Chapter 2 #3
Their attitudes left a lot to be desired, and when we had to deal with them for benefits or events, half the time, I had to remind them to stop fucking shouting because I was blind, not Deaf.
But hey, maybe Nikos’s brother was cool.
He seemed alright on the phone, so maybe he could have some benefit of my doubt.
“Anyway,” I said aloud. “Sorry to make it awkward.”
“My fault. But now I have to make it up to you. My mother would teleport across the Atlantic to murder me if I didn’t.”
I laughed. Sue me, I liked this guy. “Just, uh…you know what, I’ll take anything that has a ton of protein. Give me whatever you like best.”
“I can do that,” Nikos said softly. A moment later, I heard him moving around what I assumed was some kind of deli kitchen. “Can I ask something?”
“I wipe until there’s friction.”
“Uh…what?”
“Sorry. Inside joke.” I waved my hand at him. “Ask away.”
Nikos was silent for a moment, and I couldn’t help but wonder if I crossed a line. I tended to do that. A lot. “Are you not close with your dad? Or was the diagnosis too much?”
This time, I was offended, though his question was probably fair. “I’m not the kind of asshole who runs away when shit gets complicated. I just didn’t know what was going on. My mom dropped the news on us and then apparently fucked off to the other side of the world on some soul-finding mission.”
“She’s looking for a soul?”
“Trust me, she needs one, and I hope she’s successful.
” When he was very quiet because yeah, I’d just made it awkward again, I cleared my throat.
“I have a very complicated relationship with my parents, and apparently, my mom wasn’t joking when she said she was taking off to go live her best life in the UK.
I didn’t realize she was actually going to leave my dad behind though. ”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” I said from behind a sigh. “It’s fucked. Sorry for swearing.”
“No, you’re fine. I’m used to it. The swearing and the…what do you call them? Chirps?”
I couldn’t help a small laugh. “Yeah. Chirps.”
The silence after that was heavy, but it wasn’t awkward. I could hear the sounds of him cooking: metal spatula on a grill, his feet shuffling, something squeaking like Styrofoam. Then I heard his footsteps coming closer, and I caught a whiff of something savory and spiced.
“How would you like me to do this?”
“Do what?”
“Your food.”
“Oh.” It was exhausting sometimes, being around sighted people who didn’t know any of these things and still needed instruction. Being involved in a blind team meant I was in my little bubble that the outside world didn’t often touch. “Just set it down and tell me what it is.”
“Shawarma,” he said, and I heard the squeak of Styrofoam again as he slid the food in front of me. “It’s pieces of chicken over a bed of rice, and there’s some beet and cabbage salad at the top of the container on the left. Hummus on the right. Pita wrapped in paper on top.”
It smelled heavenly. “Fork?”
“Ah. Yes. I forgot.”
“Do you normally eat this with your hands?” There was a pointed silence, and I flushed when I realized I sounded judgy. “I meant that literally. I have a teammate from Bangladesh, and he eats with his hands. I didn’t want to assume it was the same, but—”
“I prefer it, but that isn’t how I grew up.”
“Me too.” I wiggled my fingers at him. “Blind guy thing. Forks are a giant pain in the ass.”
I felt around the container—the pile of chicken soft, the rice grainy, the salad wet, the hummus…well, it was hummus, but his was some of the best I’d ever tasted.
At the first bite, I sagged back against the chair and groaned loudly. “Are you fucking kidding me with this?”
“It’s…?”
“Amazing,” I said before he could start self-deprecating.
Though he had to know how fucking good he was at this.
“It’s one of the best things I’ve had in my mouth.
I’ve never tasted anything like it. I wasn’t even hungry before.
” I shoved another bite of chicken and rice into my face.
I probably looked like some kind of starving goblin, but I didn’t give a shit.
It was protein. There’s no way my nutritionist or Tucker could be pissed about me filling myself with chicken.
“I…you like it?” His voice was a little hesitant.
I lifted my face. “Do people talk shit about it or something? God, people are the fucking worst—”
“No, no, I just…” He laughed softly. “It’s nice when you work hard at something and people enjoy it the way it’s meant to be enjoyed.
My brother and I were originally going to do this together, but Alexio didn’t want to give up his career, and I didn’t blame him.
This wasn’t his passion, and luckily, Natasia and I are able to keep the place running. ”
“Well—” I flicked rice off my fingers, hoping I wasn’t making a mess all over the table. “—count me in as a repeat customer. My coaches and nutritionist will kill me, but I don’t even care.” I took another bite and spoke through it. “Totally fucking worth it.”
He laughed again. “Thank you. I—oh. Your father’s awake.”
A strange sensation zinged up my spine. It was an emotion I was entirely unfamiliar with. Somewhere between anger, irritation, and fear. I felt around but couldn’t find a napkin, so I gave up and swiped my hands on my sweats before pushing to my feet.
“Mind giving me a hand again?”
“Of course.”
I took Nikos’s arm and walked the same path back toward the other side of the shop, and he came to a slow halt. I could hear a grumbling wheeze coming from in front of me, and then my dad coughed loudly.
It sounded wet, which was probably not a good sign.
“Dad.”
“No, no.”
“Peter,” Nikos tried. “Your son’s here to see you.”
My dad let out a harsh laugh. “My sons don’t see.” There was a long pause. “Where am I?”
“At my shop. I’m Nikos. Remember?”
“That chicken man.”
“Oh my god,” I murmured, leaning in close to Nikos. “I’m so sorry.”
He chuckled under his breath. “I’m used to it. He’s called me worse.”
“Please tell me he hasn’t been some raging bigot,” I begged.
Nikos was quiet. “Not on purpose.”
“Fuck me. Fuck my whole life.” I took a step forward with the back of my hand out and stopped when it hit the edge of a table. “Come on, Dad. We need to get you home.”
“I’m not going with you. I don’t get into cars with strangers.”
I didn’t know what to do. I was entirely unprepared for this. Fuck, I wished I’d brought Tucker along. He had too much to do to get involved with my bullshit, but I didn’t want to deal with this by myself. My throat was starting to feel tight.
“Peter,” Nikos said softly, “you son’s ready to take you back to your place.”
“That’s not my son. My son doesn’t have eyes. Look at him. He’s got them.”
“He’s thinking about my brother,” I said. “Micah doesn’t wear prosthetics.”
“You—oh. I didn’t realize,” Nikos said.
My heart sank to my feet. People always got so fucking weird when they realized I was blind blind. Like, the blindest. Like, you couldn’t see less than I could. I braced myself as Nikos cleared his throat.
“So you definitely didn’t drive here.”
I burst into laughter. “Uh, no. Not until they come out with self-driving cars that don’t crash into people or see ghosts.”
Nikos snorted, then sighed. “I’ll call my brother to come back. He can drive you.”
“Isn’t he doing—oh.” Shit, right. His work thing was hockey. “He’s at the arena?” I waved my hand around at the space in front of me. “He doesn’t have a game tonight because I do.” And oh shit, I was going to be late.
“It’s just something with his GM or his coach. I don’t think it’s important,” Nikos said. “And Alexio’s driven him home before, so he knows the way.”
I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up. “How many times?”
“A dozen, maybe,” he admitted.
Mother fuck. Or better, fuck my mother because the only reason Nikos’s brother needed to drive my dad anywhere was her failure to put him somewhere safe where he couldn’t wander into shops and fall asleep at their tables.
“I’m coming back tomorrow so we can talk about this and what to do if it happens again,” I told him. “I have a game tonight, so I have to get back to the arena. That’s the only reason I’m saying yes.”
“Alexio won’t mind,” Nikos assured me.
Shaking my head, I turned to where he had let me go and hoped I was facing him. “You guys don’t need to be doing this, okay? This isn’t your burden.”
“Kindness isn’t a burden, Jonah. I’m sorry if someone ever told you it was.”
Okay. Thanks for the gut punch, asshole. Though that wasn’t fair because Nikos wasn’t an asshole. Luckily, I said none of that aloud. “Do you know how far away his apartment is?”
“Seven minutes on a slow day. I’ll have Alexio pull around back.” He brushed against me as he approached my dad, and I heard the creak of the table as it took some of his weight. “Peter, let me take you to Alexio. He’ll give you a ride home, okay? Jonah’s going with you.”
“Jonah,” he repeated. There was a long beat, and then I heard him stand. “Jonah. When did you get here? How did you get here? Is your mother with you?”
“No, Dad,” I said from behind a sigh. At least he recognized me now. “I took an Uber. But my new best friend Nikos’s very nice brother is going to take us to your place.”
“You won’t like it,” my dad muttered.
Yeah. I had no fucking doubt, but what choice did I have?