Remember Me (Jack Maynard)

Chapter 18

I woke up slowly to the sound of two voices talking softly. I didn't know exactly what they were talking about, only that my name kept coming up. I also recognized the two voices as Jack and Joe's. The clock on the wall above the TV had read two in the morning. That was weird. Why was Jack here talking to Joe in the middle of the night?

"She's going to remember eventually," Jack said, keeping his voice low as to not wake me up, although I was already awake.

"We've still got some time," Joe said. "I know we've got to tell her, but we can't do it right now."

"Joe, we can't have her finding out from remembering it in a dream," Jack said sternly. "I still need to figure out how I'm going to do it, but she's going to find out eventually, and I need to be the one to tell her."

What didn't I know?

Okay, dumb question. There were a lot of things I didn't know.

But what didn't I know that they were so scared to tell me?

I tried to get up, but my eyes kept getting heavier and heavier, and I drifted off, their voices seeming softer and softer by the second.

*

I woke up again to the soft sound of the TV going once more and the feeling of someone playing with my hair again. Though, when I opened my eyes and looked up, I saw that it was Jack this time, instead of Joe. The clock above the TV now read that it was shortly after nine.

"Hey beautiful," Jack said in a soft voice.

"Hi," I said, my voice cracking a little from crying last night.

"Sleep okay?" he asked, "Joe said you were having a bit of a rough night, so he called. He had to go to a meeting this morning, but we didn't want you to be left alone. How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," I said, sitting up and leaning against him. "sorry about last night."

"What happened?" he asked then.

"I saw our anniversary vlog." I told him. "And I got really angry. I think I've pent up all of this for awhile now. I haven't cried once since I woke up in the hospital, though I know there's plenty of times that I've wanted to. And seeing that just kinda broke everything through." He kissed the top of my head then, pulling me closer to him. "Will you tell me about that day?" I asked him then, and he nodded.

"So you were still living in Brighton then," he started, "and I had used the morning of to set up that picnic, as you saw. Then I went to get you from the train, and we had decided to act like tourists for the day, as you also saw."

"What did we do that wasn't on camera?" I asked him then.

"Hmm..." he trailed off, thinking. "well we didn't really record what had happened after I showed you the picnic. It was just a tiny little montage with us eating, the sunset, a small clip of us watching the movie, and then just a tiny little clip of us cuddling and I kissed you, which was how the vlog ended. But basically, we watched a few movies before it got really late and started to get chilly. Josh and Conor had stayed at Mikey's that night, and gave us the flat we'd been living in at the time to ourselves. I had also set that up for a little romantic surprise. Rose petals on the bed and a bath and all that. It was romantic, and perfect."

"I wish I remembered it," I said then, laying my head on his shoulder and looking up at him. "Jack?"

"Yes, love?" he asked.

"Can I kiss you? To see if I remember anything?"

He smiled then, nodding. "I'll never say no to that question."

He leaned in then, closing the gap between us and kissing me softly. I kissed back, expecting it to be awkward, as if I'd never kissed him before, but that wasn't the case at all.

I shut my eyes, tiny little images of me and Jack kissing coming to my mind. It started with us on the vlog, though it wasn't as if I'd been watching it on the screen, but as if I was the me in the vlog, kissing him. I also saw little times of us kissing on the couch in the flat, and then in bed before going to sleep, and other little kisses goodbye before getting out of his car.

He pulled away then, and my eyes opened slowly. He was studying my face intently, looking for any sort of expression that would say if I had remembered anything or not.

"Well?" he asked, still watching me.

"I remember kissing you," I said then, moving closer to him and he wrapped his arms tighter around me, almost pulling me into his lap as a huge smile crossed his face.

"What do you remember?" he asked me then, still holding me close and moving his hands until they were cupping my face.

"I remembered kissing you on our anniversary." I said. "Then I just remembered different times that we kissed. Hanging out on our couch. Before bed. Goodbye kisses as I got out of your car if you'd drop me off someplace."

He smiled then, leaning in and kissing me again. This one was a little harder than the previous one, and a little more urgent. I could tell he's been holding back these past couple of months, and he was finally letting it all out.

I finally pulled away after awhile, catching my breath. The familiar feeling of it never left, which was reassuring, and the smile on Jack's face never left either, as we spent the rest of the day snuggling on the couch, watching TV and kissing occasionally.

I was finally starting to have Jack back in a way I hadn't before. And I couldn't have been happier in that moment.