Amour

one

I believe that our most powerful yet most vulnerable possessions are our memories. If you don't remember the past, your are condemned to repeat it. This is why when I go to Jack's home every Saturday afternoon I remind him that I am his oldest grand-daughter, Aryel, and that I graduate in two weeks. After that he usually asks me if my mother still wants three kids total and I answer yes, and that she now has four children including me. In case you haven't picked up by the clues, Jack has been fighting Alzheimer's disease for two years, and he had forgotten who I was merely two months after it had begun. The only person who he refused to forget was my uncle Matt.

"How is the boy?" he would ask, "has he gotten out of rehabilitation? I - I got money, if that's what he needs. I'll help the poor boy, just- just let me see my son. Does he need more money? 'Cos I got money, I'll give him all the money he needs." As soon as I brought up my name he would remember my mother, and that would bring him back to asking about uncle Matt; if he was doing okay, if the addiction had stopped, if he got a stable job- the worrying would never stop.

And every Saturday I would tell him, "Matt's fine, Papa. He's been out of rehab for five months and Momma's helping him out with the money and all."

"That's good, that's all very good to hear, your momma's been watching over that Matt ever since I can remember. Whenever he'd try to cut class she'd be the one to bring him back and talk him out of trouble. Have I toldya' that before? Madeline's a good girl, she's a very good girl, yes she is."

It was odd. Whenever I would talk to Jack I would always say the same thing; who I was, how uncle Matt was doing, and how all the other kids were and what they've been up to. But for some reason, talking to Jack about these things never got old. It felt like I was reliving it all with him, and I've been visiting him every Saturday for as long as I can remember.

I would usually only stay for about an hour but I had to go watch my baby brother's soccer game today so I cut the time short and told Jack I'd be back next Saturday.

I have two younger brothers; Adam and Andrew. Adam's been playing soccer ever since he could stand up straight and Andrew's at that phase where all he wants to do is listen to punk rock bands and try to steal mom's eyeliner. I wouldn't say that Adam's a bad soccer player but his constant bragging makes it kind of hard to admit it.

As soon as I had gotten my license a few months ago he started pestering me to drive him to all these team bondings and tried to get me to go out with the team captain. I mean, seriously, that guy can't pronounce the word banana correctly. But nevertheless, Adam was in some ways my best friend; we never hid anything from each other. He would tell me all his girl problems and I would tell him that relationships at his age were pointless and meaningless.

To be honest, I dont really think that any relationship has any point or meaning. Adam's into all of this true love shit and how he's going to find the perfect girl when quite honestly he's never even been on a real date.

When I got to the soccer fields I saw him kicking this ball around and talking to a girl. Typical. He saw me and tried to flick the girl away, but I just smiled and sat down on the bleachers. I always wanted to play a sport but never really had the time or parents who were willing to invest in me. But Adam pestered Momma until she had no choice but to sign him up on the soccer team. It's really hard to say no to him.

"Did you get my gatorade?" he asked me.

"You never told me to bring you gatorade, and shouldn't your team captain buy them for you?" I responded. I'd been getting fed up with all his requests. 

"Dammit Aryel I'm going to get dehydrated," he moaned.

"Fine, fine, quit your whining I'll go buy some at the stand." I sighed and got up from the cold metal bleachers. I guess I shouldn't have worn my heeled boots because as soon as I stepped on the wet part of the grass my ankle twisted and sent me to the ground. Smooth. Luckily, no one saw me or else I would be the girl who tripped over her own shoe for the rest of the game.

As I pulled myself up, I felt a warm pair of arms grab my shoulders.

"Are you okay?" A pair of green eyes were half smirking at me, trying to look concerned at the same time. He was almost a whole foot taller than me, but then again I am pretty short.

"Yeah, just stepped on the wrong parts of the grass." I didn't realize how stupid that sounded until I actually said it.

" I know, these parts of the field are very dangerous. I've fell here loads of times," he says, playing along.

"Okay, you can quit mocking me now," I say, both of us laughing.

"I'm Luke. Something tells me you're in need of a warm drink." I hadn't even noticed that my entire right side was all wet and muddy.

"Aw, frack! This isn't even my shirt, my sister's going to kill me!" Luke laughed even harder, and his green eyes danced in a way I've never seen before. "If you'll excuse me, I'm just going to go get a gatorade," I muttered and scampered away.