Sure enough, I caught sight of her as she approached, somehow looking like even more of a vision than she had before. She was in another sundress, this one a forest green that made the rosiness of her cheeks stand out that much more. She was wearing above-the-knee white socks that tucked perfectly into chunky sneakers that were fancy enough to fit with the rest of her outfit.
God, she was incredible. What on earth did she see in me?
I supposed I was about to find out.
I waited until she was about halfway to me before calling her again.
“Hey, am I there?” she asked.
“Not quite. I just… I wanted to make sure that you were down for this. That you don’t feel like you’re obligated.”
“Did anything about my text to you seem obligated?”
“No. I…” I sighed. “Look, I want to be real with you, but I’m nervous. This is, uh, something I don’t share with people right off the bat.”
The silence on the other end of the line was physically painful, but eventually she spoke. “You’re making me nervous, Rowan. You don’t have to tell me anything you’re not ready for.”
Naturally, she was so kind about it. I wasn’t surprised; after all, her sweetness and openness were a big part of what had captivated me so thoroughly during our first hours together.
Still, her words gave me the final bit of courage I needed to stand up from the bench and walk over to in front of the hedges, where a streetlight would make sure that even her human eyes would be able to see me fully.
Allof me.
One step. Two steps. Although my heart didn’t technically need to beat, it was hammering out of habit. A callback to my time as a human being. A few more steps, then I was there, watching Naomi as she closed the last bit of distance between us.
She stopped about a second after I was fully bathed in light, her body going stiff. I could read the alarm throughout her whole body, but it was gone almost as soon as it presented, rapidly transitioning into something that looked more akin to… cautious but curious?
Naomi took a couple of slow—so incredibly slow—steps toward me, until we were only a couple feet away at most. Those intense green eyes of hers studied me, from my feet up to my hat, and I belatedly took it off. In for a penny, in for a pound, after all.
“You look different,” she said finally.
If it were any other situation, I might have laughed. But as it were, I felt too sick and hopped up on adrenaline to get even a chuckle out. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“So…” Naomi murmured, sounding like she was thinking but not as if she were entirely horrified. “You’re an, uh, you’ve got…”
“I’ve got albinism, yeah,” I said, trying to sound completely chill about it even though I wasn’t. “That’s the proper way to say it, but I’m a bit old-fashioned, so I usually just call myself albino.”
“I see.” Another long, long pause. “Then our first date was?—”
“A wig. Makeup. I’ve kind of perfected the disguise over the years.” Suddenly words were erupting out of my mouth, one right after the other. “It’s not because I’m ashamed or anything, but it’s just easier without the staring. And all the SPF in the foundation sure is handy. As you can imagine, my skin’s pretty sensitive.”
And, ya know, the whole bursting into flame if exposed to too much sunlight thing. A good SPF could buy several life-saving seconds in an emergency.
“I… uh, I’m sorry?—”
Ah, this was where she’d reject me. Where she’d say this waswaytoo much for her. She’d have every right to. After all, I had tricked her.
“I’ve never really experienced anything like this, and I can’t say that I know any other people with albinism.” She took another step forward, cutting the scant space between us in half as she looked up at me through her lashes again. My brain was supplying all sorts of mixed messages at that. A large part of me definitely wanted to grab her and pull her flush against me, and another wanted tofeed.
I didn’t listen to either, however.
“But thank you for trusting me with this. I understand why you wanted someone new to see you for who you really are and not just make assumptions about you.”
Oh.
She got it.
She got it so easily and said it like it was the most natural thing.
