks like I'm buying you dinner..." she admitted.

I smiled smugly, "Maybe I need to call Meg over here and update my order. Do you think that this place has steak and lobster? Maybe I can get that stuffed into like a truffle pastry or something?"

She laughed, taking a drink from the water that Meg had brought us when she had taken our order, "Hey now cowboy, take it easy, I'm a poor college student!"

I held my hands out, "Hey, don't bet if you can't cover it..."

She laughed again, and I realized how perfect her laugh was...

It was amazing to me how interested in her I was.

"Psychology." She admitted, "I'm a student at WSU, and before you ask, I'm twenty-two. I'll give you that one for free."

Grabbing my coffee cup, I wrapped my fingers around it, letting the heat seep into my fingers, "Should have made me guess your age... might have saved yourself buying my dinner..."

She giggled...

"So, psychology, what do you plan on doing with that?" I asked.

She held up a finger, "Nope. You got your question, my turn now!"

I nodded, "Fair enough."

She put her chin in her hand, really focusing...

She drummed her fingers on her cheek as she considered what her question was going to be. Finally, she settled on, "Do you come here a lot? Eat out a lot?"

I smiled at her, "What gives you that impression?"

"So you're single?" She guessed.

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

She smiled a smartass smirk, "Eating out twice in one week? No lady with you?"

She waved a dismissive hand, "That one was easy."

I made a face at her, "So you wasted your question."

She frowned, "Point taken."

"So. Psychology. What are you planning on doing with that?"

She giggled, "I want to be a counselor."

She gestured to her glasses, "I'm a good listener."

"Need a Master's degree to do that, or... at least to get a license, which you'll need to be a counselor." I hedged.

Her eyebrows raised, "You know that?"

"I have a degree in psychology too."

She was obviously shocked, "Really?"

"Not a Master's degree though. Stopped at a Bachelor's, so pretty much worthless."

She tilted her head, "You have a psychology degree? How much are your loans?"

I shook my head at her, "Zero. GI Bill."

Our food arrived, Meg swooping in to deposit the food on the table with a smile. Mia's pie was served on two separate plates, her milkshake in a nice glass cup along with the metal container that it was made in.

Mia slid the metal container over to me, "Here. Have some."

There was a part of me that wanted to say no...

But the shake looked too fucking good...

So, I took it from her.

"GI Bill?" she asked, "So you were in the Army?"

I took a forkful of my salad, bringing it towards my mouth, "Marines. Joined up after high school."

She looked impressed, which I was embarrassed about as that wasn't my intention...

I tried to change the subject, "What makes you want to be a counselor?"

"Oh, no. Yours sounds so much more interesting. What did you do in the Marines?"

That was something that I didn't want to talk about...

"I asked first."

She laughed, "Fair enough." She pointed to her glasses, "Blind. Not a ton of great career options. I like to help people and wanted to do something that served people. Being a counselor works to my strengths and is something that I think I'd enjoy."

She grabbed her pie, slicing at it with the edge of her fork before delicately putting a bite into her mouth, "What did you do in the military?"

I looked down at the table my mind filling with sounds and images...

I remembered my boots crunching in the gravel.

Such a weird thing to think about.

So trivial.

I remembered looking up...

The explosion was so loud...

My eyes landed on Mia, "I don't really like to talk about that."

The shock and surprise on her face was so heartfelt that I couldn't really be mad at her.

She nodded, sorrow draping across her face, "I'm sorry."

I took a drink from the milkshake she had shared with me, "Don't worry about it. Not like you could have known."

We ate in silence for a few moments, both of us chewing awkwardly, waiting for the other to speak.

Finally, she spoke, "It's your turn to ask something..." she dug at her pie with her fork, "unless you don't want to..."

My mind instantly ran through a million questions that related to her sight...

I knew that was so rude though, so I kept my mouth shut.

I ran through a list of safe questions and all of them just seemed so boring.

It was surprising to me to see how much I wanted to impress her, or to at least make her think I was interesting.

A thought occurred to me...

It was a risky question...

"What is it about being blind and the way people react to you that pisses you off the most?" I asked.

She smiled, life coming back into her, "Why do you want to know?"

I put a bite of salad into my mouth as I smiled at her, "Just wanted to make sure that I didn't do it."