The Story Of Us

4. His Lips

Lucy opened her eyes slowly and after blinking away the last of sleep, she realized she was in a hospital room. Although panic rushed through her, she tried to take a deep breath, and her nose was met with a welcome, familiar scent. Lucy failed to place why the scent was familiar, since she could not recall what is smells like, but she realized she was smelling a t shirt that she was holding to her chest. She sniffed the cotton tee again and relaxed slightly.

Why is she in the hospital? She wondered.

Her eyes settled on a piece of paper folded on bedside table. In big letters on the front it read: LUCY READ ME.

Curiously, she began to read a few simple sentences whose impact gave her pause. Apparently, she's suffering from amnesia, and she's missing 5 years of her life. In that time, she's now a detective and engaged to someone named Tim Bradford. Her coworkers, who are apparently more like family according to this piece of paper, were listed by name on the page, and she wondered if so many people care about, and she has a man who wants to marry her, then why did she wake up alone?

Lucy tried standing and realized she was able to do so with only a little muscle aching. She was unsure where she should go, but she didn't want to be in this hospital room alone, so she moved towards the door. As Lucy reached for the handle, the door swung open, and a very handsome dirty blonde man was standing in front of her, panting as he tried to catch his breath.

"Morning, baby! Sorry I'm late," he grinned and presented her with a paper cup of coffee. "I wanted to be here before you woke up, but the line was so long," he added to his explanation.

She looked down at the cup in his outstretched hand and back up into his beautiful blue eyes and asked, "Who are you?"

His shoulders slumped slightly, which made Lucy feel guilty for some reason. "Did you read the paper on the table?"

"Yeah, I...I have amnesia and short term memory loss," she repeated the words.

"Right, and did you read the part about how I'm your fiancée? I'm Tim."

"Hmm," she hummed and looked up and down at her supposed fiancée. "You're Tim?"

"Yeah," he smiled bashfully. "Maybe we should include pictures on that piece of paper to make it easier for you."

"I'm guessing we keep having this same conversation don't we?"

"We sorta do," he snickered lightly at the absurdity of the situation despite the severity. His own fiancée and the love of his life wakes up every morning and does not recognize him, and he hates that he has to reintroduce himself to her, but Tim also started to believe it was a cosmic joke. He finally got everything he wanted, so of course it was wrenched away from him.

"Sorry about that," Lucy winced and scratched at the crown of her head, immediately hissing, since she clearly touched sensitive skin.

"Careful of your stitches, babe," Tim warned and took a step closer to investigate her head. He wanted to ensure that the cut on her head had not reopened from the absent minded scraping of her nails.

Her nose immediately picked up on that scent again, and she realized the t shirt she was sleeping with, the one that made her feel more relaxed, was something that smells like HIM. She felt his breath warm her cheek due to their new closeness and immediately felt her chest tighten. Odd.

"Your stitches look okay. Why don't you take a seat and drink your coffee." He was relieved she had not hurt herself.

Lucy finally took the cup from Tim's hand, gently brushing her fingers against his. The sensation sent a little tingle all the way up to her elbow, and it was a little weird to feel sparks with an absolute stranger, but she could not control her body's involuntary reaction. She settled onto the edge of her hospital bed, took a sip of the coffee, and allowed the warm liquid to coat her throat. Then, Lucy watched Tim sit in the plastic chair beside her bed.