Remember Me (Jack Maynard)

Chapter 11

"How bad is he?" I asked as I followed Conor into the flat.

"He hasn't been sober since that night," Conor said. "He's just been in his room, drinking. Will only come out to use the bathroom. I don't think he's eaten much, unless I force him to. It's bad, Mel. He really needs you."

"I'll do what I can," I told him as we reached the bedroom.

"Are you ready?" he asked, and I nodded.

"I think so." I told him.

"Alright, just brace yourself. Jack?" Conor asked in a soft voice, knocking lightly on the bedroom door. "Jack can I come in?"

Conor's request was met by a low groan. "I don't wanna see anybody," Jack slurred.

"But I have someone here to see you," Conor said.

"If it's not Amelie I don't care," Jack said then, his words still slurring.

"Go on in, Mel," Conor said, turning and heading back down the hallway and I slowly opened the door, my eyes widening at the scene around me.

There were empty bottles littered all over the floor, and the room was a complete mess. Jack was laying down in his bed, an almost empty bottle in his hands. However, when he looked up and saw me, he dropped it, quickly sitting up as the tears began to fall from his eyes.

"Mel," he said, crying uncontrollably. "It's you, you... you came back."

"I'm here," I said.

"Please don't go again," he begged me, "please, please. I promise you I'm not a bad guy, but I know I can be mean. I think that's what I did wrong, to make you leave."

"Jack, I know you're not a bad guy," I said, climbing in bed and hugging him tight.

"I'm so lost without you," he said. "And I know you don't remember me but I can help you. And if I can't that's okay. We'll make new memories. Please don't give us up. Please let me help."

"Okay," I said, kissing his cheek to try and calm him down. "I promise I won't leave again. You can help," I promised him.

"Really?" he asked, smiling drunkenly and holding onto me tightly.

"Mhm," I said.

"Can we snuggle?" he asked, and I nodded, laying down and holding onto him when he started crying again.

"Jack, what's wrong?" I asked softly, rubbing his back.

"It felt like you had died." he said, sniffling. "In the accident. Since you didn't wanna be around me, it was like you were gone and took a big piece of me with you. And I've had a lot to drink tonight but now you're back and I'm just so happy."

"I'm back, honey," I said, wiping his eyes. "and I'm not going anywhere, okay?"

"Okay," he said then.

"Why don't you try to get some sleep?" I suggested. "It might do you good."

"I don't wanna wake up and have you be gone again," he said. "I just got you back, I wanna enjoy having you here."

"How about I stay, and then I'll be here when you wake up again?" I asked him.

"Okay," he said. "I love you,"

"I love you too," I told him. "Goodnight, Jack."

After he finally had fallen asleep, I took the opportunity to carefully crawl out of bed so I wouldn't wake him up and clean up all the empty bottles from the floor, as well as do my best to clean up the spill from when he'd noticed me first come in.

It wasn't hard to tell that this was all he'd been doing in those days since I left, and Conor had been right. He was a complete wreck, and it was all my fault. If I hadn't shut him out, if I had only agreed to let him try and help me, then he'd still be okay.

But I didn't know where him and I would be if I had let him. I hated to say this might've been for the best, but how stressed out might he be if we had spent all this time together? My memories hadn't improved any, but now we have a clean slate to try again.

It was like he said. Maybe my memories wouldn't come back. That was a huge possibility. But then we'd make new memories. Recreate some old ones, and make new ones entirely. I had to make some new memories somehow, so why shouldn't they be with Jack? This was going to be a good thing, I was almost sure of it.

As soon as I'd finished cleaning, I climbed back in bed, absentmindedly stroking Jack's hair with one hand and scrolling through Instagram with the other. I'd been spending the last couple days looking at my social media, once I had decided I was ready to. My tweets were mostly song lyrics, as well as promoting for videos I still hadn't watched yet.

My Instagram wasn't too different. There were pictures of the thumbnails for the videos to promote them, but also selfies and candid pictures of me and Jack and some of the guys, as well as other girl friends. They were captioned with the song lyrics, not unlike those that I had tweeted.

It was almost ten or so when Conor popped his head in.

"Hey," he whispered, "how's he doing?"

"He's good," I said, "he's going to have one hell of a hangover when he wakes up, but he's good."

"Yeah, that's not uncommon for him," Conor said. "But I did manage to get ahold of Joe. He says he's really sorry for not picking up, but I did tell him you were here, so you're welcome to stay the night if you like. If not, I can take you home."

"No it's okay," I assured him. "I'll stay. I promised Jack I'd still be here when he woke up next, it was the only way I could get him to fall asleep."

"Brilliant," he said, "I'll see you in the morning then. I'll let you get some sleep."

"Thanks Conor," I said as he quietly shut the door behind him, and I laid down then, snuggling up next to Jack. Out of habit in his sleep I felt him wrap his arms around me, holding me closer to him. It felt comforting, and familiar, and I quickly drifted off to sleep.