Recollections

The Time It Was Our Anniversary

The Time It Was Our Anniversary
(song of the chapter: )

Austin and I were broken up when our first year anniversary would've occurred. Now that we're back together we both were a little upset that we didn't get to celebrate our time together. Austin came up with the brilliant idea that we calculate how long we were together prior to our breakup, and add that with the time that we've been back together since then. We talked about this three months ago, and the day has finally arrived.

It's just not playing out how I'd pictured it would.

When my alarm woke me up this morning, I rolled over to look at him. Austin had mumbled something about me closing the bathroom door so that the light didn't disturb his slumber, then he turned away from me and went back to sleep.

Not quite the awakening I was hoping for...

Just as I was about to leave, Austin came running out of the room calling after me. I'd spun around with a beaming smile on my face, thinking he'd finally realized what day it was. However when he caught up to me, it was only to remind me to grab eggs from the store on my way home from school tonight. The smile I was wearing fell clean off of my face.

All throughout today I'd been waiting for something, anything from Austin. I'd kept my phone on loud hoping he'd text me or call to wish me a happy anniversary, but that never happened. After school when I went to my internship, I'd hoped that he'd have flowers delivered to my desk with a sweet message tucked into them. That never happened either.

By the time I was hiking out to my car, leaving my internship, I was fuming. I hadn't received so much as a text from him today, and this was his idea!

I'm standing outside of the apartment door and I take several deep breaths to calm myself down. Austin usually doesn't get home until after me, but I'm hoping that he'll be inside when I twist the knob, so that we can spend some time together.

When I step into the apartment I call out his name. No response comes and my eyes start to sting with tears. I've seen this happen to women all the time in movies and when they made a big deal about it, I never understood why until now. I'd never expected Austin to forget about us.

My bags are flung half way across my bedroom and I stomp around like a child, even though I'm home alone. Changing out of my sweats that I wore to school today, I put on something slightly more elegant. Maybe if I dress the part, Austin will realize his failure to remember.

I find myself slipping on Austin's favorite blue dress of mine. It's light, like his eyes and it's my favorite one too. Simple and comfortable, which is right down my alley. For a moment I consider styling my hair, but then I think better of it. Instead I tug a comb through my loose waves and let my messy locks cascade down my shoulders. Considering he hasn't even wished me happy anniversary, he probably won't understand why I'm dressed up.

I'm about to call him and see when he'll be home from work, when I'm smacked with realization. He'd asked me to pick up eggs this morning, and I drove right by the grocery store on my way home. Shit. Jamming my feet into a pair of grey sandals, that resemble gladiator shoes, I steer myself towards the door.

**

I open three cartons of eggs until I find a group of eggs that aren't damaged. My feet move quickly back to the front of the store and I search for the check out lane with the shortest amount of people waiting. By the time it's my turn to check out, I'm anxious. I really want to beat Austin home, and if he gets off earlier than he usually would, I won't make it in time.

The frizzy-haired cashier smiles at me, but she's eyeing me suspiciously. When I hand her my debit card to pay, she stares at the plastic card in her hand for a minute. Clearing my throat, she peeks back up at me.

"Problem?" I ask, brows raised.

She shakes her head but her lips purse. "No ma'am, I'll just need to see some identification."

I scoff, but her pursed pucker doesn't falter and I shove my hand into my purse to find my license. The cashier reads my name on my card and compares it to the name on my I.D. Her face lights up and she hands both of them back to me.

"You didn't--" I start to tell her that she never swiped my card to pay but she holds up a hand.

"No need, Ms. Erin. Austin told us you'd be stopping by, the eggs are covered." She smiles and hands the eggs back to me inside of a plastic bag. I gladly take them back, but I'm staring at her confusedly. "Oh and here." She slides a yellow envelope across the counter and I swipe it off of the counter, greedily.

Not wanting to open the card before her, I smile and thank her before turning away and padding towards the exit. As I walk, my finger slips beneath the seal of the yellow envelope.

A matching slip of yellow paper peeks out from inside of the envelope and I tug it out to read the words scrawled across the page.

Three hundred and sixty five days with you
And they've been the best of my life
I wouldn't want to spend it with anyone else,
No other woman is suitable to be my wife.
So for our anniversary, I've planned a little trip
To find the next location, you must follow this tip:
Go to the place where I took you for our first date.

I'm baffled. He didn't forget, he's remembered all along, he's been playing a mind game with me. Giggles are hiccuping from my lips as I peel out of the parking lot, the memory of our first outing together surfacing in my mind.

By the time I arrive at IKEA, my heart is pounding. For twenty minutes I sit in my car before working up the nerve to enter the building. The automatic doors slide open for me and as I walk through the threshold, a burst of air conditioning sweeps my hair across my face. My lips pucker and I pull the strands of hair that have gotten stuck to my lips. Meanwhile, the gentleman at the reception desk is watching me.

When I approach him, there's amusement in his eyes. We stare at each other for a few awkwardly passing seconds. I'm racking my brain, trying to figure out what I'm supposed to say to him exactly. Hey, my card said to come here, I don't actually need furniture. Then again, Austin and I didn't actually need furniture when we came here on our first date either. Austin had insisted we come to ikea because he said the fully furnished and decorated "rooms" made him feel at home.

The man before me finally sighs and I blink back to reality and focus on him. "Ah, you must be the girl."

I jab my index finger at my chest. "Erin."

"Precisely." He nods once then hands me a yellow envelope.

I'm not as secretive about opening this card as I was with the first one. Tearing the flap open, I read Austin's crunched handwriting.

Congratulations. You've made it to your second destination.
Now go to the model room where I pulled out my phone,
you sat by my side and let out a loud groan
When you realized I was putting Netflix on for us,
you started to argue and I heard you cuss.
Remember, you'd insisted that we'd get kicked out
So go find that room, and look under the couch.

I'm hysterical now. He said my second destination, which is ironic because the movie he had played for us was Final Destination 2. My feet are already leading me down the narrow corridor towards the living room wing of ikea.

The model set up isn't exactly how I remembered it. Some of the furniture has been moved around and a couple of things switched for newer items, but our couch remains. I drop to my knees and peek under the sofa, only to see another yellow envelope pushed far enough back that I'm shoulder deep I reaching for it.

The envelope grazes my fingers and I press against the couch to get a better grasp on the letter. Eagerly, I slide it out into the open and remove the yellow slip from within.

I'm glad to see your memory is still up to par
but don't give up yet, you've made it this far.
I'm running out of rhymes and I'm not much of a poet
So I won't be rhyming anymore, Sorry.
Get back in your car and drive to this address.
548 Windfall Ave

I take note of the way his scribbles suddenly shift to all capitals.