Memories Work Like Magic

chapter twenty-one.

Jack was so frustrated with the sight of the book. He wanted so badly to leave the city, hopefully drink enough that he forgets about the last seven years of All Time Low history, and restart his life. But here he is, with a book to remind him of pretty much everything there was to know about his former band.

His mind filled with anger, with a hint of curiosity. It had been a few years since the book was published, and looking back at images of his past self to see changes sounded pretty intriguing. Jack sighed in defeat as he lifted up the glossy hardcover from the right, unwillingly satisfied by the sound of the pages inside creasing as he flattened the cover down on his left. Of course, the title, The Hustler's Guide to All Time Low had to repeat itself on the first page, along with a picture of the band standing in a formation that Jack thought was absolutely dorky.

He flipped to the table of contents, just to see, not to go through the entire book, reading titles and headings. His throat slightly tensed as he read them, but he wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because of the nostalgia, since most of the contents of this book had slipped from his memory. He had cleanly forgotten one section in particular: The Ships.

I can't do it, Jack thought, I shouldn't do it. But it was like his hands had minds of their own as they immediately began to turn page after page, swift but careful. Jack's eyes darted back and forth at lightning speed as his hands worked, looking at the page numbers as they flew by. 26, 26, 26... The numbers continuously repeated in his head. Upon meeting page 25, Jack's fingers slowed significantly, his gaze still firm on the page number. For a reason that Jack couldn't quite explain to himself, his heart was speeding like the wind in a thunderstorm. He was even starting to get a mild headache, his tear ducts not responding well to all of the emotion in this extremely personal moment.

It was personal because he was alone in his house, packing up to start a new solo adventure, but Jack also felt that someone was missing. It was as though this should have been a touching moment to share with someone he loved, if he could even define love at this point in his life. As if this special moment was supposed to be mutual, while each individual in the duo would experience their own sentiment.

Finally, Jack gently and deliberately flipped the page and redirected his stare to the title of this section, Jalex.