Forgotten Memories4. Eating for Two“Andy, dinner!” Mom’s irritated voice shouts fr

Forgotten Memories
4. Eating for Two

“Andy, dinner!” Mom’s irritated voice shouts from upstairs.

My eyes go wide, “Oh shit.”

“I’ll be up in a minute!” I shout.

I look back at Michael, and hand my laptop over to him. We’d been looking up his band trying to jog some of his memory, but it hasn’t helped at all.

“I’ll be right back, stay here and be quiet. I’ll bring food.” He perks up at the word food, and sits up straighter, nodding obediently.

Shutting my door behind me, I trudge up the stairs. The smell of lemon chicken, and potatoes hits my nose, making me grin.

Oh, how do I love food.

I grab a larger plate from the pile of them, and start stacking it up with food. Three pieces of chicken, two potatoes, a small mountain of green beans, and a puddle of gravy on the side. I look up to see everyone staring at me in shock.

“I’m, hungry?”

Tiffany scoffs, “Obviously.”

When everyone’s looking at Brandon, I slip an extra fork into my pocket. I fill up a tall glass with water, all the way to the rim of it.

“I’m eating in my room.” I call, as I head downstairs.

“Bring your dishes up when you’re done.” Mom reminds me.

I nod at her, doubting that she actually saw me. I hurry downstairs, into my room, and see Michael staring at my art work again.

“I’m back.” I announce.

He turns around, and looks at my plate of food, his eyes going wide. We both sit down on my bed, with the plate in between us. It’s silent as we both eat for a while. Michael breaks the silent when he clears his throat.

“Did you draw those yourself?” He asks, his mouth still half full of food, and points to the drawings and paintings on my walls.

I nod, “Yeah.”

“They’re amazing.”

My eyes go wide.

Michael Clifford just complimented me on my artwork.

I start to choke on my green bean, after I take a sip of water, and can breath properly, I reply, “Thank you.”

His look of worry goes away as he smiled and nods his head, “You’re welcome. This food is amazing, what is it?”

He takes another bite of the chicken, moaning at the taste.

“Chicken and potatoes?” I reply, but it comes out as more of a question.

He really doesn’t remember anything, does he?

“Well it’s delicious.” He grins at me, and immediately goes back to shoving food in his mouth.

Apparently he forgot what manners were too.

In less than ten minutes, Michael’s eaten the two largest pieces of chicken, more than half of the potatoes, and only a few green beans. I ate the rest, which wasn’t very much.

“I have to take this up. Be-”

“Quiet, I’ve caught on my now.” he nods.

I blush, but smile lightly at him. When I close my door, I let out a breath, suddenly feeling exhausted. Everything that’s happened today, the stupid flashback to that horrid night, Adam calling me, Michael showing up, having to hide him and try and figure out what is wrong with him, that discussion with the family, the new rules, It’s all making my head hurt.

“Wow, you ate all of that?!” Brandon’s surprised voice only makes my head hurt even more.

“Yeah.” I deadpan, not in the mood to deal with him.

“I bet she’s eating for two.” Tiffany whispers, so the parents can’t hear.

“Coming from you.” I scoff, and load my dishes into the dishwasher.

Tiffany gasps, as if she’s shocked. No one thinks it, but she’s a huge slut. She comes off as this perfect girl, who could do no wrong, when in reality she’s hooking up with the whole football team. If she wants to be that way, then by all means I’ll let her. But if she comes crying to me with an STD, I’ll only laugh. I start to head for the stairs, but get stopped.

“Andy, help clean everything up.” Phillip instructs.

I roll my eyes, but do as I’m told. Tiffany and Brandon are told to help me, but they don’t of course. After all of the leftovers are in containers, and in the fridge, I finally escape and tiredly walk to my room.

Michael’s looking at my laptop again, with his eyebrows furrowed, and it looks like he is thinking really hard.

“Remember anything?” My voice sounds just as tired as I do.

He shakes his head, still staring at the screen, “No, nothing.” He looks up at me, and his eyes go wide, “You look dead.”

I laugh lightly, “No, I’m fine, lets-” I’m interrupted by a yawn, “keep looking to try and jog your memory.”

“I can do that, but you need to sleep.” he decides, and moves to sit on the floor.

“What? No, I’m fine, come back up here.” I yawn again, right after I say that.

He shakes his head, “No, get some sleep, I’ll be fine down here.” He reaches over and turns off the light.

“There’s extra pillows and blankets in my closet.” I comment, then drift off into sleep.

…

The sound of pound wakes me up. I had just had this crazy dream too. I was home alone, and Michael Clifford showed up at my house. I never had this crazy of dreams anymore, and it was entertaining.

Like that could ever happen.

“Andy! Wake up!” The pounding on my door continues, with my mothers irritating voice.

I groan and roll over, squinting my eyes open. A light snoring makes my head snap towards the ground. A bright red head full of hair pops into my vision.

“Oh shit.” That wasn’t a crazy dream, Michael Clifford is curled up on my floor, drooling on my pillow.

“Andy!”

“I’m up!” I shout, momentarily forgetting that there’s a sleeping Australian curled up in a My Little Pony duvet.

“Phillip and I are going out, I need you to watch after Ruth.” She says through my door. Thank god I locked it as I came in last night, or something horrible could have happened.

I glance at my alarm clock to see that it’s nearly noon.

“What about Brandon, or Tiffany?” I question, and Michael doesn’t even stir from the noise.

“Tiff’s at Brittany’s, and Brandon’s leaving for Sean’s soon.”

I groan, it’s not that I didn’t want to watch Ruth, it’s that I didn’t want to do it now. I’m still exhausted.

“Fine.” I huff.

“She should be awake soon, get up and get ready for the day.” With that I hear her footsteps disappear upstairs. I roll my eyes.

As if I’m getting ready on a Saturday.

My groans are muffled by my pillow as I shove my face into it, just wanting to go back to sleep. After a few minutes, I hear the garage door open and close, signalling that the parents are gone. I look down, to see that Michael is still snoring into my pillow.

I scribble out a quick note to him,

‘If I’m not there when you wake up, don’t look for me.

Stay quiet.

-Andy’

I make my way upstairs, and immediately turn on the coffee maker. The sound of explosions makes me jump.

“What the hell was that?!” I screech, and turn around to see Brandon playing on his Xbox.

“As if you’ve never heard someone getting blown up.” He scoffs.

“I thought you were supposed to be gone?” I yawn, pulling out some waffles and throwing them into the microwave.

“Sean’ll be here in like 5 minutes.” He murmurs, his attention fully on the TV screen.

I roll my eyes, and make my coffee, then butter and drown them in syrup. I’m halfway through my third waffle, when Brandon announces that he’s leaving. Right as he slams the door, Ruth starts crying. I finish my coffee quickly, and scurry to her nursery.

“Hey doll, what’s wrong?” I grin at her, as she continues to cry.

“You need a diaper change? I think so.” I change her diaper, then lift her out of her crib.

“Is that better?” She’s stopped crying, so I’ll take that as a yes.

“Lets get you some breakfast.” I take her into the kitchen, and whip up a bottle for her.

I suddenly remember that Michael is downstairs. Once her bottle is finished, I give it to her, and carry her downstairs with me. I hear commotion in my bedroom, so Michael must be awake. I open my door, and see him rubbing his eyes while sitting on my bed.

“Good morning.” His head snaps towards me when I speak.

“Good morning.” His raspy morning voice, combined with his accent, makes my heart race.

“This is Ruth, my half sister.” I grin at her, as she stares at Michaels hair as if she’s in a trance. Michael stands up, and walks towards us, grabbing one of Ruth’s hands.

“Nice to meet you Ruth, I’m Michael.” She reaches for his hair, and I giggle at both of them.

“Everyone’s gone. You hungry?” The moment I say the word hungry, his stomach rumbles.

“Yes, but I need to use the bathroom first.” His cheeks turn a shade of pink.

My eyes widen and I nod, “Go right ahead, I’ll be upstairs when you’re done.”

He nods and scurries off to the bathroom. Ruth makes a noise when he leaves, and is frowning. I laugh and start to attack her with kisses. She squeals, and tries to get away, but she can’t. Her little laughter is so adorable.

After I’ve gotten tired of drowning her in kisses, and she looks like she’s on the verge of crying, I stop. I take her upstairs, and play around with her, waiting for Michael to hurry up.

Finally, I hear footsteps, so I turn around and see Michael with his red hair all over. He looks so attractive in my brothers sweatpants, I have to force myself to look away from him.

“You’re probably starving, we have cereal, waffles, eggs, toast, pancake mixture, this local nutritious crap that Tiffany eats.” I stick a tongue out just thinking of her thick drink that looks like throw up.

“I’m not sure what any of those are.” Michael says embarrased, scratching the back of his neck.

I think for a moment, “I think you’d be a pancake kind of person.”

“Okay….” He replies unsurely.

“But it requires two hands for me to make them, and setting up her high chair is a pain in the ass. Could you hold her?” I ask and bite on my lip while I wait for him to reply.

“Sure!” He reaches out his hands eagerly.

Who knew that Michael Clifford would be such a softie around children.

I grin, and hand her over to him, then give him her bottle. Ruth immediately reaches for his hair, and actually gets a grip on it. She starts to tug and pull it, making him wince.

“I’m sorry, she is a hair puller. Just give her her bottle and hopefully she’ll stop.” I have to be careful not to laugh at him, as Ruth keeps on playing with his hair.

I get out the pancake mixture, and start to mix it all together. I hear Ruth making little noises, and smile at myself.

Once the batter is ready, I take out a pan and put it on the stove, and wait for it to warm up.

“How’s she doing?” I turn around to see him staring at her fondly.

“Great.” His voice is soft, and there’s a smile on his face that I doubt anything could ruin.

I take a step towards the both of them, and reach out to smooth Ruth’s hair out. Michael and I lock eyes, and my heart flutters.

“She really likes you.” my voice is just above a whisper.

His gorgeous light blue-green eyes stay locked in mine, “And I really like her.”

Something hard smacks me through the face. A thud hits the ground, and I look down to see Ruth’s empty bottle.

“Ireally like her.” Michael laughs.

“The little brat always throws it at me when she wants more.” I grumble, and pick it up.

The pan is hot enough, so I pour the perfect amount of batter into the pan, and let it cook. I quickly make Ruth a new bottle, and hand it to Michael, then go back to the pancakes and flip it.

Ten minutes later I’ve made five pancakes, three for Michael and two for me. I’ve buttered them and drown mine in syrup, but let Michael chose how much me wants.

He skillfully eats and holds Ruth on his lap at the same time. He’s even careful to not get syrup all over.

The second he has his first bite of pancake in his mouth, I can tell that he loves it.

“I’ll make more.” I grin as he’s halfway finished his plateful.

He doesn’t argue, but continues to eat. I make another five pancakes, three more for him and two more for me. We finish our breakfast, and I get an idea to job his memory.

I connect my phone to our stereo, an start to play 5sos’s album. He listens closely, but in the end shakes his head. I play other bands I know he enjoys, but get the same answer.

I give up on music, “Let’s try movies.”

-

Authors note:

So this chapter is terrible and I’m sorry. I’m in that place where I know what the beginning and ending of the story are gonna be, I just don’t know the middle.

I could really use some ideas! What do you guys think is going to happen?

Comment what you think’ll happen!

Also vote if you enjoyed it!

Ps, the picture on the side is of Jennifer Connelly, who I chose to be Andy’s mom! I think the picture perfectly depicts her.

Well, that’s all I have to say.

Have a great day/night/life.

HTJ