Forgotten Memories

Chapter One: Present Day

So, I've decided to write this book in two POV's: Aria's and Luke's. It'll switch every once in a while, sometimes even in the same chapter, but we'll see. 😜

••••••••••

-Luke-

"Watch it!"

I turn and see Aria glaring at me, her books littering the floor. I walk up to her and help her up, then smile. She scowls in return. "It's not like you couldn't see me! Did you really just knock me over?"

I plaster a fake "sorry" look on my face. "Oh yeah, I'm used to knocking girls off their feet." She rolls her eyes and shoves me away. "Cheesy."

We walk out of the bookstore and into chaos, as Aria would say. New York is always bursting at its seams with people, and we can hardly move around.

Somehow, I love it here. It's so loud and crowded, and fun. Aria doesn't agree, though. She hates everything about New York.

We cross the street to a small café and enter hurriedly. Aria sighs and plops down on the nearest chair. I laugh and pat her head, settling on the chair in front.

Suddenly, my eyes fall on a guy sitting on the other side of the café. I can hear Aria calling my name, but I don't pay attention. He seems familiar...

Daniel.

My hands slam on the table as I get up. Aria immediately reaches for me and I evade her grasp, but fail.

She clasps onto me and pulls me back down. "What's wrong?" she asks, looking for something in my eyes, and she sighs. "Tell me, now."

See?! That's what I love and hate about her. The good thing is, she always knows if something is wrong, and I can't hide anything from her. Bad thing, I can't hide anything from her.

"Nothing's wrong."

She stares me down for a couple of seconds, but realizes I'm not going to say anything. She releases my arm and shoves it away. "Fine." She grabs her bag off the floor and turns around. "I'll be at the bookstore, you know, in case you feel like not ignoring me for a change."

She storms out the door and across the street again, walking into the bookstore. This isn't going well.

"Well," someone says behind me. "That went swell."

I turns around slowly. Daniel laughs, but as I start to walk away, he grabs my arm. I scowl and am about to push him, but he pulls a document out of his pocket.

"Now now," he says slowly, "don't try anything. I just want to talk."

••••••••

-Aria-

He doesn't care about me. Everyone tells me he does, but he hasn't showed it! Ever since I walked out of the hospital (well, not really, I was wheeled out. A stupid hospital policy said so), he'd been all but nice. He was always serious, and irritated, and rude. Just plain rude.

Rue told me it was just the pressure of dealing with what had happened to me, but I know it's more than that. He probably knows that whatever happened between him and me last year, is never coming back.

Suddenly, I feel someone tap my shoulder, and I shriek. I spin around and find myself face-to-face with Luke. "Am I really that rude?" he asks, and laughs.

My face grows incredibly hot and I clamp a hand to my mouth. Dang it! I've been told I have a habit of speaking out loud. Again, I didn't know that.

He laughs harder, then stops abruptly, as if remembering down thing.

"Look, I really do care about you. I want you to remember everything so you'll understand, really, and I'll try. But," he looks out the window, "I got to go now." Before I even react, he hooks his fingers under my chin and leans down. It's like he's about to kiss me, extremely close to my mouth. His breath is warm against my face and I close my eyes. I feel his lips land on the corner of my mouth, half on my cheek, but half on my lips. His lips linger for a split second too long and I attempt to pull away feebly, only succeeding in shifting dangerously close to a real kiss. I gasp and he pulls away abruptly.

"Um," he mutters. "Sorry. Bad habit, I guess." He runs a hand through his hair and down his face. He's so cute, my inner thoughts remind me, but I actually don't want to be reminded. I'm still mad. He spins around to leave, but turns again. "I'll call you, and I'll pick you up in a while." He runs out the door and leaves me standing there, perplexed. What the. . ?

••••••••••

-Luke-

I can't believe what I just did. Seriously?! Habit? I made that up. I'd been waiting for that for a while. I mean, it's not like it was the kiss I wanted, but it was close enough.

I walk out the door, speed-walking across the street. I really want to return to the store and finish what I just started, but that'll have to wait. I see Daniel waiting by his car in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

He's scowling at the floor, and for a second. I think it's about me, but then he turns and I see a phone on his ear. Oh.

He sees me and gestures for me to hurry up. I sprint and make it there in time to hear a fraction of his conversation.

"...you know how much I need this-"

Pause.

"-Yeah, I just-" he sighs. "Yeah. I understand. Convince her, take her, conceal all methods, don't feel."

A Frozen song pops up in my head but I shove it aside as I approach him. "What's up?"

He smiles tightly and puts his phone in his back pocket. "Hey."

••••••••••

Next thing I know, we're parking in a garage inside a private home. I'm guessing it's his, but it looks familiar...

As we enter, I see a huge dining area, but it's littered with food and trash. "What's this?", I ask, feigning surprise. "Did little goody-two-shoes Daniel make a mess?"

He shoves me onto a couch and marches into what I suppose is the living room. "Ha ha. Very funny. Stay there. I'll be right back."

Two minutes later, he returns with a huge leather-bound book. He sits beside me and opens it. It looks like a photo album, and on the first page is a recent picture of me and Aria, at Steak-n-Shake, from three days ago. Wait, what?

I stand up immediately and step away from it. "How the hell did you get that?!" I yell.

He shrugs. "I seriously don't know."

He turns the page and there's another picture of us, except this one is a bit older, like from a week ago.

I scoff. "How do you not know where you got all this?!"

He throws his hands up. "I don't know! Look, I used to live here with Mark-"

I crumple to the couch. "Oh boy," I mutter, "this is going to be good."

He rolls his eyes. "As I was saying, I used to live here with Mark, but ever since you guys escaped, I escaped too. I come back here from time to time, but he disappeared. Believe me, I had nothing to do with this. I had no idea he was after you. By now, every week I've been getting new photos of you two. I don't know who sends them, but I suspect it's Mark."

I shuffle uncomfortably. "And..?"

"And, I want your help finding out."

I close my eyes. "That's impossible! Ever since he disappeared that day at the hospital after visiting Aria, he hasn't come back!"

"If you help me find Mark," he says, staring at me, "I'll help you recover Aria's memories. Well, I'll help you search."

I hesitate. Is it really this easy? Should I? Would Aria want this? Is this a good idea? Can I trust him? Should I trust him?

Finally, I sigh and take his hand, shaking firmly.

"Deal."