Willow’s POV

I closed my eyes during the movie. I heard the lines, each one, each character speak, but was sad that I could no longer see the screen. I mean, half the humor came from the actions of the characters!

Although RDJ had sass that no one could match, image or no image.

My phone vibrated in my pocket. Jaime looked down at me. I opened my eyes, expecting to see his loving eyes glance down at me. His arms tightened around me as it vibrated again. I wonder who was calling me.

“Call?” He asked. Tony paused the movie.

“Yeah. Where is my phone?” I asked him. He reached into my pocket and pulled it out. My arm fumbled in the empty air for a moment before I contacted with the surface and latched onto the device.

“Hello?” I clicked the call button, or I managed to get lucky and not hit the decline.

“Willow Caston, where are you!?” My mother sleepily asked me.

“Place…house…dark…”I grumbled sleepily. My brain wasn’t forming words at this moment, please leave a message at the beep.

“WHAT!?” She was fully awake now. Someone plucked the phone out of my hands.

“She’s on a plane to Kosovo right now. If you ever want to see your daughter again, you’ll give us three million-“

“MIKE!” Autumn groaned. He giggled sheepishly.

“Mike Fuentes, is that you? I will beat you with a pan-“ She was cut off as Mike dropped the phone and shrieked. He was begging profusely as someone else picked up the phone.

“Ello? NO I DO NOT HAVE YOUR PANCAKES!” Tony shouted. Autumn whacked his arm. I could hear the whack resonate in the room.

“Pancakes?” I whispered. Jaime sighed.

“Guys, hand me the phone.” He commanded.

“Dunder Mifflin this is Pam. Uh huh, let me connect you to Michael Scott.” Vic asked quietly. I face palmed again.

“You’re not even a girl!” Mike hissed.

“However, he has the hair of one.” Tony pointed out innocently. Autumn smacked him again. Vic growled as the phone was tossed back to Jaime. I yawned.

“Sorry ‘bout that, Ms. Caston.” Jaime apologized over and over, his reassuring voice soothing my mother.

“Oh, hello, Jaime dear. How are you?” She asked. I leaned up, trying to hear more. I felt insanely bad that I had forgotten about my mom and it was nearly midnight, scratch that….It was one in the morning.

“I’m just fine, Ms. Caston. And you?”

“Great, a little worried about Willow. Is she doing alright? She didn’t sound all…there…before.” She yawned nervously. I grimaced. I was alright (besides the blindness), I just was a little tired!

“Oh, she’s just fine! There’s no alcohol or anything. Don’t worry, we made Mike leave the flask at home-“

“Hey!” He yelped.

“-She’s just really tired. We’re all watching, or listening, rather, to a movie and she’s nearly asleep.” Jaime rubbed my back as I curled up on his chest, giving up all hope of listening in depth to the conversation. He had this all take care of. I trust him with that.

“What movie is it?” She asked from the other end. I heard Grey’s Anatomy play on the TV of our living room in the background. She must’ve stayed up late with her own movie night.

“Oh, just the Avengers. Would you like to talk to Willow?” She asked hopefully. The other boys all stayed quiet in the background. I was surprised Tony had sat still this long! A cool gust of air made me shiver as Jaime rubbed my back again.

“No, no, it’s fine. Is she staying at your place tonight?” Her voice quietly asked the boy. I curled up under his chin, silently begging for him to let me stay over.

“If that was okay with you…”

“It’s no problem. I trust you two will be responsible.” She laughed as they exchanged farewells and he handed his phone back to me. I dropped it a couple of times before Jaime shoved it in his pocket.

“Hey, I didn’t know you had a how-to manual, Jaime.” Mike’s voice trailed from the bar area. I perked up, sitting straight out of Himes grasp. Everyone audibly shifted in their seats.

“That is mine, thank you very much.” I mumbled fiercely. Mike’s footsteps trotted back over to us.

“It’s by some guy named Alfred.” He read the cover. I reached up, trying to grasp for the book. I frowned deeply. That was my own little private thing. I didn’t anyone snooping around in it. Not even Jaime.

“The Greatest Guide of Alfred’s Basic Home Repairs: A How-To Manual. So what, he’s sold a million copies of these or something?” Vic asked. I stood up, trying to find my way around by using my hearing. Jaime held me back before I could trip over a yelping Autumn.

“His mother must be very proud.” Tony added.

“Give it back to me, you asschips.” I growled. Vic danced around me. I felt the nearness of how close he came to me before skirting away.

“What? It’s just a little how-to manual.” Vic shrugged. He was always teasing me like this.

“Yeah, and your face is just a face, but if you don’t give it back to me, I’m going to tear out your eyeballs.” I snarled. There was a brief whoosh as what I supposed was my personal journal and scrapbook of memories flew through the air.

“Come on, guys.” Himes wearily begged them.

“Woah, woah, woah! This is hot property! I don’t want it!” Tony nervously stuttered. The book went flying again. It was like hot potato, but much more dangerous if I caught someone with it.

“Vic, give it back.” Jaime begged. I stood there helplessly, staring to God knows where and hoping that they didn’t rip up my how-to manual.

“Wait, what’s in it? Isn’t it just some how-to manual with weird home repairs?” Mike asked me. I shook my head, trying to locate the sound of where the book had been tossed to. It was like trying to find a black sheet of paper in a black room at midnight.

“No, it’s got some of my other personal things in it.” I explained. Himes kept me from tripping over Autumn again as I turned around.

Vic touched my shoulder and I whipped around towards him. He shrieked as he saw my scowl. I might as well have devil horns on me for all I could be.

“Can we read it?” He asked excitedly. I punched him in the chest. It was a solid blow and I heard the book drop to the floor. Even for being blind, I managed to locate and scoop my precious object into my grasp.

“You can read it once I’m dead.” I stuck my tongue out at him as Jaime pulled me back to the bean bag.

“You guys are all butt-queefs.” I spat back at them. Tony giggled.

“But we’re your butt-queefs. You love us anyways.” He chuckled. I shook my head and shoved my book back into my pocket. The bulk returned to its familiar place.

When I had come home from the hospital, I made sure that I kept it in my pocket at all times. I hadn’t written a lot of entries since being released, but I kept it with me. I nearly lost it three separate times when I put it down somewhere but forgot where. Turns out it was always on my desk corner. Now, it was just another weight in my pocket. I had debated bringing it here because I didn’t want it getting wet, but I didn’t want to lose it completely either.

So I had brought it here and when I took off my clothes to swim, I must’ve put it in the bundle and dropped it when I was trying to put them back on.

“You okay now, dear?” Jaime asked over the sound of the movie. I nodded slowly, still sitting up. His hands grabbed hold of my shoulder, gently pulling me down to lean into his chest. I linked my fingers into his warm grasp. He blew on my cold hand and held it until I warmed up. I smiled a little.

“You’re so cold.” He whispered. I shrugged lightly.

“I feel cold.”

“You want a blanket?” He asked me worriedly, as if I was going to explode. Gosh, he’s been so overprotective recently, as if I was a time-bomb about to explode if I tripped over Autumn again.

“No, no, I’m good thanks.” I smiled to reassure him. I wasn’t too bad off. He just kept my hand cupped in his, blowing on it and kissing the back of my hand occasionally.

Vic made a gagging noise behind us.

“If you two are getting any cuter, I’m going to puke.” He groaned. That apparently gave Himes the signal to lean down and kiss my nose, making me blush like it always did.

“Where’s the trash can?” The oldest Fuentes grumbled.

Notes

Hello readers!

So some of you have been wondering what happened to the how-to manual. Well, here is your answer! It reappears after a few chapters!

I hope this was a good answer to your question.

Feel free to leave a comment if you liked it. Tell me your favorite line, best part, funniest character, who you want to see more of, etc....I love your feedback!

Stay beautiful!