Love Is Blind

“Wow! Abbie you look beautiful.”

I could feel myself starting to blush. “Thanks Jace.”

“You’re welcome. You look great too, Skye.”

“Right back at ya, Jace.”

The song changed to one of a slower tempo.

Great.

“Do you want to dance?” Jace asked me.

“Sure.”

I took the hand he offered me and walked out to the floor. We started dancing. We hadn’t said anything to each other yet. About mid-way through the song, I laid my head on his shoulder.

“Is something wrong?”

“No.”

“Okay. Just checking.”

“I’m glad you asked me.”

“Me, too. I was nervous though. I thought you’d say no.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I really did. Dances were the kind of things you and Alex always did. I figured since he wasn’t here, you wouldn’t want to come.”

“Oh.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I should have expected something like this to come up.”

“We don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”

“No, I want to.”

“Okay. Cool.”

The song had ended and was replaced with one that was far more upbeat. We walked off the floor and back to the table.

When we got there, Hailey and Aiden had arrived.

“Hey guys.”

“Hey, Abbie. Hey, Jace,” they both said.

We sat down and made small talk for a while before we all went out to the dance floor. We didn’t sit down for the rest of the night.

By the time I got home, I was exhausted.

“Thanks for tonight, Jace. I needed it. I had fun.”

“Anytime, Abbie. I had fun, too.”

He could tell I was tired, so he kissed me softly before departing across the lawn to his dad’s house.

The rest of the weekend passed pretty quickly. I had a lot of work to do for my advanced classes and I was forced to go see my father. I love my mother, I really do, but sometimes, I just hate her. This was one of those times.

Monday morning came too quickly. I got ready like I did every morning and drove to school.

I met up with my friends and we talked before we all had to go to class.

There was a surprise waiting for me in my second period class.

We had a new student.

“Okay class. We have a new student today. His name is Daniel. I want you all to make him feel very welcome.”

“Hello Daniel,” the entire class said simultaneously.

“Hello,” he responded, although, his ‘hello’ sounded more like ‘allo’ due to the thick Australian accent he had.

The only empty seat in the class was next to me, so the teacher directed him to sit by me.

“So, you’re from Australia?” I asked him when he sat down.

“Yeah.”

“Why did you move here?”

“Parents. I didn’t really want to.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you.”

“What part of town did you move to?”

After telling me his address, I got a little too excited and squealed.

“What?”

“You live across the street from me. I’m surprised I didn’t know you were moving in.”

“Your house is huge.”

“I know. It’s too big, really.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Only my mother and I live there.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Abbie. Daniel. Would you care to pay attention?”

“Yes, sir,” I responded.

Daniel just nodded.

I didn’t have any more classes with Daniel before lunch. He saw me at the table with my friends and asked, “Can I sit by you guys?”

“Sure, Daniel. Sit down. Guys, this is Daniel. He’s new.”

I introduced him to Skye, Aiden, Hailey, Jace, and the few others scattered around the table.

“He actually moved in across the street from me.”

“Really?” Hailey asked.

“Yeah.”

“Cool.”

I was actually excited that he moved in. Hailey had a huge thing for Australian guys. Her last boyfriend hadn’t been very good to her. I thought I might try and hook them up, but this would have to wait until after we got to know him a little better.

I spent the vast majority of the rest of the day plotting how I would get them together. I couldn’t wait until later that night.

I’m thinking a barbeque was in order.

I met up with Skye, Aiden, Jace and Hailey after school like we usually did to discuss what we were going to do that night.

Before any of them had a chance to speak, I threw out my idea. “I think we should have a barbeque at my house to welcome my new neighbors. It would be a good way to get to know them better and hopefully give them a good first impression of the neighborhood.”

“That sounds great, Abs. I’m down,” Hailey agreed right away.

The other three agreed, too.

Now, all we needed to do was find Daniel and ask him. This could be harder than we thought.