Page 19 of Ember

“Right?” I fiddled with a fast-food napkin someone left behind. “He looked horrified when I told him we were living off cold cereal and takeout before he cooked for us.”

West chuckled. “When’s the date?”

“He didn’t ask.” I watched West eat. I didn’t make the food myself, but my omega instincts were satisfied that West was getting a good lunch. Maybe this is what Alejandro felt. “He let me take the lead. I had to offer my phone number.”

“Not pushy. Good.” West dove into his food, and I pulled his braid into my hands, playing with the ends. I wasn’t made of stone; his hair was right there. For the touching.

West was right. Not pushy was good. Preferred. I’d just bury myself in work and see what happened.

I would absolutely not overthink this. Not when I had a turtle pond to wheedle out of my family.

Chapter 10

Ben

The fancy high-class restaurant was fancy and high-class. I forced Rian to pick the restaurant since he was likely to be the most uncomfortable. He chose Ascent, a swanky restaurant in downtown San Francisco. It required me dropping my name to get a reservation on short notice but had the benefit of being a place I’d eaten before.

I tried not to admit it out loud, but I couldn’t shake the preference of being in public places I’d been to before. I didn’t have the floor mapped at Ascent, but we’d gone there for a birthday dinner a couple of years ago, so it wasn’t completely new.

We arrived early and took our seats. I set my cane next to my chair. Ember assured us that once we accepted the date with Cindy, she’d had access to our profiles, so we weren’t springing it on our date tonight that I was blind. Ember also told me she would call Cindy and make sure the beta had a safe space to ask questions, an extra touch I was impressed with.

Normally I hated it when someone “found out” I was blind, and I was still around. They always sounded shocked, like I’m managed to cleverly hide it from them.

Maybe because I didn’t wear dark sunglasses. Because I didn’t usually “act” blind, whatever that meant. Considering I’d been legally blind my entire life, I wasn’t sure what sighted people thought of as “acting blind.”

The waiter came over and brought us water, but we opted to wait for Cindy before ordering anything.

Before we left for the restaurant, I had my Seeing AI app read me the menu out loud. I already knew what I wanted, but judging from the slight rustle of paper to my left, Rian was flipping through.

“You want an appetizer? Those stuffed mushrooms sound good.” Rian touched my hand.

I’d already assumed we were ordering the stuffed mushrooms since my omega hadn’t met a stuffed mushroom he didn’t like. “Sure.”

“The garlic spinach and parmesan dip sounds good too.” Rian sounded distracted.

I mentally canceled the dip. I didn’t feel like navigating a first date while also trying to keep the dip on the chip and get it into my mouth. In public. I was secretly pleased I was comfortable enough at home eating dip that Rian didn’t think to question it.

So much of my disability was trying to maintain my skills, reminding people that I could do almost everything for myself, but also not being too proud to ask for help.

Could I have walked through the crowded restaurant without Rian being my sighted guide? Sure, that was what my cane was for. Swinging the red-and-white cane in front of me showed me where tables, chairs, and other obstacles were, and also had the benefit of making people get out of the way. But I didn’t mind his help, and it was a nice excuse to touch him.

It was the first time we’d been on a date with another person in ages, and I tried not to feel like it should have been Ember.

I’d keep an open mind and see what happened.

The soft cuff of Rian’s shirt was fun to trace my finger over. Rian told me he wore a white dress shirt with black slacks. I’d picked out my own outfit to complement his, and wore black slacks and a light blue shirt Rian told me brought out the blue of my eyes.

“Hi, I’m Cindy,” a bright, friendly voice said. She was close to the table and, judging by the sound coming higher than our heads, standing.

“I’m Rian.” Rian stood up and managed to sound halfway pleasant.

I stood up as well and gave her a smile. “I’m Ben. Nice to meet you.”

“Thanks for meeting me. What a nice place.” She laughed a little.

“I’ll get your chair.” Rustling sounds came next, and I sat down, timing it so I could match it to the scrape of the wood on the floors. I assumed Rian was pushing her chair in.

Movement to my right, and then Rian sat down in his own chair in a cloud of smoky amber.

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