Forget All You Know

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed."
-Carl Gustav

Lila's P.O.V.

"What do you do?" I asked Tom. "For a living, I mean."

He was an interesting guy. I liked him. There was something about him that just sat well with me. He seemed so familiar. I guess that's a good thing, though, since we were best friends apparently. I'm glad that I was best friends with someone like him. He seemed sweet.

The doctor told me that I had amnesia. He didn't say how I got it. I don't even know how I got it. All I know is that I don't remember anything. When I try to think back on things, it's like a blank slate. It's almost as if God just created me without any background at all. I didn't like that. But, it didn't seem as if I could control anything anymore.

"I'm in a band," Tom said as I nodded.

"McFly, right?"

"You remember?!" Tom asked hopefully, his eyes wide and a large grin spread across his face. I know that it's mean to mess with him, but I couldn't help it.

"No, some guy told me. I think his name was Dougie, possibly," I said as Tom nodded, a little sad now.

"Right," he said sadly. "He's in the band with me."

"Tom?" I asked as Tom looked up at me with sad eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Please talk to me. Ever since I've woken up, people have been looking at me with that same look. That look like they pity me or they're just depressed by me. Please, don't be like them. I need you to break the trend. Just treat me the way you used to, before all of this happened," I said desperately as Tom looked at me with wide eyes.

"I...I don't know if you'd want me to," he mumbled, causing me to be confused. "But, I'll be here for you. I promise."

"Okay," I said quietly, my voice weak. "Who am I?"

"What?"

"What have I accomplished? Have I ever done anything significant? What's my family like? And why aren't they here?"

"You ask too many questions, Paterson," Tom said as he shook his head. "You're twenty-four - the same age as me -, you hate birds, you're a fashion designer, you like Rome a lot, you're kind of geeky - "

"What about my family?" I asked, causing Tom to squirm with discomfort.

"Well, your mom sort of left you and your dad when you were fourteen. And your dad is in California. He called to see how you're doing. He's just very busy. He's one of those workaholic types of people," Tom said as I stared at him blankly.

"Sounds like a great life," I said dully, not knowing at the time that there was a whole other amazing part of it that I didn't know about.

>>>

I had fallen asleep for a little while. I felt somewhat bad, seeing as I was in the middle of reacquainting myself with Tom. But, whatever medication these doctors had me on made me really tired. I hoped that he wasn't offended by the fact that I fell asleep in the middle of an in-depth conversation. I'm sure that he'd be fine, though. He seemed like a nice person. Anyways, when I woke up, Tom was gone. Instead, Jazzie was sitting by my bedside with her arms folded over her chest.

"Where's Tom?" I asked groggily as she smirked at me.

"He went home for the night," she said as she looked at her watch. "It's one-thirty in the morning, after all."

"Oh," I said a little disappointedly. "You're Jazzie, right?"

"That's me," she said proudly. "Lila Paterson, what a character."

"Hm?" I asked, confused.

"You're such a predictable person," she said as she shook her head. "Even after your coma and amnesia and whatnot, Tom is still the first person you think about."

"Well, I was talking to him, and then I fell asleep," I said defensively as she looked at me skeptically and nodded.

"I know, he told me," she said. "He liked getting to talk to you again."

"Oh yeah," I said quietly. "I keep forgetting that I knew you all before all of this."

"Yeah, you knew Tom very well, if you catch my drift," Jazzie said, causing herself to break out into a fit of giggles. I tilted my head to the side as I looked at Jazzie with confusion. Once she realized that I didn't understand, she stopped laughing and looked somewhat worried.

"What do you mean?"

"Shit," she mumbled to herself. "I guess he didn't say anything."

"Say anything about what?" I inquired, trying to pry an answer out of her somehow.

"Um...that you two were...um...really good friends. Yeah, just good friends. Guess that never came up," she said quickly. I could tell she was lying, but I didn't want to press the subject. Obviously they were all keeping some big secret from me. I was determined to find out what it was. I didn't care if it took me months, I was going to figure it out.

"No, he mentioned that," I said as Jazzie shrugged and let her eyes wander around the room in discomfort.

"Oh, well, then there's no confusion," she said brightly as I looked over at her with an uncertain look in my eyes. "Anyways, what are you planning on doing once you get out of here? I mean, that is in a couple of days, after all."

That was something that I never thought about. I was so busy trying to learn about my past that I didn't consider my future. I had no idea where I was living before I lost my memory and I had no clue where I would be allowed to go. I mean, I didn't want to just ask these people who I barely know if I could live with them. I might have felt okay with asking Tom, seeing as we were best friends apparently, but I don't know if it'd be alright now.

"I didn't really think of that," I muttered as I looked over at a bouquet of flowers that were next to my bed.

"Well, then it's settled. You'll be staying with me," Jazzie said with a grin. "I'm sure that Tom will try and fight me for you, but I've already won."

"Cheers," I said distantly, still staring at the flowers. "Who got me those flowers?"

"Tom, of course," she said as if it was common knowledge. "He brought new flowers every day."

That made my heart warm up slightly. It made me feel like I was actually important to someone. Well, I knew that people cared about me, but it just made me feel less alone, I suppose. Yes, that's the right way to put it. I felt less alone knowing that Tom had gotten me flowers. I knew that he actually cared somewhat and that he would stay true to what he said; he would be there for me.

"That was nice of him."