Remember Me [Jalex]

.5.

The room was illuminated by a sliver of golden morning light that found its way between the heavy drapes. Jack wasn't around when I woke up and the quiet told me that he wasn't in any of the conjoined rooms either. Slipping out of the cosy sheets, I padded my way down the corridor.

Behind the heavy wooden doors of the library, I heard the muffled sound of Jack talking. Not thinking much of it, I knocked on the door before cracking it open. I peeped in and immediately regretted doing so. Jack was not alone in the library and I wasn't ready for guests. All eyes were on me and I had no choice but to walk in and be polite.

I recognised the two men in the room with Jack. They haven't changed much since we were teenagers besides building on some muscle mass. All too aware that I was inappropriately dressed in sweatpants and an old t shirt, I smiled and gave a shy wave. At least all three men were clad in casual clothes, which didn't make me feel nearly as awkward as it could've been.

"Hi, Zack. Hi, Rian," I said.

Both of them must've known of my condition because they looked just as shocked as Jack did when I said their names.

"You two still look the same," I explained quietly.

Their shocked expression changed to wide grins. "Great to have you back, Alex," Rian said. "We would've visited you in hospital but intensive care only lets family in."

"It's alright," I shrugged. "I'm gonna go get some food," I pointed toward the door and took a step towards it, intending to let them return to their conversation.

"Hey, we're going out for lunch soon," Zack said. "Do you wanna join us?"

I didn't know it was almost lunchtime, I thought it was still quite early. I looked at the other two. They seemed okay with it so I nodded. "Yeah, sure," I said. "Let me go get dressed." Then I left the room, closing the door behind me.

We drove out to town in two cars. Rian and Zack in the car they came in and Jack and I following behind. Jack hadn't said anything in the library and he only spoke his first words to me when we were in the car.

"Did you have a good sleep?" He asked. "I wanted to wake you up but you were so fast asleep, I didn't want to disturb you."

"Yeah," I replied. "What were you talking about in there before I came in?"

"Business stuff," he shrugged.

"What even is 'business'?" I asked. "What do you do? What do I do? What do Rian and Zack do?"

"Slow down," he chuckled. "The four of us, you included, run some drinking joints around town together. We share the workload around," he explained. "But don't worry about it, I'll take care of your share of work. You just focus on healing and getting better."

"Okay," I said. "Thanks."

He took one hand off the steering wheel to lace his fingers in with mine. "After lunch, we're going to visit a few of the joints," he said. "So you can go see them for yourself. They're pretty cool places, if I do say so myself."

"That sounds nice," I smiled. I looked down at our interlocked fingers. "Shouldn't you have two hands on the wheel at all times?" I asked teasingly.

"I'll manage," he replied. "Unless, of course, you rather not hold my hand," he taunted, moving to pull his hand away.

"No, I like it," I said quickly, tightening my grip on his hand and pulling it back to my lap.

He just laughed and squeezed my hand. I relaxed into my seat as Jack rubbed soothing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. I listened to the song playing on the radio half-heartedly while Jack hummed along, occasionally singing the words out loud. I couldn't recognise the songs on the radio and I found them quite different from the tunes I remember. I wasn't sure if I liked them or not, but some of them were quite catchy and I quickly learnt the melody and words to their repetitive choruses.

"You could remember Zack and Rian," Jack spoke up during an advertisement break. At a particularly sharp turn, he had taken his hand back from me to drive with two hands again for better control. "Back in the library. It took you a while to recognise me."

"Why? Are you jealous?" I teased.

He scoffed. "No," he muttered. His brows were furrowed but I couldn't see his true expression behind his sunglasses. A gut feeling told me he wasn't being a hundred percent honest.

"They look pretty much the same as they did when they were seventeen," I explained. "Zack's arms have grown four times larger, but their faces still look the same."

"And I've changed a lot?" He asked.

"Well, for starters, you have facial hair," I said. "And you've filled out."

"You're saying I put on weight?" He asked incredulously.

I chuckled. "In a way," I told him truthfully. "It's not a bad thing. It looks good on you." He had nothing more to say on the subject so I moved on. "A lot of things have changed," I said. "I can see your forehead now," I mused.

He turned his head to look at me for a second. "What are you talking abou-? Oh," he said, putting his eyes back on the road. "My hair."

I laughed. "Yes, your hair," I echoed. "Your cute ass emo hair with the blond streaks."

He groaned. "I rather not think about it," he muttered. "My style has improved since then."

I agreed. He now had his hair cut a lot shorter and made to stand almost upright on top of his head, adding a couple more inches to his already tall figure. It was still long enough to lean slightly to the side and the odd lock or two would flop down the front of his forehead. He still had dual toned hair, the section of hair on the front right side of his head bleached almost white. It looked a lot better than having scoop of chocolate swirl ice cream on your head.

I said none of this to him. Instead, I said, "Last but not least, I just woke up from a coma when I first saw you. I hardly knew who I was."

"That's true," he admitted softly to himself.

Too deep into our conversation, I hadn't noticed that we had arrived or that Jack had parked the car until he announced that we had reached our destination and killed the engine. He swung his door open and moved to get out of the car. I grabbed his hand and stopped him. When he looked back at me, I leaned in for a swift peck on his lips.

"No matter what it is, you're the best damn looking person in the whole wide world and the most important one in my life," I blurted out, looking straight into his eyes through his shades. "Okay?"

I saw the faint smile that crept up onto his lips. "Okay," he answered, kissing me back.

"Let's go for lunch," I said and released his hand from my grasp.

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