Amnesia • hemmings

1.1

I stayed clean for a week.

During that week, I talked to Vivian a lot more, we still only talked in the one class at school, though. We were always outside with each other, and if we couldn't be outside, we texted and called and FaceTimed all day after school. I sort of started to feel bad for Ashton, because Vivian was spending all of her time at home with me and not him, and she walked home with me and not him, I feel like I'm stealing his best friend sometimes.

"He's fine. We're brother and sister, we don't need to act like we're best friends." She shrugged as we sat in my yard with a bowl of popcorn in front of us.

"But you were best friends."

"That doesn't mean we need to stay best friends."

"You think that, but he might not."

"I can talk to him about it, if you want me to."

"I just want your brother to like me." I sighed, rolling over so I was laying on my back.

"Aw, Hemmo," She rolled over so she was just like me, and our arms were touching.

"Really, I want your family to like me."

"Who ever said you would meet my family?"

"If we ever end up dating, I hope you don't keep it a secret to your family."

"Who said we would ever date?" She sat up on her elbows, looking down at me.

"You did, when we were making out in my bathtub with blood running down our arms last week." I sat up just like she was, smirking at her.

"Okay that sounds weird." She laughed.

"We are weird, that's why." I laid back down, staring at the sky.

"Have you stayed clean?"

"Not one cut."

"How long has it been?"

"A week." I sat up all the way, turning around an looking down at her.

"Really? This week went by really fast." She sat up so that her eyes were level with mine.

I stood up, pulling her with me. "Vivian Marie Irwin, will you be my girlfriend?" I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her so that our hips were touching. She pulled her face back so we could see each other better. She put her hands on the sides of my face and pulled me forward, pecking me on the lips.

"Of course I will, Lucas Robert Hemmings." Her smile was the biggest I've ever seen.

"My name isn't even Lucas." I smiled widely.

"Oh well." She shrugged, kissing me quickly again.

"Does this mean we can hang out more at school?"

"Definitely." She smiled, intertwining our fingers and pulling me down the driveway.

"Where are we going?" I laughed as she ran down the street.

"To Natalie's house!" She yelled, not looking back to me.

"Wait what?" I stopped running.

"We are going to Natalie's house, to tell her we are dating." She was trying to catch her breath.

"Are you sure she would be, I don't know, okay, with this?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Hemmo, I've known her forever, she would be okay with anything I do. She isn't like everyone else at school, she's my best friend."

"How far away does she live?" I leaned forward, looking up and down the long line of houses.

"She lives at the corner house with the wooden stairs in front." She turned around, pointing to the house.

"Okay, let's go." I shrugged, and she grabbed my hand, pulling me along the road just like before.

When we reached Natalie's house, Vivian turned around to face me. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

She didn't even knock on the door, she just walked into the house. The screen door was the only door closed, the bigger door left open. I could hear a tv, and I heard Vivian yelling inside the house.

"Hey little dude! Where's Natalie?" She was talking to someone I'm guessing was Natalie's little brother. "Nat! Come here!" She yelled, then I heard someone stomping on the stairs and her voice got quieter, even though she was still yelling. She must have went upstairs. All I heard was 'Luke', 'really', 'oh my god', and then some really high-pitched screaming. Then, a tall blonde girl and a short brunette opened the screen door and ran outside. Vivian ran to my side, and Natalie stopped in front of us.

"Hem- uh, Luke, this is Natalie. Natalie, this is Luke." I stifled a laugh, because whenever she talks to someone about me she almost calls me Hemmo, but stops short and calls me Luke.

"Hi, you can call me Nat." She smiled, looking from Vivian to me, and I wrapped an arm around her waist as she rested her head on my shoulder. "You guys haven't even been dating an entire day and you are so cute oh my god."

"Thanks, I guess?" Vivian said like a question, and Natalie laughed.

"I'll be right back. Nat, talk to Hem- Luke. Talk to Luke." She said, and I laughed at her softly. "Shut up, it's hard." She whispered, giggling and walking inside. I sat down at the small table on the porch, and Natalie sat across from me.

"So you're dating my best friend." She smiled.

"Why, yes, I am." I smiled softly, looking down at the table.

"So, this might sound weird, but I have to test you."

"Test me?" I asked, looking up at her.

"Yeah, weird, I know. But I always do this, to all of my friends' boyfriends. It's short and easy, I promise."

"Okay." I shrugged.

"What do you call Vivian?"

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Like, do you have a nickname for her?"

"Yes, I do." I laughed.

"Well what is it?"

"Well, when we first met we made nicknames for each other, right now I call her Viv."

"Aw that's cute. Anyways, if you saw that Vivian was sad, how would you make her happy again?"

"Well, I would do anything. Anything she wants, anything she needs, I would give it to her." I smiled, playing with my fingers nervously.

"Oh my goodness that's adorable. Okay, what is the perfect date for you and Vivian?"

"Knowing what I know about her, I would try and get my mum to leave so we could have the house to ourselves. Then I would lay out loads of blankets on the floor in front of the tv and stay in watching movies all night. But, knowing us, we would most likely end up messing around, singing songs at the top of our lungs and not paying any attention to the movie at all."

"Oh my god, you are perfect. I'm not even going to continue the test, you've passed." Right when she said that, Vivian walked out as if on cue.

"Vivian, your boyfriend is perfect!"

"You think I don't know that?" She laughed, sitting on my lap and kissing my cheek.

"Were you listening to us?" I whispered, my lips almost touching her ear.

"No, what are you talking about?" She lied, pulling back from me slightly so she could see my face.

"You are a liar, Mrs. Hemmings..." I leaned into her again, kissing her neck.

"Oh, I didn't know we got married." She smiled.

"Were you listening to us?" I pulled back again.

"I said no!" She giggled.

"Liar!" I yelled, smiling.

"Fine, I was!" She yelled, giving up and slamming her head into my chest. I put my hands over her hair and held her close to me as I laughed.