Glitter Babies

Something about seeing Willow's small shoulders scrunched up as she walked the street alongside me made me feel like shooting them in the head. The fucking photographers were eating it up.

"Is she blind?"

"Who is she, Finley?"

"Is that walking stick just for show, or is she... like...blind?"

I felt my fists ball up and I was about to mutter a very original, "Fuck you," but Willow beat me to it, "My name is Willow, Finley and I are getting a cup of coffee. I'm blind, get the fuck over it."

Willow just nodded her head as we continued to walk down the sleepy street. It was a Sunday and we really had nothing to do, so we settled for an early coffee run. But my worries that Willow would be shocked or diminished by the blatant photographers washed away as she kept her small smile on her face.

I opened the door to the fragrant café and grinned sheepishly, "I should have told you there'd be people taking pictures."

"Yeah, I'm sure I look great," she sighed sarcastically and tugged on her sweatshirt and blue jeans.

"Actually," I bent down and pushed a strand of red hair behind her ear, "You do look great."

"Uh-huh," she said, still unconvinced. Her head turned quickly to the window where at least ten of them were snapping away with their big ass cameras, "I can hear them. They're taking pictures of us right now," she said worriedly.

"Yeah," I murmured, moving my lips to her ear but she pulled away, "I don't know..." she murmured uncertainly and tilting her head to the side as if to listen closer to the irritating clicks.

"Are you guys ready to order?" the barista asked. She was tall and brunette and judging by the way she eyed me and glanced at the cameras, she knew who I was.

"Yeah, may I get an extra hot green tea latte?" Willow asked.

"And I'll just get some coffee," I ordered.

We went to sit down to wait for our drinks.

"I get it, you don't like cameras," I muttered. She would not be able to stand hanging out with me then.

"No. I don't care. I would think, well, you would care," she muttered, her eyes were gazing forward again.

I looked at her like she was demented, "What?"

"Well, won't this bug people? Me being..."

"Blind? Why the fuck should anyone care?" I questioned sharply.

She stayed quiet, and someone called my name to get the drinks. I got up and tried to ignore the anger rippling in my chest. Willow made things complicated.

"Look, I didn't mean to make you mad," Willow muttered when I handed her the drink.

"I thought you were all, 'I don't care what people think?""

"I don't."

"Then?"

"Can we please just not do this?" Willow asked.

She was right. It was stupid, and I shouldn't have gotten mad. I only kissed her five times and we didn't need to get in a fight over it. Fights were pointless and I winced as I realized I had started one.

"Okay, so do you need a ride to school?" I asked.

"Yeah, that’d be great," she murmured, carefully sipping her tea and running her hands up and down the warm cup.

"Hey, um..." I started, but she looked up and her blue green eyes caught me off guard.

"What?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Do you want to be my girlfriend?" I asked quietly.

She was silent for a long minute. She even took a sip of her drink once more before looking up and giving me a sorry expression, "Let's take things slow."

Shock. I had never asked anybody to be my girlfriend. I had just gotten rejected. The notion filled my brain and I suddenly smiled. I hated her. But I wanted her at the same time. Life was fucked up.

"Okay," I muttered. What could I say?

"Okay," Willow repeated.