Ashton POV
"Look at the date," I broke the silence, as she read over the letter for the fifth time.
"Calum wrote this," she stated.
"About 6 months ago."
She groaned, and set the letter down to rub her eyes.
"Why would you show me this, Ashton?" She seemed really mad.
"I thought- I thought maybe it would help you remember."
"Reading a letter isn't going to cure my amnesia." She rolled her eyes. From past experiences, I have learned that she was only sassy, when she was tired. It was only 10:30, but I guess it is kind of hard to sleep good in a hospital.
"Or... not remember, but maybe you would believe that Calum was your boyfriend."
"The picture was hard enough to deal with, and now you give me a letter that tells me he loves me?" I saw the tears well up in her eyes, and I instantly felt bad.
"I'm sorry."
"Don't be," she breathed, blinking her tears away. "Nobody really gets what it's like to forget a whole year of your life." I just nodded, because I didn't know exactly what to say. "Hey, Ashton?"
"Yeah?"
"Barbara said that I was here visiting Jack. She told me I got in a crash, while driving to his house."
"Oh, really?" I remembered that Calum wanted to play along, with this whole thing. He didn't want Ava to be overwhelmed with the truth.
"That's not true, is it?"
I sighed, because I knew she already knew the truth. She just wanted someone to say it out loud.
"N-" Right when I was about to answer, I was interrupted by my phone ringing. I normally wouldn't have answered it, but I saw it was Calum. "Excuse me a moment," I said, walking out of the room.
"I don't think she's going to remember," Calum blurted, before I even had a chance to say hello.
"You have to be optimistic about these things, Cal." It has been nearly four days since we've spoken last, and we're carrying on a conversation like nothing had happened.
"It's hard to be optimistic, when I already know. The only thing that I had to help me get her to remember was the fam, and they've all given up. She's not going to remember, Ashton. I know you're with her now, so just tell her the pictures of us were photoshopped. I don't want her to feel bad for not remembering." His voice was shaky and desperate. I knew how important Ava was to him... she was more important than this band, to all of us, really.
"Are you sure that's what you want?"
"Sometimes the thing that is best, isn't what you want," Calum recited the phrase Ava would always say.
"You're positive that's what you want?" I felt like I was going to cry. Letting go of Ava was like this first day of kindergarten, when your mum drops you off, and you don't want to let go of her hand. Letting go of Ava was like letting go of my mum's hand, except I know that once I let go, she isn't coming back to get me. Once I let go of Ava, that's the end of it. I don't want to let go, but I already feel her slipping through my fingertips. But I'm trying to hold on for Calum.
"I'm not positive about anything anymore," he sighed.
"Okay, I'll do it." Just a little white lie, I thought, as I hung the phone up.
*
"It was a beautiful relationship," I sighed. Ava wouldn't stop asking me questions about this, so I finally just gave in.
"It was?" She gave me a sad smile. I can't imagine how mixed her emotions are right now.
"You two were inseparable. It was cute, actually. You'd always hang out with us. You were the only person that could beat Michael at FIFA." I laughed, thinking back to all those nights we'd stay up til four in the morning playing video games, until one of our mums told us to go to sleep.
"I suck at video games!" She looked sceptical of my story.
"When we first started playing with you, you really were horrendous. But as time went on, you became undefeated."
"Okay," I could tell she didn't know what else to say, so I kept talking.
"One night, Calum told us he wanted to quit the band, because we were just screwing around... not taking it seriously. He wanted to go back to football, but you told him to stick with music, because that's what made him happy. Ava, if it weren't for you, we wouldn't be where we are today."
"In a hospital?" She joked, but I found it incredibly hard to fake a smile. She was right.
"That too."
"Did I love him back?" She asked, suddenly serious.
"Oh, yeah, of course! You practically lived at his house. And I bet if you looked back through your texts on his phone, more than half of them are heart emojis and saying you love each other." I rolled my eyes, thinking about all the times we were supposed to be rehearsing and he wouldn't stop texting her.
"What about his family? Did they like me?"
"They loved you! His mum always said that if you weren't dating, she would adopt you."
"So we had a good relationship then?"
"Yeah! It was great," I paused, realizing I said it was great. "You two had each other down to a science. It was the kind of relationship that only happens in films. The kind that everyone wants." Ava was... is the best thing that has ever happened to Calum.
When I looked up at her, I saw tears slowly and silently rolling down her face. I hated seeing her cry. I felt like an older brother to her, and seeing her cry made me want to cuddle her, until she calmed down. But I couldn't do that. I was a stranger to her now.
"I'm sorry. It's just hard, because my mind is telling me one thing, but you're telling me something completely different."
"It's okay, Ava. You'll remember one day."
"Maybe. But for now, I think it's best if you guys don't come around anymore. They're letting me out of here soon... and I'm gonna go stay with Jack." As soon as she said that, my blood ran cold. My throat became so dry, that I couldn't swallow my spit. I felt like the room was closing in on me, and I couldn't catch my breath.
"J-Jack?" I stuttered, remembering exactly what Calum had told me about Jack, when he gave me this letter to give to Ava.
"I'm not going to see Calum anymore. I can't when I don't remember him. I'm going back to Jack... it's the way things should be."
