Finding Red

Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Nadia

"So Gage is gone, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Elijah pulled his arm off of me.

" Did Gage and I date?" I asked the so-called memory re-played in my mind, him leading over to my bed and kissing me. The lightest was dim and his hands were lost in my hair. I laid back on the warm concrete and shut my eyes.

"Well, that's a little messy. You and Gage met through Vannessa at a Dinner party she threw when I moved here and she met him through me. You two became very close. He didn't live here but he was always over. He slept on the couch for a while, then on your floor, then in bed with you. It was cute, me and Vannessa thought you two would've been a great couple. He really loved you." Elijah went on, "You two were always together. I don't know what you guys did in your time together but I know you guys were in love, you and Gage were together when you went into your second coma. After that he spent every day by your side. He moved in so he could be close to you when you woke up and didn't remember anything he was hurt."

"So we were together?"

" Basically" He said, "You might want to hurry up, you and Gage used to have all of your dates at Wayne's" Elijah laid back and laughed. I thanked him for talking with me and hurried back inside. Vannessa was folding towels on the couch and her eyes were red and puffy.

"Hey Nat, are you and Gage heading out?" She sat an unfolded light gray towel on her lap and looked up at me.

"Yeah, we're going out to eat, why?" I slipped on the sand brown sandals that were by the door as Vannessa got up and handed me money.

"Can you two pick a few packages from the post office? I would go myself but Bella is having a play-date with some new friends." She rolled her eyes and let out a soft laugh.

"Of course, don't worry about it!" I took the money and hurried out the door. Gage was already in the car, the same car that had picked me up when I left the hospital. I got into the passenger side and buckled my seat belt. He pulled out of the driveway and turned the opposite way of the hospital. I felt uneasy. The memory of his hands in my hair kept replaying over and over again. Do I tell him about it or would that make this whole thing weird? Should I tell him about how Elijah told me about what we used to have? I drew a quick and harsh breath in. I could feel the pain go up my side and into my chest.

"Are you okay?" Gage didn't take his eyes off the road but his eyebrows scrunched up and he looked worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I slowed my breathing down to try to control the pain and it slowly went away.

"What did Elijah tell you?" He asked, his face grew hard again. The softness faded and his voice harshened. His mood was really inconsistent, maybe he was bipolar. I almost laughed, "Did he tell you about us?" He looked at me then back at the road.

"Yeah he did," I started playing with the green bracelet on my wrist. "he didn't tell me a lot, only that we would to Wayne's a lot"

He pulled into a parking lot of an old building. It was a dark colored brick building and had a lot of windows all in a row. I could see a couple people through the windows, some ate, others were laughing. He looked down at my hands and I stopped messing with the bracelet. "You know I bought that for you, on our first date we went down to the boardwalk, we went on the faris wheel and then we stopped at Fisher's Jewelry, that's where it's from." he smiled and looked up at me, "do you remember that?" I frowned, I didn't. The memories were not there. I couldn't remember the farris wheel, or the date. I could barely remember the flashbacks.

We walked into the restaurant and a larger guy with a white beard came running up to Gage, "Gabriel, hello my son! How have you been?" The man wrapped his arms around Gage and lifted him off the ground and into a hug.

"Hello, Mr. W I've been good, how's Mrs. W and the littles?" Gage chuckled as he was lifted off the ground.

"Oh you know, the Mrs, is complaining about the kids, and the kids complain about the wife." He sat Gage down and put his hands on his stomach. "Oh my goodness, is that Nadia?" I looked up at Gage, he nodded.

"Hello!" I held my hand out to him and he laughed.

"Oh I've heard about what happened I'm so very sorry my dear." He looked over at Gage, "I know he doesn't remember anything but you should've told her I don't do handshakes." He let out a chuckle so deep and soft. Then pulled me into a hug, he didn't lift me off the ground like he did for Gage, this hug was much softer and it seemed like he didn't want to cause any harm to me. He let go and turned to Gage "Same table?" he asked him.

"You got it." The man turned around and started into the gallery of tables. Gage grabbed my hand and pulled me along. The people in there sat and laughed, some looked up at me and watched me and Gage all the way to a table that had been sectioned off from the rest. "Thanks Mr. W." Gage said as he let go of my hand and sat down.

"Of course, anytime son, do you two just want the usual?" I sat down as Gage and the man talked. The people were still watching, some were whispering to each other. Maybe coming out wasn't such a good idea.

The man walked away as Gage turned to me. "What's wrong?" I looked around at all of the eyes. It seemed as they followed my every move, every blink, every breath I took they saw. "Let them look, they are all just taken back by your beauty." He looked at me, his eye's saw right through me. His eyes were comfortable. They were two spotlights for me to dance in. They didn't judge, they didn't stare, they were just there, and only for me. "The food takes a while to get here, but trust me when it gets here it's worth it. You loved everything here, do you remember?"

I did remember, I remembered everything about this place, the memories were rushing around my mind, the first time me and Gage came here, the time where we walked here and it poured. "Yes actually i do remember," I saw his eyes light up. I could see the words on the tips of his lips 'do you remember me' I cut him off before he could say anything. "Maybe we could go to the boardwalk later? It might help me remember more." The light stayed in his eyes.
"Of course we can! I can take you anywhere you want." This time the sparkle stayed in his eyes, "today is all about you, whatever you say goes." He reached across the table and held onto my hand. "I can do whatever you want as long as I'm with you." A tall man with black hair brought two pink drinks with blue straws sticking out. "Oh you're going to love this" he said as he slid my drink across to me.

People came and went, and me and Gage stayed and talked, we ate then we got back into the car and started driving. We drove for half an hour before I could see the boardwalk. His hard shell of a character had completely faded.

On top of Gage's character change I started to have more and more flashbacks. Flashbacks of me and Gage running through a town, swimming together. There was one that had me giggling, me and Gage were out in the middle of some town I didn't recognize and a bumble bee was chasing me. Memories of me and a much smaller version of Bella painting our nails, and chasing each other. Memories I had no clue of the event that had happened. A memory of a car crash replayed over and over again. It was a lot like the one with me and mom, but Gage was driving. If I told Gage about these newfound memories he might go back to his hard character. That was the last thing I needed.