Derek read over the menu at the diner. He always came here for breakfast, but he was a little early, well, early for him considering it was actually morning, but then again he hadn't gone to sleep yet that day. It had been a while since he had eaten breakfast in the am hours so Derek thought he'd get something besides the usual. It was quiet in the diner since the waitress was in the back arguing with the cook. He wondered if it was always like this at four in the morning. The sound of the bell to let waitress know she had a new customer to attend to hurt Derek's ears a little.
After about a minute he could hear the sound of something taping and bumping into things as it made its way over to him. Derek looked up at the girl as she tapped her walking stick on his booth. She looked at the booth and bit her lip before reaching out and almost touching his shoulder. She went to the other side of the booth and did the same thing. She seemed satisfied that no one was in the booth so she sat down and waited for a server.
"Ouch." He said when she swung her leg and kicked him.
"Ah!" she jumped and let out a little squeak, "Oh my gosh I'm sorry, I didn't know there was someone in this booth. I can find –"
"No, it's fine." He said to her and she nodded looking in the direction of his voice, but not seeing.
"Okay." She said smiling nervously at him. He could hear that her heart was beating fast in embarrassment, but as the silence between them warred on her heart slowed to a normal pace. "Um, my name is Keira… Keira Creek." She said offering her hand to shake.
"I'm Derek Hale." He said taking her hand and shaking it. For a blind woman she had a strong hand shake.
"It's nice to meet you." She said flashing him a brilliant smile.
"It's nice to meet you too." He said smiling back, but lacking the genuine tone she had. It wasn't like he didn't care; it was that he didn't want to care. She was blind and he was not the nicest person to be making friends with. Friends… Derek wasn't completely sure what it was like to have a friend. Sure, he knew what it was like from what he saw between Scott McCall and Stiles Stilinski, but he'd never experience it himself.
"May I take your orders?" Derek glanced up at the familiar waitress that always seemed to be there.
"The usual," Keira said to her and Derek sighed since he still hadn't figured out what he wanted.
"I'll have whatever she's having." Derek said and Keira smiled. The waitress laughed nothing in particular and walked to the kitchen again.
"So, are you always here this early?" she asked him trying to make small talk.
"No." he said and she nodded.
"I come here this early since it makes it less likely for me to accidently sit with someone." She said jokingly.
"The only reason I eat breakfast at noon is because of the group of rowdy teenagers that keep me up at all the ungodly hours of the night." Derek thought to himself, but then said, "I really don't mind you sitting with me."
"I know, but why didn't you say anything when I was trying to see if anyone was in the booth?" she asked him.
"I figured it would be nice not sitting alone." He said with a shrug. Derek wasn't even sure why he was admitting this to her, but he was.
"I can relate to that." She said with a nod, "I live alone, and the only human contact I have is when I come here in the morning and that's only when I'm ordering."
"Well, I'm not really that alone." Derek could feel himself want to open up to her a little, and then the inner battle of whether or not he should open just a little of himself to her began.
"You sound like you know what it's like." She said closing her eyes and leaning back like she was tired.
"Yeah, I… I had a rough time when I was a teenager." He said remembering the fire.
"Wait, what did you say your name was again?" she asked and he sighed realizing she knew about what had happened to his family.
"Derek Hale." He said and she smiled a little.
"I remember you, we went to the same high school, but you were a year ahead of me though." She said nodding and Derek was slightly relieved that she didn't say anything about his family, "I could see a little bit back then, you read a test to me my junior year because my vision was darkening and I couldn't really see the words."
"I remember that, huh, I didn't recognize you without those glasses." He said and then realized that he probably just insulted her, but then she laughed.
"I hated those huge things; they didn't do as much for my sight as they did for it when I was in middle school." She said smiling at him, "I remember once I tripped over my own two feet and you helped me gather all of my books too."
"Yeah, I guess it's a small world." He said remembering that someone had actually tripped her, "So have you left Beacon Hills since high school?"
"No." she said almost sadly, "I don't see any point in leaving since I know every corner of this town like the back of my hand, I mean if I left I wouldn't know where anything was."
"What'd you mean?" Derek asked cocking his head to the side. He wondered in the back of his mind how that nerdy, clumsy, and nervous girl became this beautiful, more confident, and less nervous woman.
"I mean that I can walk here and I know where I'm going, or I can walk to the store, the school, anywhere really, and I know where I'm going." She said and Derek was surprised by this.
"That can't be safe." He mumbled. Derek sighed mentally as he realized he was starting to care, and that was what he didn't want to do.
"I've been walking around Beacon Hills without my sight since the summer before my senior year, I'm sure I'll be fine now." She said rolling her eyes at him.
"You could still get hurt walking around without help." Derek said and she sighed, "Have you ever gotten hurt?"
"No." he could hear right through her lie.
"Can I give you a ride home?" he asked her and she narrowed her blind eyes at him.
"No, I don't need your help." She said folding her arms across her chest defiantly.
"Okay." Derek said as their food came to the table. He realized then what the waitress had been laughing about, Keira's usual was his usual.
Derek watched as Keira walked down the street. He was slowly following behind her in his car to make sure she got home safely. He wasn't entirely sure why he was doing this, but he knew it would bother him if he didn't make sure she was safe. Maybe it was because she lied about never getting hurt on her walk home. Whatever it was Derek felt he needed to watch her.
Of course Sheriff Stilinski would see him and see that he was watching her. He knew what it looked like and he wasn't sure if the truth would even save him. The one time Derek was being nice and helpful he gets pulled over. Maybe he should have just walked her home.
"Mr. Hale, can I ask you why you're following Ms. Creek?" The Sheriff asked him and Derek closed his eyes for just a moment.
"I was making sure she got home safely." He said not lying one bit.
"Does Ms. Creek know you're watching her?" The Sheriff asked and Derek sighed.
"No." Derek mumbled.
"You know if a person doesn't know you're watching or following them it's considered stalking." Derek nodded and then looked over at the Sheriff.
"I can go tell her I'm following her, but I think she might get angrier with me than she did when I offered her a ride home." Derek said and then Sheriff smiled a little.
"Yeah, she's not the kind of woman to accept help or ask for it willingly." He said as if he had tried something similar before.
"You sound like you know what I mean?" Derek said hoping to get a little information about her.
"Yeah, last winter she slipped on the ice a few times, but refused help. Melissa McCall went over to visit her after that and she said that Keira had actually hurt herself pretty badly." The Sheriff said shaking his head, "But the next day morning she was out doing her daily walk like nothing had happened, well, I'm going to let you go with a warning. But if you want to make sure she makes it home safely again be sure to let her know first."
"Yes sir." Derek said as the Sheriff walked away from his car. Derek looked up in time to see Keira walk into a house. Knowing she was safe Derek decided to head back to the abandon subway repair station and hopefully get some sleep.
Cut The Dotted Line: Yeah, it's five in the morning and I finally finish this. I've had the idea in my head since... well since I started writing for Teen Wolf. I hope no one thinks the title is insulting to werewolves, and yes I know Derek is a little... OOC, but I'm still working on writing his character. I didn't reread this so if there are any spelling mistakes, or parts where things just don't make sense, I'm sorry. I would love to hear some feed back on what you think of this story so far or if I should go on at all. Oh and the picture I have as the cover is what she's supposed to look like. Anyway... Morana out~!