Pushing the door open, I stumble out of the bathroom. No amount of brushing would make the taste of alcohol go away, and no amount of Panadol would make my headache disappear either.
"Valencia." Dani yells from the kitchen. "Are you ready or what?"
I grudgingly walk to the kitchen and get myself a piece of toast from several that Dani has made for breakfast.
"Hey that's mine!" He says, snatching it from my hand.
"Go away." I mutter as I grab another one.
I managed to avoid him all through last night, and even more once Catherine dropped us off back at the apartment, delving straight to sleep.
"You didn't drink half as much as me." Dani rolls his eyes. "Why the hell do you have a hangover?"
"Dani, I don't want anything to do with you right now." I snap.
He grins. "Does that mean not driving me to the hospital?"
I shove the bread in my mouth and take a gulp of bottled orange juice. "Shut up."
"Anyways, I was just going to tell you that your leftover makeup makes you look like a panda." He shrugs and hands me a napkin.
"How thoughtful." I mutter. I take it from him and wipe the skin beneath my eyes. Sure enough, it come back stained with black smudges.
"Don't want you embrassing me."
"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around, Mr. I-dont-rememeber-anything."
He gets up and places his empty plates in the sink. "Blame my brain." he says. "And for that," he smiles sweetly. "You can clean up all the dishes."
"Make your girlfriend do all the work." I say without thinking.
Then suddenly, I freeze. Shit.
"I'm sorry I said that." I say abruptly. "Didn't mean it."
"Doesn't matter." He says, running a hand through his hair. He bites his lip, as if he wants to say something. "Look, no offense, but I don't consider you anything right now."
The temperature in the room rises by fifty degrees almost immediately.
Did I expect anything more?
It was of no use. I shouldn't be getting my hopes up anyways.
"Right." I gulp. I get up too, brushing the crumbs off my hand.
Should I have been angry? Upset?
Because I didn't know what to feel.
It's wasn't his fault and I didn't blame him, but I couldn't get the image of him dancing with that stupid bimbo out of my head.
To him, I was just another girl.
"Not that I care or anything," he snaps me out of my thoughts. "But if you don't hurry your sweet ass up, we're going to be late."
He glaces at the clock. "On second thought, take your time."
No thank you, I thought as I put on my shoes and tied my hair into a low ponytail.
By the time I grabbed my bag, he was waiting for me next to the door.
Downstairs, Nate met us by his car. He was dressed in his office attire, and didn't cast us a second glace as we climbed in.
"You know the state of traffic in this city." He greets us. "Why are you so late?"
"She has a hangover." Says Dani, pointing at me.
As he backs up the car, Nate raises a quizzical brow. "Valencia, this is new." He says. "I don't think I've ever heard of you--"
"It wasn't my fault." I say. Catherine made me, I swear.
But Nate is smirking. "So I'm assuming a lot went down between you two last night."
Before Dani can say anything that crushes me further, I'm the first one to answer. "Hell no."
But Dani is amused. "Bet you would love otherwise, sweetheart."
When Nate is not looking through the rear-view mirror, I stick my tongue out at him. Maybe I am still drunk.
The hospital arrives, Nate stops the car and we both get out. "See you later, guys." He says.
Once he drives away, Dani turns around. "Let's get this over with." He mutters.
We walk into the hospital. At the reception, the nurse recognizes me and smiles.
"Hey, Val." She says in her sweet voice. "Dr. Drance, I'm assuming?"
"Yeah."
When she's checking the monitor screen, I catch Dani giving her a dirty look.
The nurse turns back to me. "Ten minutes, guys." She says.
He frowns. We walk over to the waiting area and I flop on a chair. Nurses and sick people are everywhere, with some of the former rushing back and forth.
"What was that?" I ask him. "That glare?"
His hands clench. "I hate how they know us." He says. "I fucking hate hospitals."
The lady next to us throws Dani a disapproving look. I squirm awkwardly in my chair.
"Suck it up." I tell him. "Stop being such a big baby."
His glare is back, and this time it's directed towards me.
"What?" I ask, daring him to answer my question.
He opens his mouth, but footsteps and the flash of a white coat alert us to the presence of a doctor.
"Daniel Price." He says. "I believe we have some tests to run."
He holds his hand out to him, and Dani hesitantly complies.
This is going to be a long day.
After three hours at the hospital, I'm completely wiped. Pair all the tests and running around with Dani's constant whining, and I'm ready to break his head in two.
"Dani." I seethe for the last time. "If you don't shut the hell up, I'm going to take that medicine and personally shove it down your stomach."
Dani licks his dry lips and nervously swallows the tablet.
Finally.
Dr. Drance returns with a white file in his hand. "Sorry, Dani." He says.
What is he apologising for? All the medicine and blood tests? All the fricking time it took?
"You'll get the results of the CT scan next week. Meanwhile," he motions to the folder. "I have the X-ray scans and the brain scans that we did, and I'm glad to say everything's normal."
Next to me, he breathes a sigh of relief. "No more disgusting medicine?"
The doctor chuckles. "Just some painkillers if you'd like."
Dani uncrosses his legs and taps his left foot distractedly. "And when will I start getting my memories back?"
Dr. Drance 's lips form into a tight line. "I can't answer that." He says.
Dani's frowns tightens. "What does that mean?"
"You know what it means." Says the doctor. "You might get your memories back tomorrow, in a month, or...never. Atleast not all of them."
He leans over the table. "But chances will increase if you resume your old lifestyle."
Dani raises a sly eyebrow. I know exactly what he's thinking in terms of his 'old lifestyle.'
And fortunately, the doctor gets the gist too.
"No drinking and/or drugs." He says.
I'm tempted to say he didn't do much of that when he moved, but then Dani would shamelessly label me a liar.
Remind me why I care again?
"That what?" The taps get more urgent. I don't think he realises it. "Move to some country which I don't remember ever going to?"
The doctor sits back and scratches his temple. "Yes, Mr. Price, that's exactly what I mean. And if you're not ready for that, then at least talk to people you met then, look at stuff you did." The doctor's hand drops to the table quietly. "Your mother tells me you paint."
"So?"
"So, did you paint anything around the time you were in America?"
Dani gives him that look, the one that says I'm-not-a-fucking-moron, though I can't fathom why. Maybe it's because even Dani himself believes he would never give up painting.
"Yes." I say, before he can make another crude remark.
"Excellent. Then look at those. Try to remember what you felt when you painted them. Look at old videos, photographs, movies that came out at the time. The littlest thing may help you."
The doctor's pager beeps. "And... that's my cue." He says. Dani gets up. "So if my memories come back, then I don't need to visit this place again, right?"
"Right." The doctor starts walking out of the room with Dani next to him. "Unless you're in some crippling accident." He shrugs. "It was nice to see you, Dani."
But Dani's barely listening. His thoughts have drifted him away into his own world. The doctor is long gone before I pull on his shirt and make him start walking.
In the taxi we grab to get back home, I cross my arms. "Don't do it." I say.
Dani looks at me like I'm some bug he wouldn't mind flicking off his sleeve. "What is up with you, woman?" He asks. I'm glad the taxi driver has his Bluetooth headset on, and is muttering cheerfully in Spanish.
"Are you some fucking mind reader?"
"You don't have to curse in every sentence, you know." I say. "And you didn't even know what I was going to say."
He snorts. "You were going to tell me to not try and pretend to get my memories back. I know because you're always right about creepy things like that. I wouldn't be surprised if you had a couple of voodoo dolls dressed like me."
I would have been offended if I wasn't trying to hold back a laugh.
"No voodoo dolls." I say. "But I know you. And as far as pretending to get back your memories goes, it's not going to help anyone, trust me."
Dani slumps back in his seat and neither of us say anymore words to each other for the rest of the ride.
When we get out, I pay the taxi driver who seems momentarily annoyed by the interruption to his phonecall by his cousin Lalito.
But all that melts away as he grabs the money from my hand greedily.
By the time I walk up the front steps of the building, Dani has already gone upstairs.
I make my way to the apartment and enter, shutting the red-painted door behind me.
Dani sets a copy of the file on the kitchen counter.
"The doctor said it would help if you look at your paintings."
Dani's eyes glance towards the door of the spare room that had been turned into the studio.
"Not yet." He murmurs.
"Why, though?"
"I'm not ready."