Memories

Part 2

The man, Barnes, although he insisted that she call him Ben, asked to join her and even though she was not good at meeting new people, she agreed but not before having a little argument and a pep talk mentally. While sitting down, Ben motioned to the drink he had bought, to which he received a raised eyebrow. He was a little shocked, don't expect too much right now, but offered her the drink nonetheless, which prompted her to question, (she had been doing that a lot ever since she presumably lost her memories).

"How do I know there's nothing wrong with whatever this drink is?"

"Um, okay, well for starters, this is a coffee shop, not a bar. Secondly, the man behind the counter has been glaring holes in my head ever since I ordered this drink, I'm sure he'll be happy to answer."

Y/N looked at the man in question and he just shrugged.

"Right, sorry about him, he's kind of an overprotective brother," she said, accepting the drink, "So Ben, have you ever read the book or did you just Google a quote to use?"

He chuckled, "I have, my wi- friend, my friend kind of forced me to read it with him and it was actually quite interesting. The movie, comparatively, was eh."

"There is a movie?"

"You don't know?"

"Uh...maybe, I'm not really sure", she replied, chuckling nervously. Even if I may know about it, not that I remember, she thought. "So Ben t- oh shit."

"What, what happened?" Ben asked worriedly, eyes darting around quickly, scanning everything for any signs of danger.

Before she could respond, the bell rang signaling someone had entered. While Ben's eyes flickered to the person entering, he saw Y/N trying to hide her face through her book in his peripheral vision. He saw the man's eyes fixated over Y/N and himself with, was that anger? or no jealousy? a little defeat perhaps?

The man almost rushed towards them like if we were to go any slower, a bomb would explode, coming to a stop at their table. Ben glanced over at Y/N to figure out why she was behaving strange, completely oblivious to the man glaring holes at his head.

When Ben finally got a look at the now bubbling-with-anger-but-trying-not-to-show-it man, he noticed his appearance, which kind of looked familiar like he was for sure they had met him but how, where, when, why, nothing was known. And even if he can't remember, what did this man do to cause Y/N to react like that?

The brunette-haired, green-eyed man, though a little scrawny, was easy on the eyes but if he had made her uncomfortable in any way, he was not getting on Ben's good side anytime soon. Maybe he was an ex- no that's not possible, he would have known.

He instinctively reached his hand out to hers, but then remembered he was in no position to do that, though this didn't stop him from going into a protective stance.

"Y/N, darling?" The man prompted up after a little staring match between him and Ben.

Y/N looked up a little hesitantly, putting a fake smile that seemed so real even Ben was deceived for a moment. "Yes, Tom?"

"What are you doing here? I was looking for you," the man's voice was almost as sweet as sugar, his British accent peeking through. Bet he ate a lot of sugar before this, even seems like an ant, Ben snickered silently at his own little thought.

"I was- am reading...needed a little break. Why were you looking for me?"

"Nothing important, just thought we could hang out," glancing at Ben he added, "and who you might be?" venom lacing his tone.

Ignoring his tone, he answered with his name.

"Tom." They shook hands as a pretty formal greeting. Ben didn't fail to notice the frowning-scowl.

Y/N, as if sensing the tension, spoke up while collecting her stuff, "I have to go, work stuff."

Ben, would you like to join? I'm going to the library," she asked, her hands fiddling with the edge of her shirt.

Ben's eyes lit up, "Sure."

They quickly said their goodbyes and without giving him a chance to respond, they both hastily made their exit. Outside while walking, Ben questioned her about the strange man.

"Oh he is a friend...if you can call him that."

"Did he do anything wrong? You seemed a little uncomfortable."

"No, nothing explicitly, but he's been kind of popping up a lot, just needed to get away from him for a bit I guess." She again chuckled nervously.

"So, Ben, tell me about yourself."

"Let's see,"he thought, shrugging and began with his first name, "I'm 28. I like to read, as you may have interpreted-"

"I hadn't," sarcasm was pretty evident in her words.

"-and I got some favorite books, but I'm going to go with Atonement for now," he continued after making a mocking face at her interruption.

This time her eyes lit up, "I've read it. The ending was sad," the pause was either for effect or she was genuinely thinking, her eyes wandering for a moment and then with a flicker she added, "It didn't stop it from being good though. They did get their happy ending after all."

He agreed. "So have you seen the movie or not aware about it?"

"Oh come onnn. I should have searched, is the movie good?"

"It covers the book to a large extent, the portrayal is great, so yeah sure," hesitantly he added, "perhaps we can watch it together sometime, I mean, if you want to, not that you have to say yes for sure-" he almost began rambling until she cut him off.

"Are you asking me out, Mr. Barnes?" She was surprised at her own statement. Her cheeks red between a tomato and stop traffic light.

"Would you like it if I did?"he questioned, smirking, noticing her blush but he was still nervous. He almost knew what she was going to say, because he knows her. If only she would remember.

"As much as I would like to say yes-" Ben looked surprised, "-I need to figure some things out. Plus, we hardly know each other. I don't even know what you do for a living, you could be a assassin for all I know-"

"-I'm an actor, though assassin sounds nice, should consider a career change," he interjected. He knew she would be friends with someone, then maybe try the dating thing, not any other way. He just asked her for the sole purpose of getting her to trust him, but he couldn't help playing along, even if he didn't want it to be a game at all.

"So, you're thinking of becoming The Winter Soldier without the brainwashing thing?"

"Possibly."

"Do you have a gun hidden for practice?" Both of them shared a laugh at this.

They hadn't even realized they had reached the library and were just about to pass it when she looked around. Realizing where they were, she invited Ben inside. He, wanting to spend every single moment with his partner, eagerly followed her. Even if she didn't know.