Memories

Chapter 3

I had been sitting there for about half an hour, watching her, when she finally stirs. "Hey Savannah," I say as she groggily opens her eyes. "The breakfast nurse came around fifteen minutes ago, but I grabbed an orange jelly pot, your favourite." I help her to prop herself up on the pillows behind her before I tear off the tinfoil lid and hand you the pot filled with amber gloop followed by the wooden spoon to eat it with. "I went to see Maisie yesterday after I left you. She wants to see her mum. She misses you." As usual, she doesn't say anything; instead, she looks down at the pot of jelly in your hands. I take it off her and pick up a lump before moving the spoon towards her mouth which you open obligingly. "I was going to tell you about Maisie today, but I can tell you about the next time we saw each other if you would prefer?" She meets my eyes as I bring the next spoonful of food to her mouth. "Okay then. About a week after bumping into each other in the park you texted me, asking if I would like to meet you for coffee. It was completely out of the blue, but I agreed and when the day came, I was so excited that I put my t-shirt on back to front and my roommate went all the way through breakfast without telling me. I didn't notice until one of his friends came by to play video games when he broke the news."

***

"Mate, you know you've got that shirt on back to front, right?"

I looked down, panicked. "Mike?" He didn't say anything, but a smirk crept onto his face. "Really guys? I've worn it like this all through breakfast and you stayed quiet. I expected better from you!" I disappeared back into my bedroom. "I'm even more amazed at your poker faces though." I return into the living room and perch on the flattened armrest of the couch. "Well done, I must say."

"Thanks, I feel honoured that you think so highly of me." I gave Mike a friendly push. He returned it with a shove that pushed me off the seat.

"Alright, that's war: get up!"

"But I'll get killed," he moaned, referring to the game, as he stood up slowly.

"Ha!" came from the other end of the faded sofa.

"And you too, Zach. Get up!"

"But I didn't do anything," he whined. I gave him a disapproving look. He put the controller on the table slowly and stood next to his friend.

"I've had enough of cleaning this apartment day after day. I think it's finally time for you to do some chores. I'm going out and when I get back, I expect the flat to be clean. If it's not, well, I'll hide your controllers until you do." I move to put on my shoes and grab my coat (the warm spell had ended, and the typical March weather had returned).

"Why I have to do it? I don't live here."

"My, my. Do you ever stop moaning?" I questioned sarcastically. "Some days you never leave, it's like you live here. Anyway, half of this mess is yours so get to work." I open the door and get halfway out when I think to remind them of the location of the cleaning fluids just to tease them more. "The equipment is under the sink; in case you had forgotten."

I didn't hear their reply as I headed down the stairs and out onto the street. I didn't have to wait long before the bus came that would take me into town where the café she had suggested was. I had never been to that specific place before, but it sounded cheerful (The Full Foal). When I got off the bus, it had started to mizzle - a combination of mist and drizzle. I wasn't expecting the damp weather so I'd left the coat with a hood at home, so I had to hope the rain wouldn't get any worse before I got to the place. Due to my everlasting bad luck, it did and when I finally got there, I was soaking: water droplets were dripping off the edge of my coat. Savannah wasn't there yet, and I assigned myself to a spare table. I shed my wet layer before taking my book out of the satchel I had been carrying. Amazingly, it had managed to stay dry through the downpour and I turned to the page my magnetic bookmark clung to. I had only read a page before a shadow fell over the table.