Remember Me

13. An Unexpected Revelation

Staring at the total glaring back at me at the register it's becoming difficult to remember why the hell I thought that going back to school was a good idea. If this were how much textbooks were, I could only imagine the bill at the end of the semester for the classes themselves. "Sir." The boy behind the counter at the bookstore is an average college-aged kid who looks annoyed at the old guy for holding up the line.

Not that I'm old. Just older.

I clear my throat and pull my wallet out from my back pocket and rifle through it until I land upon the credit card I had taken out just for this occasion. I hand it over begrudgingly and the boy runs it through the system, handing me my bag and my receipt with a smile.

Meanwhile, my wife is somewhere-. I turn around from the register and immediately spot her leaning against the wall near the door looking uninterested in the guy chatting her up. I sigh, used to this behavior by men. Before I put a ring on her finger she rarely got hit on but suddenly, with the addition of the bright red stop sign on her hand, men thought her to be a challenge they were willing to try.

"Excuse me." I interrupt. Maya's head snaps up quickly, relief evident. "Is there something I can help you with?" I ask the man impatiently.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He snips. "I'm trying to have a conversation with the lady." One look at the guy and it's obvious that he's never heard the word no in his life, from mommy and daddy or a girl so this should be fun.

"That lady is my wife" I inform the idiot whose eyes widen to the size of saucers as they flicker down to her hand where there is in fact a diamond ring that I put there.

"Oh." He takes a step back. "Oh shit. My bad. She didn't tell me she was taken." I roll my eyes.

"Even if I weren't, my silence should've been enough for you to get the hint" Maya snips, her eyes settling onto mine. "Are you ready?"

"Yea. Come on." I throw my arm across her shoulders and lead her out of the NYU bookstore and out into the courtyard. She shakes her head.

"I'm sorry that I didn't say anything to him-."

"Maya, there's no need to apologize for some idiot throwing himself at you." I kiss the top of her head and begin leading us towards the parking lot.

"I don't remember guys being that pushy when we went here. Of course, I have shit memory right now" she chuckles softly, lifting her gaze to mine once again. "Did I get hit on a lot?"

"After we were engaged" I confirm. "But it never bothered me. I knew where your heart lied." Her lips quirk into a beaming smile and I get an idea. Perhaps we didn't need to run off quite so fast. "Do you wanna take a quick tour?" I ask curiously. It could potentially jog her memory and it could be fun to reminisce.

"Sure" she agrees easily. We turn back around and head back through the courtyard, stopping in a few hot spots on campus, none too important until we reach the library. I lead her inside but don't draw her attention to any one place or thing in particular, waiting to see if her memory catches up. I walk a few steps in front of her, turning around so that I can study her face.

Her eyebrows are scrunched together, and her crystal eyes are attempting to take in everything around us, widening like a child's eyes in a candy store when she spots a table in the far left corner. "Was that our table?"

"Maybe" I shrug nonchalantly. She takes off towards the table, running her hand over the plastic tabletop and eyeing the cushioned seats pushed in.

"Those are different."

"Probably for the best" I reply cheekily. Her face flushes and I gather that she remembers what I'm suggestively hinting at. Either that or she's gathered just how dirty of people the two of us are and is able to make an educated guess.