Page 15 of Help Me Remember

Eric gave me a strange look. “Well, that’s the first time I’ve actually felt like I was stuck between two time periods.”

“What does that mean?”

“History repeats itself.”

“That, uh, doesn’t clear things up for me.”

Eric shrugged. “When we were fifteen, I had some guy string me along for a while before deciding to go out with someone else. I hadn’t told you I was seeing anyone or even that I was into guys in the first place. But you saw how mopey I was and wouldn’t leave me alone until I told you. In an even worse example of names that are androgynous, his name was Ashley.”

I grunted. “So I heard Ashley and thought it was some girl playing with your heart.”

“And you were really grumpy about it too,” Eric said with a laugh. “When I finally came clean and told you Ashley was a guy, you were relieved. And almost immediately wanted to go out and find him to beat his ass. So there I was, miserable because of some guy, and then freaking out because I was telling you I was gay…and your reaction upon finding out was to demand to know where the guy lived. The look on your face when I burst out laughing was priceless. You were so confused.”

“Well, yeah,” I said with a frown. “You were my friend, and maybe I don’t remember who I am, but it sounds like that version of me had the right idea.”

“Kinda like how the one in front of me had almost the same reaction,” Eric said with a smirk. “Does that mean you think of me as a friend now too?”

I shifted uneasily in my seat. “I don’t…really know you. I mean, I’m learning more about you and who I was…what our friendship was like, I guess. But it doesn’t…it’s like hearing about someone else, you know?”

Eric did a decent job hiding the hurt look in his eyes, but I still spotted the pained flicker before it was buried. “And I can’t blame you for that. We’d grown apart anyway, and now I’m basically a stranger.”

“Sorry,” I muttered, pushing eggs around my plate.

“Eh, it’s not your fault.”

“We don’t know if it’s my fault or not.”

Eric took a bite of his toast with a low grunt. “That’s true. I’d be curious to know what you were doing to fall a couple of stories after getting shot…and why you were wearing a bulletproof vest.”

I shrugged. “A mystery I’d like solved as well.”

“I mean, you said it was some run-down, abandoned apartment, right?”

“Right.”

“Well, no one goes into a place like that unless they’re trying to find a safe place to sleep, which you clearly weren’t. To do drugs, which I’m guessing you weren’t since I don’t see any signs of long-term drug use on you. Or you were looking for trouble, and considering you were wearing a goddamn bulletproof vest, you were ready for trouble.”

“And I guess I found it,” I grumbled, shoveling more food into my mouth.

Eric’s conclusion was more or less the same one I’d come to when I had a moment to think. I couldn’t think of one good reason why I would have been where I was, dressed as I was, unless I was doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing.

“And the fact that you didn’t have any ID on you doesn’t look all that good,” Eric said grimly, adding more salt to the wound.

“I did wonder,” I admitted with a shrug. “Kind of hard to put all the pieces together and come out with a picture that makes me look good. But the more I hear from you, the more I wonder if that was the case.”

“Really? Why’s that?”

“Because of how you make me sound. I don’t come off as someone who would…well, be a bad person.”

“Well, you weren’t someone who went looking for trouble. That much is true,” Eric said slowly.

“You don’t sound all that convinced,” I said, raising a brow.

“Because you usually found trouble anyway. It didn’t matter what you did, there was always someone trying to pick a fight with you or start some shit. I always used to joke that no matter what you did, you would always find someone who wanted to fight you.”

“What a wonderfully calm life I led,” I grumbled.

“I don’t know. Maybe you got dragged into something. I wouldn’t be too surprised.”

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