Infinite Shades of Him (bxb)

5. Did you miss me?

"Scoot over; your ass cheek almost touched my fries."

I slowly turned my head to see Alicia glaring at Gavin with a fork in her hand pointed at his nose. I wasn't sure if I wanted the ass-cheek french fry story, but I hoped she didn't murder one of my best friends with a fork. However, with a gun to my head, if I had to choose sides, I'd legally have to choose Alicia. 

Tonight, we were at the town's winter concert, and it was fucking freezing. Who thought of putting a concert outdoors in the winter while smack dab on the edge of North Dakota? I'd be a Karen so fast because find me someone to complain to about this. I wasn't sure how Alicia even noticed her ass-cheek almost crushed Gavin's fries--I couldn't feel my ass now.

We were sitting on the ground with a blanket under us while we waited for the damn concert to start. My brother and Rain were around here somewhere, and thankfully, Rune started loosening the reigns a little bit. I managed to catch Night Ninja four nights ago, and like a creeper in the night, I watched him paint again. It was like watching a perfectly organized and orchestrated surgery. I couldn't pull my eyes away from how he twirled the paintbrush along the wall. 

Still, I didn't know when I wanted to approach him. I still needed to figure out what the fuck I'd say to him, and I still didn't know if I would know the guy. What if he wasn't up for giving me the answers I sought? 

Either way, I was going back out tomorrow to see him again. Or, well, find him again. Part of me wondered if I even cared who it was, considering I was so mesmerized by his talent that I forgot where I was half the time. 

Alicia cozied up to me, putting her head on my shoulder. "Ah, I'm so happy to have you back, Miles. Almost fifteen days of my cutie-patootie best friend walking among us is better than any Walking Dead episode I've seen on Netflix."

I snorted a laugh, tapping her arm. "Did you just compare my presence to the zombie apocalypse?"

"Yes, yes, I did. Don't ask me to make sense of it, but I said the word 'walking' and associated it with the TV show. I bet you'd look cute as a zombie. What do you think? Next Halloween?"

"It's entirely possible, but I'll think about that when it's a wee bit closer and when I don't have about a million and one things on my plate."

"How is the memory recovery going?"

How was I supposed to answer that? 

Alicia liked to avoid any questions about my memory loss when we were together, and I never openly told her about anything I regained. The anemia memory from almost ten fucking days ago caused me to spin out. I didn't tell my brother about it; Atlas was the only one who knew. 

Apart from that, I'd only gotten a little bit here and there. Once again, nothing significant. At least, there was nothing that I noticed, and Atlas hadn't pointed anything out to me. We've hung out several times, and yeah, I felt guilty sometimes when I did hang out with him. It was clear to me that we were best friends during college, and we seemed to be the closest.

I had a feeling that there was just a significant event that was tied into everything that made us closer than anyone else, and that was a memory I was missing.

I sighed, setting my head against hers. "Not bad, I suppose. I'm remembering the small things mostly. I have a lot of memories around you, but then I also don't because Atlas is involved. I know you are aware of this major thing I'm missing, and no, I don't feel like I'm anywhere close to getting it back. Everyone has to prepare for the possibility that I might not remember at all."