Don't take my memories~Drier

Chapter Thirty Two- No One Can Know

Kier's PoV
The minutes ticked by mercilessly slow as I sipped at my drink, my eyes glued to the wooden door of the Kings pub. I had gotten here early, hoping that the infamous Shane would have the same idea, but it was evident he did not. Instead, I had to sit there for an extra thirty minutes, just staring at my surroundings, my guts churning in my stomach. I wasn't sure I was ready for this.

Most people wouldn't be this terrified, I tried to reason. If anything, they would be interested to meet the guy who carved out most of their crushes past and to find out more about him, if a little intimidated by their history. But I wasn't most people. The Drew I knew and the Drew Shane knew could be completely different people. In my eyes, Drew was an angel wuth an untarnished reputation. I just didn't want his past to somehow change that.

Shane arrived at 12:32, precisely two minutes later than the time we had agreed on. He hadn't seemed to age much from the guy I had seen the pictures and his dirty blonde hair flopped down over his eyes, just as Drew had described countless times. He was attired in a Star Wars t-shirt with black skinny jeans which hugged his slender figure.

He looked a little confused and began to look around for me, not noticing me hidden skilfully behind the sheath of coats in the corner of the pub. Just as he looked as though he had given up, I cleared my throat, causing him to turn around and face me with a start, his eyes lighting up when he finally recognised.

"You must be Kier, I presume?" He questioned, his voice coming out much deeper than I expected. I nodded, dumbfounded that he was actually stood before me and truly existed, rather than just being a figurement of Drew's imagination.

"Yes, and you must be Shane?" I managed after I had recovered, gesturing with my hands for the male to sit down beside me once he nodded in confirmation. "Do you want me to get you a drink?" I asked politely, but he merely shook his head.

"I can't stay long and I've got something back at work. I've only really come to talk about Drew" Shane explained, signalling that he wanted to get this over and done with.

"Of course. I established that you must have been his boyfriend, but other than that, I don't really know much about you and him. Drew didn't seem to sure himself" I started, deciding that finding out just how close he and Drew were was the best place to start if I wanted Shane to open up. He smiled, feeling slightly more at ease now that I hadn't just jumped in at the deep end.

"Me and Drew, we go back years. We dated sure, but I always thought there was more to us than that. We met when we were kids and we've been inseparable ever since. We were exactly the same, yet so different at the same time. I loved him so much. We were teenage sweethearts, so Drew was the only guy I'd been out with at that point. As soon as we were old enough, we moved in together, and for a while, we were happy. He was my world" Shane explained, a small smile illuminating his features as memories of his time with Drew came flooding back to him, transporting him to a dream.

"I'm guessing something bad must have happened after this, to make him go to hospital" I pushed gently.

"He started forgetting things. It was just small stuff at first, like where we kept things in the fridge and what days we went shopping on, but it soon escalated from that. He started forgetting where we lived some days, how to do basic stuff, and even my name. It hurt me, of course it did, but I knew it wasn't his fault. I tried my best to look after him and cope myself, but he became a danger to himself and others" Shane sighed.

"What did he do?" I questioned carefully, feeling slightly guilty as Shane's eyes went dark, filled with regret and anguish.

"One night, I was late finishing work and then there was an accident on the tube, meaning I wasn't home until midnight. Drew had been home alone before, but I was still worried, you know? Anyway, I rushed home as quick as I could... To see our flat was on fire. Drew had been cooking and had forgotten to turn off the stove and a fire had broken out. I couldn't see him anywhere, so I ran in after him. He didn't recognise me, he panicked..."he trailed off uncertainly.