“I can’t believe you remember!” Nina squealed.
We were walking out of the theater. I was clinging to Josh as if my life depended on it. We kept exchanging glances. I needed to talk to him, about everything, so badly.
“Before you guys go make out in the alley,” Sara told us, “We’ve got backstage passes to meet the star. Or that’s how Taylor put it, anyway.”
She led us to a back door, where a security guard was standing. She pulled out a bunch of passes and handed it to him.
“We’re friends of Taylor’s,” Jake said importantly.
The security guard grunted and waved us in. Nina ran ahead and knocked loudly and repeatedly on a door that had a big gold star and “Taylor Johnsen” on it.
The door swung open and Taylor came into view. Nina tackled her on the ground.
Taylor cursed and pushed her off. She stood up and brushed herself off. “Hey, guys.”
She hugged each of us. “Hey Clara, I’m-”
“I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!” I screamed excitedly.
She stepped back. “YOU DO?!”
“YES! Something clicked when I saw you and I remembered everything!”
“I am a miracle worker. I should be worshipped. Grovel at my feet, peasants.”
Nina gave her a pointed look.
“It’s true. But I’m happy for you, Clarie! Come sit in my dressing room, guys. I have a dressing room!”
We all crowded into the little room.
“BLACK POWER!” Nina screamed randomly.
“Huh?” Faith said.
“First black Alice.” Taylor flicked her hair over her shoulder. “Paving the way for black children everywhere.”
“Actually, um, I wasn’t talking about you.” Nina flicked her hair over her shoulder, mocking Taylor.
“Then what were you talking about?”
“Not sure. Pandas, maybe?”
“You’re on drugs,” Sara mumbled.
“I hate to break up the party, but Clara and I have dinner reservations.” Josh cleared his throat awkwardly.
“Cool, we’ll all come.” Jake grinned.
“Um…Dinner reservations for, uh, two, sorry.”
“Translation: Clara and I aren’t actually going to dinner, we’re going to make out in the back of my car,” Jake added helpfully.
“It’s a step up from the alley,” Sara said.
I blushed. “Guyyys, we’re going to dinner.”
“Sure you are. You remembered to book the hotel room, right Josh?” Jake elbowed Josh in the side.
“Yeah, why- oh. Shut up. Clara and I are just going out to dinner.”
“I mean, we’ll probably go back to the hotel eventually,” I mumbled, low enough so that only Faith and Taylor heard.
“Get some,” Taylor mumbled back.
I snorted and ignored Josh’s curious glance. I stood up. “What time are our reservations for?”
“6.”
“It’s 5:45 now. We actually should probably go…”
“DON’T GO!” Nina screamed, latching onto my leg.
Josh and I hugged everyone, minus Nina, goodbye. “Ni, I’ll see you soon. We only live 3 hours apart.”
“It’s okay, you’ll probably see her at either her baby shower or wedding, whichever comes first,” Sara said.
“Or maybe I’ll see her at yours,” I shot back, laughing.
“You’re just lucky Mollie’s not here. She would yell at all of you,” Josh said.
“Nina, I need to go, please?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I picked your orange Skittles out of the box, though.”
“Ugh. Fine.” She got up and hugged us goodbye.
Josh and I walked out to the car. It wasn’t until we were both safely inside that I lost it. The tears started to come, and they wouldn’t stop.
Josh reached over and gently picked me up and put me on his lap, so that we were both sitting in the driver’s seat.
All of the stress and pain of the last few weeks poured out. I sobbed into his chest. He held me there, rocking me back and forth.
“Shh, baby, it’s okay,” he whispered. “It’s okay. I love you. It’s alright.” He rubbed circles on my back with hand. “You’re okay now, Clara. Everything is back to the way it was. Shh, Clarie, it’s okay.”
I sniffled and wiped at my eyes on the back of my hand. Josh kissed my forehead, wiping away a few stray tears with his thumb.
“I love you so much,” I said, starting to cry again.
“I love you, too. And nothing will ever change that.”
I looked up. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For-for everything. You were so patient and amazing throughout everything. You stuck with me even though it wasn’t actually me.”
“Yes it was. Through everything, you were there. Memory or not, you were still perfect. And I wasn’t amazing. I tried to set you up with a married man.”
“You did it out of love, though. It was a stupid idea, yeah, but you didn’t do it to hurt me.”
“I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“How did I wind up with such a perfect boyfriend?”
“I could say the same to you.” He took my hand in his.
“That I’m a perfect boyfriend?”
He laughed. “Definitely. Do you still want to go to dinner?”
“Not really…”
“That’s good because we missed our reservations. We could just go back to the hotel and order in?”
“That sounds amazing.”
Josh drove us to the hotel. We went up to the check-in desk.
Josh gave the receptionist all of our information and everything, then asked, “Is there any way we could switch to a different room? One with one bed instead of two?” I looked up at him and smiled.
The woman looked at us disdainfully. “I suppose that wouldn’t be a problem…”
We got everything straightened out and went up to the room.
I collapsed onto the bed. “I need food.”
“Pizza?”
“You know me so well.”
He ordered it, then came and laid down next to me. “Fill in the blank. One day we’re…”
I smiled. “Going to live in a big house and have four kids, two girls and two boys, and our life will be even more perfect than it is now, if that’s even possible.”
He kissed the side of my head and murmured into my hair, “Your turn.”
“If I could have any superpower it would be…”
“Flying. Then we could fly all around the world all romantic and stuff.”
“Aw.”
“If I could buy any country it would be…”
“Australia!”
“Isn’t that a continent?”
“It’s also a country!”
“You learn something new every day…”
“Would you rather be sexually attracted to fruits or change gender every time you sneeze?”
“Um… Sneeze, I guess. Would you rather change gender every time you sneeze or not be able to tell the difference between a baby and a muffin?”
I laughed, nearly rolling off the bed. “Change gender.”
“I love you.”
“I love you more.”
“Not possible.”
“You’d be surprised.”
He propped himself up on one elbow so that he could kiss me. “Promise me you’ll never change.”
“Only if you do the same.”
“Pinky promise?”
I hooked my pinky with his. “Pinky promise.”
THE END