Verity
So... she's blind. If I hadn't have been so narcissistic when meeting her and her father for the first time, I would probably have guessed but, you know, typical me for being so focused on myself. And now all I can think about it how stupid I was not to notice it.

I don't even know how to act around a blind person - I'm pretty much incapable acting around sighted people, so I don't have much faith in myself. Add that to the fact that there's something weird going on with my stomach whenever I look at her, and it's looking like it's going to be an outright disaster. 

Ultimately, she seems nice enough though, not a Henrietta type anyway. 

We get on the train easily and to be fair, we end up managing small talk the whole thirty minutes into town. The neighbourhood that I live in - and now I guess that Amy lives in - is far away from the actual shops because of the whole gated community shit that they have going on. I don't get it myself; it's not even like the man at the gate cares who goes in and out, it's just used for everyone to feel better about security and all of that.

"And we're here!" I try to sound cheery because I can tell she's making an effort to communicate with me - the true definition of socially inept - and because I feel bad when I bring the whole mood down. Not that I don't anyway, but, you know, I've got to at least try not to be an emotional vampire.

"Cool," She nods her head, staying still for a minute on the station platform. It's almost like that moment in film when the protagonist has finally won something and just stands there, taking the victory in. What Amy's won from stepping off a train I don't know. "Is there a bakery nearby?"

"Err... yeah I guess so... they're are loads of pastry stalls as part of the markets on at the moment." I don't why she asked about bakeries but it did remind me that at least there is something going on in town today.

"Ahh the pastry smell is amazing!" She inhales deeply, facing the sky, before bringing her head back down. "And there are markets on as well?"

I nod, then internally curse myself for the millionth time. See this is why I don't have friends; I'm chronically stupid and insensitive.

"Yeah, I think they opened last week." I don't think; I know - Henrietta made a whole post about it on her instagram accompanied with pictures of herself in various poses, all making her look like she's having a whale of a time of course.

"Cool!" She replies with a massive smile "Can we go check them out?"

I learn a lot about Amy in the few hours we spend at the market, going around the stalls. The biggest one is that she is by far the most genuinely enthusiastic person I have ever met, and that doesn't necessarily have to be directed towards anything - she's just generally excited by everything.

I do have to keep narrating and describing a lot of the different shops and products, but honestly I didn't mind it one bit; it became something to focus on to stave off all the negative thoughts that definitely would have arisen otherwise. For once, I wasn't worried about how Amy perceived me, because I was helping her perceive everything around us.

We spend a while talking the owner of a stall that sold handmade wooden sculptures. Amy's asking all these questions: how are they made, how long it takes, why the owner decided to go for each design, and I can't help but notice how the owner's face lit up at someone genuinely caring so much about their work to ask all these questions about it. It makes me want to be more like that, even if I don't feel the motivation all the time to be so interested in something.

I suddenly realise that I've been staring off into space as I focus on Amy handing the stall owner some money.

"There you go," She places a small wooden elephant in the palm of my hand, revealing a second identical one in hers, "one for me, one for you. Best friends!"

I involuntarily give the biggest smile I have in a long time. "Best friends."