As The Memories Fade // c.h.

5. Start Over?

"Hey Rose, dear. Thank you for agreeing to come over." I smiled at the light-haired woman before me as she motioned for me to come in to her home. My mum had driven me to the Hemmings' household, though she made it fairly clear that she wasn't sure if it was a good idea. I really didn't care. I had to meet with Calum and the rest of the boys and figure out what we were going to do about this tour thing.

I wasn't sure if I even wanted to go, but Dylan suggested it might be a good thing. He'd said that maybe being around the boys would help bring my memory back. According to him, once I started dating Calum, I was almost never seen without either him or one of the other members of his band. Maybe it would be a good idea to go on this tour with them.

"They're in the basement, dear." Liz said, turning around and leading me through the house. I glanced at all the little things hanging on the walls and on shelves and tables as we passed them. As we passed a little shelf on the wall with a mirror above it, a photo caught my eye. I stopped to get a closer look at it.

"Is that Jessie?" I asked incredulously, reaching forward to pick up the picture. It was obviously an older picture, as both Jessie and the boy I had learned was named Luke both were smaller. Jessie even had her braces still. In the picture, Luke was hopping onto her back, and she was in mid-laugh. They looked really happy.

"Yeah, she and Dylan are Luke's cousins. Actually, she's the reason you met the boys." Liz said, giving me a sort of sympathetic smile. I nodded and set the photograph down, allowing Liz to continue leading me towards the basement. We came to a stop in front of a white door a few moments later. "They should be just down there." Liz said, opening the door for me. I thanked her and began my descent.

"Rose, hi." I lifted a hand in a small wave as Calum stood up to greet me.

"Hi, Calum." I said, giving him a half smile. I looked at each of the other boys in the room. "Ashton, Luke, and Michael." I said out loud, more to myself than to them. Calum gave me a big smile.

"Been practicing, have you?" He asked. I felt a blush heat up my face, and looked down at the floor. After a moment of awkward silence, someone cleared their throat.

"So I'm just going to come right out and say it. I don't think it's a good idea for you to come on the tour." My gaze shot up so quickly it almost made me dizzy. It had been Ashton who spoke, and clearly he hadn't voiced his opinion before, because the other three boys were looking at him with a variety of expressions ranging from shocked to incredulous.

"Why?" Calum's voice sounded upset, but I couldn't tell if it was with anger or something more along the lines of betrayal. Ashton turned to him.

"Look, mate, I know you want her to come on this tour, but you're not thinking about what that really means." Ashton said. "You're asking her to pretend, in front of the entire world, that she is perfectly fine and remembers everything. Fans she has met before are going to ask if she remembers them, and maybe she would have at one point. But not now. She doesn't remember us, let alone anything else that might be brought up along the way." Though Ashton had a point, I couldn't help but become a bit upset at his words. Calum opened his mouth to reply, but I beat him to it.

"Um, excuse me," I began. All four sets of eyes turned to me. "But who are you to tell me what I should or shouldn't do?" My voice was clipped with irritation, and rightfully so. Ever since I woke up in the hospital, everyone had been telling me what not to do. It was always 'don't walk without someone's help, Rose' or 'that's not a good idea, Rose'. Never once had someone questioned me about what I wanted. Well, that was wrong. Calum had. Both in the hospital when he agreed to not visit, and last week, when I asked him to lie to the media about my amnesia.