Memories

Part 8

They both sat in silence for a while, Y/N soaking up all the information Ben had thrown at her. So she did know a little stuff correctly, still doesn't make up for the fact that she forgot her best friend, but she'll get there eventually. Ben was looking anywhere but her, still she could see him stealing glances at her as if waiting for her to speak. She thought about her response. It's not everyday that some insanely attractive man with a chiseled face, deep chocolate eyes, fluffy hair waiting for fingers to run through them, tells you your life history.
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Finally, when the silence started becoming too much, she spoke, "So...Ben, tell me about yourself then?"

He was confused, "I already did...?"

"No, not like that, like maybe some insight on how we met, became friends, stuff about your parents...if you want to of course."

Ben made a noise of recognition, agreeing, "We basically had that family friends kinda friendship. Parents were friends, we were closer in age, so we became friends almost instantly. My mother used to tell me that we both used to stop crying around each other almost instantly. Then we went to the same school, did most of the stuff together, basically inseparable. We were also neighbors, and lived right next door almost all our lives."

"Sounds nice."

"It was...here I also have some pictures on my phone. Was looking at the photo album some days ago, and clicked some of them." He took out his phone and scrolled until he reached those, leaning forward to show her.

"Is that from the first day of school?" She asked, ready to laugh. He nodded. That was her cue to burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "Aw, look at you, all bubbly and excited to go. What are you even wearing?" She managed between laughs.

"That's not me, that's you." He replied, biting back a smile.

She stopped laughing, eyes wide staring at the photo. Did she really look like that at what, 2-3 years old? She narrowed her eyes, "I don't believe you. This clearly looks like a boy and face matches yours a little bit."

"Believe it or not, it is you. Plus, you were the tomboy kind of girl, still are. You were so angry when your mother tried to dress you up in a frock and refused to go. This was the final negotiation."

Now that sounded like her. She only nodded in acknowledgment, not so shocked as before.

He moved to a picture of them on a trip, near a sunset, both of them looking about 9-10 years old.

"Oh I remember this, you tried to play that prank on me and disappeared, and then you actually got lost. It was hilarious when we were not worrying about you."

"Hey I thought an animal was going to attack me, turns out that was you. It's scary when you are standing there defenseless...it was fu- wait what? What did you say?"

Y/N froze, realizing what she had said. "I don't know, it...it just popped up, just what I remembered after seeing that photo."

Ben's eyes were glimmering with hope, it wasn't much but it was a start. She had already started getting some snippets back. They just had to work on pulling those little things out, step by step. He wouldn't rush into anything, he assured himself. Baby steps Ben, baby steps.

His smile reaching his eyes, he replied perplexed, "That's-that's great, you're already getting some stuff back. It's a start. But don't worry, you don't have to pressure yourself over this, we'll get through this, patiently and I will be with you at every step," he assured her, taking her hand in his and rubbing soft circles on her skin with this thumb, which flooded her with relief and calm.

"Yeah-yeah thanks for that."

He just smiled and swiped on to another photo.

Y/N visibly relaxed, she didn't know what to do with her sudden drop of memory. She thought that it would cause him to expect her to remember everything at once. Or maybe, try to force her into remembering the details. She was about to have an anxiety attack, but suddenly felt a hand taking hers and feeling someone's-Ben's finger-or thumb, rubbing soft circles at her skin and instantly felt better, anxiety fading away at the speed of sound. It was soothing, exactly what she needed and was glad that he didn't let go of her hand when they moved on to other pictures. It was like their hands fit and the warmth of his hand was just the cherry on top of extra whipped cream she required.