Who was that?!

A guy with a coif of dark blond hair and perfect lips walked into my dad's bookstore. He was wearing a pair of designer sunglasses and I found it odd that he didn't take them off. From the angle that I was looking from, it took me a moment to notice the cane.

Oh, wow. He was blind.

"Hello," he said, probing the room for a presence.

"Hi," I said, loudly. "How can I help?"

"I heard you have a brail section," he said, equally loud. Those beautiful lips curled into a cheeky smile.

Why had I spoken as if he was hard of hearing?

"Anything, in particular, you're looking for?" I asked, deliberately lowering my voice.

"The DMV driving license handbook," he said with a perfectly straight face.

"You want to drive? But you're..."

"I'm just messing with you," he said with a chuckle. "You should have seen the look on your face."

"But..."

"Gotcha again!" he said, laughing to himself.

"How can I help?" I repeated, not wanting to say the wrong thing.

"I've heard that you're the only place in town that sells brail versions of H.P. Lovecraft's books."

Holy shit! This beautiful creature liked Lovecraft? I'd convinced my dad to carry all of his published works.

"Yes, we do," I said with renewed enthusiasm. "Any book in particular?"

"All of them!" he said, his voice lowering two octaves.

***

I'd watch in fascination as his fingers glided over the page as he "read" the first few paragraphs.

He'd shown up every week around the same time to buy a book in the order they were written.

Despite his blindness, he seemed to be perfectly aware of my presence. He would turn his head in my direction and ask me questions.

"Did you know that Lovecraft was a white supremacist?" he asked, letting the weight of the question hang in the air.

"A book should not be judged by the flaws of its author any more than it should be judged by its cover," I said, impressed with my own spur-of-the-moment eloquence.

"Well said," he remarked, as he walked towards the cash register. I'd been giving him fat discounts on all of his purchases, I would surely get in trouble with my dad.

"I've been meaning to ask..." he said, hesitantly. "Would you maybe... want to read me some Lovecraft, sometime?"

Holy shit! Was he for real?!

"I'd like that," I said, as casually as possible. "We can meet at 'The Corner' if you like, I hear they have great milkshakes."

"Is it alright if you come to my place? My mom is giving me a hard time for not having friends over anymore."

"Ok," I breathed. He wasn't the only one with a shortage of friendship. I was the cliche that kept books for company.