Forget Me Not

6. As Long As You Love Me

 “As long as you love me, we could be starving’, we could be homeless, we could be broke. As Long as you love me, I’ll be your platinum, I’ll be your silver, I’ll be your gold. As long as you love…”-Justin Bieber ‘As Long as You Love Me’

Dea was quiet, humming to herself as she finished Chem lab right before recess. I leaned on the door outside and thought about how cute she looked in the oversized goggles, contrasting the boyish black skinny jeans, white kicks, and a Spider-Man tank top. Her long wavy brown hair was all around her face, and every now and then she’d curse and try to thrust it away.

I pulled down my lime-green sweater and sauntered towards her, resting my palms on her stool, leaning over her shoulder and saying, very quietly, “Boo.”

Dea giggled and kept on with her experiment. “I heard you, Carty.” I tried to stop the shiver that went down my spine. She’d been calling me that a lot lately. Her mom was going to give her her phone the very next day-it would mark the seven month anniversary of, well, you know. I planned to be there when it happened-Dea was sure to have a lot of questions.

“Dea, can I pull your hair back for you?”

“Would you?” She sounded relieved. “Darn hair.”

It’d been forever since I’d touched her satiny hair; my fingers were trembling. The curtain was waving softly, just out of my reach. 

I should’ve known it was too much.

Touching her hair brought an onrush of DeaandCarter, CarterandDea. I gathered it gently in my hair and raised it to my nose for a minute-it smelled like her. Brand new kicks, buttery popcorn, and her minty shampoo.

I heard Dea’s intake of breathe as she whirled around, gorgeous eyes wide. She whipped off the goggles and looked at me, stared at me, for the first time since the accident.

“Carty? Oh my Gosh. Nanja?”

All the restraint I’d been using since Dea lost her memory flew out the window and I cradled her face in my hands, taking possession of her lips.

Dea didn’t even fight it.

DeaandCarter, CarterandDea. NanjaandButterfly. We were one and the same. Together. Like it should have been.

I lost myself to her.

She tasted just like she’d always had-sweet pomegranate juice, fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, cookie dough ice cream. Dea’s kisses were a drug, they’d always been, and I was beyond addicted.

I lived solely off of Dea.

I don’t know how many times we kissed, right then and there-all I felt was immense relief, relief, and love. I couldn’t get enough of her; heck, I’d been Dea-kiss starved.

A deep aching hole in my chest, the one created with the loss of Dea’s memory, had been filled, once and for all.

The flashbacks started to come fast, hitting both of us.

FLASH

“Dude. If you’re doing what I think you’re doing, Dea is gonna kill you.”

I glanced up at Matt, squinting against the sunlight, clad in nothing but a white wife beater shirt and my black, blue and purple swim trunks.

“Matt, I’m not checking out chicks. I’m waiting for my own chick to check out, unlike you.” I retorted, eyes returning to the crowd to search out my girlfriend.

Dea finally appeared with a frown on her face, trailed by a slightly sun burnt Sophie. I immediately approved of her choice of swimwear-a halter one-piece entirely white, much in the style of Marilyn Monroe’s dress in ‘The Seven Year Itch’ except, it had no skirt. It fit Dea’s body snugly, highlighting her curves in all the right places.