Remember, Remember

Jessie stood near the couch awkwardly, though it was easy to see which drawing he was looking at. A small grin formed on her features.

"That's one of my favorite ones," she admitted quietly, though she blinked a few times at him mentioning that he remembered it. Her grin grew in the slightest.

"You remember it? Really?" Honestly, she couldn't explain how happy she was at hearing that. The fact that he could remember it just gave her a slight hope that he could possibly end up remembering even more things - possibly even everything.

She didn't let her hopes get too high, though, as she didn't want to be let down about it. After a few more moments, she sat down on the couch - not close to him but not too far away, either.

Bobby could hear the happiness in her voice, but he could not take his eyes off the drawing. It brought back a memory and he felt his mouth curl into a smile as the memory ran through his mind like a movie.

"Yeah, I really do," he nodded with wide eyes. "You were sad."

He finally turned his head toward her. "You didn't tell me why you were sad, but I tried to cheer you up. To cheer you up, I drew you this picture."

That was what he remembered. He closed his eyes for a moment, the memory becoming more clear. "And with that picture… I also gave you a real flower. I think I even told you to keep it even when it died."

He moved closer to her, closing the sketchbook and now focusing on her. "That's what I remember about this drawing."

Jessie gave a laugh before she nodded slightly. "The flower's been my personal bookmark ever since," she mused quietly before shrugging. She relaxed back on the couch, letting her eyes close for a few moments.

"I was sad that day because I got yelled at by that stupid detention teacher." She opened her eyes, mostly just to roll them. "She got mad at me because I told her I wasn't going to detention just because I didn't go to computer lab that day."

She gave a slight smirk at her own words before looking over at him and tilting her head to the side slightly.

"That drawing and flower cheered me up a lot."

Bobby laughed a little. "I think cheering you up cheered me up myself."

He actually remembered something. It took him time, but seeing that drawing hit him in the head and helped him remember something about her. However, he felt bad to know that he had to look at a simple drawing just to get a memory to come to him.

"I'm sorry, Jessie," he sighed. "I don't know how I could forget you. You really were my best friend. I still don't know what's made me forget this."

He was going to keep trying. Hell, if this drawing could do something, there were other things to help him. That one memory was the first step to him remembering everything else.

Jessie gave a smile before she rolled her eyes and shrugged. "Well, the fact that there are ways to help you remember makes up for the fact that you forgot," she murmured softly before letting out a sigh, "So, no more apologizing, okay?"

Looking around the house, she smiled a bit. The decorations had changed, but everything else seemed the same. It felt familiar and comfortable - something she had been yearning for since her return because she and her family didn't live in their old home now.

"Do you want to go searching for the videos now?" She returned her attention to him. "Those would probably help a lot more."

They were, after all, memories caught in videos. They would likely trigger memories easier. Or, at least, that's what she hoped. For all she knew, only Bobby's own drawings would trigger his memories.

"Of course," he got up and headed into the living room. Once in the living room, he walked over to a shelf where DVDs and video tapes were placed. His mom loved to keep them organized, so finding those video tapes would be easier.

Bobby ran a hand through the tapes, reading them to look for the ones he wanted. He was looking for videos that were labeled "birthday" and checked the next shelf. At the end of the next shelf, he finally found one that read Bobby's 8th Birthday Party and showed it to Jessie.

"Got it," he felt accomplished at this.

He went over to the television and put the tape in the VHS player and turned it on. He sat down on the living room couch and watched closely.

In the video, it appeared that everyone was at the park. Many kids were surrounding a picnic table where a young Bobby sat with a cake in front of him. Right next to him was a young girl with short and wavy brown hair: Jessie.

They were all singing Happy Birthday to him and he happily blew out the candles. Once the candles were blown out, Jessie put her hand behind his head and dunked his face right into the cake.

At the sight of this, Bobby laughed. This memory came easier to him and he knew exactly what happened that day.

"I had to get you back after that," he chuckled as they continued to watch. "So I grabbed some cake and wiped some on your face."

Right when he said that, the video showed Bobby taking some frosting and smearing it on Jessie.

"Once it got on you, everybody started caking each other."

Jessie grinned before she shrugged, laughing a bit as the video played. "Your mom told me to do it," she mused quietly, a mischievous grin plastered on her face now. "I don't think she expected it to turn into a cake fight."

She could hear Bobby's mom in the background. The woman was threatening the kids not to throw any cake at her, though it was obvious by her tone that she was just as amused as everybody else - if not more so.

As the video played on, once the threat had escaped Bobby's mom's mouth, the younger Bobby and Jessie looked at each other before looking towards Bobby's mom and attacking her with cake.

"If it wasn't for the fact that it was your birthday, she probably would have grounded you for that." Jessie couldn't help but to laugh once again. It was nice, just reliving those memories through the video.

And the fact that Bobby was able to remember it made it even better.

"She never had me do anything like that again." The grin was still on Jessie's face as she turned her attention to Bobby. "I, personally, don't blame her. When our minds worked together, we were pretty much unstoppable."

Bobby just kept on laughing as he watched how he and Jessie threw cake at his mom. She was yelling at them, but was laughing at the same time because she knew caking Bobby was her idea and couldn't help but be amused about all this.

After they threw cake at her, Bobby grabbed Jessie's hand and they both ran away. He watched as he saw himself tightly holding onto Jessie's hand while they ran and avoided their other friends trying to get them with frosting.

He thought of what she said about holding hands and felt like he could ask her.

"Was I the last person you held hands with before you left?"

Jessie blinked at his question, surprised to hear it. A small smile graced her features before she nodded slightly. "Honestly, besides my parents, you were the only person I ever held hands with," she admitted quietly.

She didn't know why, but once the words left her mouth, a slight blush had tainted her cheeks. She quickly got rid of the blush before shrugging slightly.

"That doesn't matter much, though."

At least, she figured it didn't matter. Running a hand through her hair, she smiled as the video came to an end and stretched her arms out in front of her, letting out a sigh of content.

"At least we know a few things that can trigger your memories." Perhaps that would make things a lot easier. She smiled at the thought, her hope rising quite a bit.

"Yeah, at least we have that," he said, but he still thought of what she said. He was the only person who had held her hand and he even did it that day once they left the school.

It was great that he could remember. When those memories came back, he didn't really feel like she was a stranger anymore and he didn't feel like he was one to her either. He felt like he could really call her a friend.

In time, he would remember more. Once more and more things came up, he'd know everything about her. What he also wanted to know was how he forgot her. Sometime happened that cause him to block out everything that had to do with Jessie and he was determined to fix that problem.

He lifted his hand and put it on top of hers. "Jessie, I-"

Suddenly, the door opened. "Bobby, I'm home!"

That was the voice of his mom and Bobby and Jessie looked at each other. Both of them got up from the couch, hands to themselves as Mrs. Velasco walked into the living room with a few groceries.

"Bobby, are you-" she stopped when she saw the two standing there, her eyes on Jessie. "Well, who do we have here?"

"Mom," Bobby smiled and gestured to Jessie. "It's Jessie. She came back today."

At the mention of Jessie's name, his mother dropped her groceries onto the floor and immediately rushed over to Jessie and gave her a hug.

"Oh my goodness! Honey, it's so good to finally see you again after all these years!"

Jessie blinked a few times, surprised to feel the hug. It felt so familiar, though, and she couldn't help but smile as she returned the woman's hug.

"We would have come back sooner, but my dad was doing really well with work in Jersey," she explained, giving a slight shrug before she pulled away from the hug and looked towards the groceries the woman had dropped.

She glanced over towards Bobby before looking back to his mom and smiling. "How about Bobby and I take care of the groceries for you? We can catch up once everything's put away." She moved to the groceries the woman had dropped and picked them up, hoping Bobby's mom hadn't supplies anything breakable.

"Are there more groceries in your car?"

"Oh no, that's all I bought," she said as she went over to take the groceries. "You don't have to help me, honey. I'm just so happy that you're back!"

Bobby took one of the bags and placed them on the kitchen counter. "Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll put these away while you guys talk."

He grinned to himself as he got out all the stuff from the bags. It must have been nice for Jessie to run into someone who finally remembered her. When his mom hugged her, Bobby was thinking how things would've been if it was him that remembered and greeted her that way.

There was no use in dwelling on it. What happened had already happened and things were looking up for him. While he was trying to regain those memories, they were both going to make new ones.

Mrs. Velasco sat at the counter with Jessie. "You're so grown up now. And you look so beautiful like your mother."

She turned to her son. "I can't imagine how happy you must have been to see her, Bobby."

Bobby looked up and scratched his head. "Y-yeah, Mom. Reuniting with her was really something."

Jessie bit down on her lower lip at hearing Mrs. Velasco mention that Bobby must have been happy to see her. Deciding to aid the conversation, she shrugged. "We didn't get to talk much at school, since we only have one class together," she said, "But, we decided to hang out after school to catch up on old memories."

She looked over towards Bobby, wondering if she had helped the situation, since it seemed that he was a bit nervous and awkward with the topic. Turning her attention back to Mrs. Velasco, she smiled slightly. "I'm sure my mom and dad will be glad to know that you all still live at the same house."

Perhaps changing the subject would make things less awkward for Bobby and she could only hope that the idea would work.

"My mom will probably end up inviting everybody to some party once she finds out and speaks to you." She offered a grin, knowing that it was exactly what her mother would do. "And my dad would probably go straight to cracking jokes with Mr. Velasco."

In her opinion, all of the adults had been just as close as she and Bobby had been. It was why she and Bobby were such great friends in the first place.

"That sounds great!" Mrs. Velasco exclaimed. "We've missed your parents so much. Once we get together, it'll be just like old times."

Bobby let out a sigh of relief and looked at Jessie to mouth a "thank you" for getting him out of that situation. They weren't really lying to his mom, but were telling her things that were half true.

His first meeting with Jessie was something, just not the way that anybody expected. They really were catching up on old memories, but for a different reason that was much too complicated to explain.

Mrs. Velasco continued to ask Jessie about her parents and what they were doing. She asked her about Mr. Gray's job and the new house they were living in. As long as she didn't ask anything else about her son, Bobby managed to relax a little.

He just sat with them and listened to them talk until they heard a cell phone ring.

Jessie kept the conversation with Mrs. Velasco going, making sure it stayed away from the day. She was so caught up in the conversation that she had ended up jumping at the sound of her cell phone ringing. Pulling it out, she sighed when she saw it was her own mother.

Answering it, she asked, "Heeello~?" It was her usual way of answering the phone when it was her parents calling her.

On the other line, she could hear her mother ask, "Where are you?"

"Oh, I'm at Bobby's. I sent you a text earlier and you obviously didn't read it." She was teasing her mother, since the woman wasn't exactly tech savvy.

"Oh!" The woman's excitement was clear on the other line and it made Jessie laugh. "You should invite everybody over for dinner tomorrow."

"Mom, we haven't even settled into the house. It'd be kind of bothersome, don't you think?"

She could hear her mom's eye roll in her voice as she said, "Just do it. Oh, we're having family night in an hour. That's why I called. So, get home soon!"

Jessie sighed quietly. "Alright," she muttered before hanging up and looking towards them. Shrugging a bit, she ran a hand through her hair. "She wants me to invite everybody to dinner tomorrow. And, I have to leave, because they're starting up the old 'family night' tradition."

"Ah, you guys and your family nights," Mrs. Velasco laughed. "Dinner tomorrow sounds wonderful. We will definitely come."

Bobby grabbed his keys. "I'll take you home."

His mother gave Jessie one last hug and waved goodbye before the both of them headed out the door. It had gotten darker since the days were now shorter. It was a pretty long day for them and he knew she had to go home at some point.

"I can't thank you enough for conversating with my mom," he said as they walked to his car.

They got inside and he started the car again. "She was happy to see you. It was nice."

Jessie arched an eyebrow and looked over at him after she buckled up. His words surprised her, to say the least.

"Why are you thanking me?" she asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, "I've never been rude to adults. Well, besides, teachers. So, talking to her wasn't a problem. Besides, I enjoyed it as much as, she did."

Smiling a bit, she leaned back in the seat, tilting her head back to look up at the ceiling of the car. "You're lucky I saved you from more awkward conversation, though."

A light laugh left her lips as she imagined what the conversation would have been like had they continued to involve Bobby in it. She was sure Bobby would have continuously stumbled over words and such. It would have been rather amusing.

"Anyways, I don't live far from here." She gave a small shrug before telling him the address. It was only a few blocks away.

"That's what I'm thanking you for," he told her. "I know you're not a rude person, I was just glad you turned the attention away from me."

Maybe he would tell his mom the truth some other day. His parents probably knew more than he did and they would be able to help him figure out what made him forget.

"Can you imagine how stupid I would've looked?" he rolled his eyes. "That would've been bad."

He stopped in front one of the houses. "Is this the place?"

Jessie grinned before nodding, deciding against commenting on his previous statements. "Yeah, this is it," she said before climbing out of the car, adjusting the backpack on her shoulders.

She was about to close the car door, but stopped and looked into the car at him. "It was nice hanging out again." She gave a grin before shrugging. "Don't forget to tell me if you find your other sketchbook."

Stepping away from the car, she closed the door and made her way inside the house. Opening the door, she walked in and looked around, able to hear her mom in the kitchen, and able to see her dad looking through movies in the living room.

It felt like home again.

Bobby watched her go inside. He also made a mental note to look for his sketchbook when he got home so he could do some drawings that night.

He sat inside his car, not starting it yet or driving away from her home. Instead he leaned back in his chair, replaying the memory of him giving Jessie the flower.

Then came the memory of his birthday where Jessie had shoved his face into his cake. He liked those memories.

He thought of rewatching that video in his room and also thought of watching other videos that could have her in it. At that moment, all he could think about was her.

Bobby looked at her house and suddenly unbuckled his seatbelt. Without thinking, he got out the car and ran up to the front door and knocked.

The door eventually opened and Jessie was the one to answer. Out of breath, he just stood there until he could speak.

"Hi," he panted. "You...you forgot something."