Memories Work Like Magic

chapter eleven.

Jack blurted out a simple "No," making Rian hysterical. He just couldn't keep calm anymore.

"Exactly! You don't remember when was the last time we all partied together! Don't you see why this is bad?!"

Jack scrunched up his eyebrows even more. He couldn't seem to wrap his head around why Rian was so angry at him. "Um, I dunno whatchyer tryin' t'get at, pal," he sounded almost sad when he spoke this time.

"I feel like I don't even need to explain this to you, but then again, I am speaking to a drunken Jack so who am I kidding?" He grabbed Jack by the shoulders and shook him slightly. "Wake up, Jack! We're losing you. We're losing our best friend. This is no—"

Jack interrupted him by laughing and pointing to the figure on the floor. "Don't you think we're losing Zack? He's, he's, lookit'im," He then started crying, and Rian let go of him, unsure of what to do. Jack sank to his knees in front of Zack and placed his right hand onto the passed out boy's back. "We're losing him, Rian! We're losing him!" The younger man collapsed on top of his friend, sobbing. This, however, caused Zack to jolt awake with a scream.

Rian needed to take a minute to himself. He walked over to the kitchen and filled himself a glass of ice cold water before gulping it down in one go. When he came back, the other two men were in the bathroom, Zack puking into the toilet and Jack laughing and crying simultaneously. He was also trying to hold Zack's hair back for him, even though Zack's hair wasn't that long.

When Rian questioned Jack once more, the drunk man replied with "I like his curls," and continued to play with Zack's hair.

"Jack," Rian said sternly. "He'll be okay, now get the fuck over here."

Rian and Jack made their way back into the living room and the older man prepared himself to ask the final question.

"Alright, Jack, you listening, bud?" Jack nodded. "Okay, now tell me, where were you last night?"

Jack thought long and hard. Finally, he shook his head. "I have no clue."

"You don't remember?" Rian asked in frustration.

"No, I remember. I just don't know where I was."

"You're going to have to elaborate, buddy. Describe last night to me as detailed as you can."

Jack scratched his head in confusion as if that would make him remember his night. "Okay, well, I was looking for a house, and then I get a phone call from this, uhh, this laugh-y guy. Then I—"

"Jack, who's 'this laugh-y guy'? I can't put together a story if I don't know all the characters."

"Well, okay, ummmmso I was in this taxi a few days ago, right? Then the guy was like, a hipster. The driver I mean, not the guy. And his name was Rett and he kept like, givin'ashitabout my business, okay? So like..." Jack continued to tell Rian about Rett Smith, and how he got in his car, you know the drill. It took him at least twenty minutes to tell him that much because he kept on slurring his words and mumbling incoherencies.

He began to describe being taken to a darkly-coloured building and led to a small office through the back door. It was dimly lit by only a small red lamp in the corner, and the walls were a dark shade of purple. He explained being sat down in one of two red chairs on one side of a large desk that sat in the middle of the room, and Rett sat in an identical chair on the other side. By the time Jack had explained this much, he got "sleepy" and refused to tell Rian the rest of the story.

An annoyed but patient Rian decided to let Jack have a rest on the couch, and Zack finally came out of the bathroom.

"You alright, bud?" Rian asked Zack as he started to rinse out his mouth.

"Yeah, that was a wild game, bro," Zack replied, still a little tipsy.

"Go get some rest, dude. I'll make you whatever you want and clean the place up."

"Honestly man, I'm feelin' some soup right now. Any kind'll do. I'll be in my room, might nap, I dunno." With that, he went up the stairs and flopped onto his bed.

~~

A warm potato soup was delivered to Zack's room and the main floor of his house was spotless... Aside from a sleeping Jack on the couch.

He looks so peaceful when he sleeps, Rian thought. How could I ever have gotten mad at an innocent face like that? He crouched down in front of the couch and stared at Jack's face as he was deep in his slumber. Rian smiled at him. It was the first genuine smile he had showed in a long time. Then a tear began to stream down his cheek and he found himself speaking aloud.

"Please don't leave. I can't lose you. We all can't."