Forget All You Know

"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive, but do not forget."
-Thomas S. Szasz

Tom's P.O.V.

I hadn't been the same since the plane crash. I don't think any of us had, but I'd taken it the worst out of all of us. We decided to cancel our tour that we were about to go on. I don't think any of us were in the right mindset to play shows every night. Not while Lila was lying in a hospital bed. I think our fans understood, though. What happened to Lila was public now. The media caught on to what happened and within a week, what happened to her was the headline on all of the papers. I didn't really notice how public it was, though, until I saw it on the news about a week and a half after she'd been admitted into the hospital.

"About a week ago, Lila Paterson - the old flame of Tom Fletcher of McFly fame - was in a deadly plane crash heading for New York. She managed to survive, but has been in a coma since the crash. Sources have claimed the members of the successful band - including Tom - have been visiting her every day since the crash. Rumors have been surfacing that things might not be over between Paterson and her rockstar. We'll be giving you more updates on Lila Paterson's health conditions as they arise. But, as for now, we are keeping Lila, her family, and the McFly boys in our prayers."

I turned off the television in aggravation. No, we were not back together. How could we possibly be back together if she was in a coma? Stupid reporters. I never understood why they always had to butt into other people's business. Maybe we just want to be left alone. Has anyone ever thought of that?

I was so annoyed that I decided that I needed to get out of my flat. The only place that I could think to go to was the hospital, because, honestly, that was the only place that I wanted to be. Lila was the only person who I wanted to be with, the only face that I wanted to see.

Anyways, on my way outside, I checked to see if I had any mail. I did. Shocking, right? But, there was something in my mail that day that shocked me more than anything else. There was a yellow envelope that seemed to have something more than a letter inside of it. I opened it out of curiosity only to find a short note and an engagement ring fall out. But, it wasn't just any engagement ring. It was the one that I'd given Lila. The one that I threw at Austin in my fit of rage. I stared down at the ring as tears began to fill up my eyes, wondering what I was supposed to do with it. I let out a quiet sob and took out the short note that read:

Fletcher -
Here's the ring back. I figured that it might come to some good use when Lila wakes up. I'm sorry for everything.
-Austin

Well, I'm not gonna lie, that blew me away. I would've thought that'd be the last Austin would do. In all honesty, I thought that he sold the ring and made some money off of it. But, apparently the bastard has a conscience. It really shocked me. I'm not joking. It almost made me forgive him. Actually, it did make me forgive him. Yes, he fucked up my life and Lila's life, but he was sorry. I mean, it's not like I was every going to talk to the guy again - there was no way in hell that that was going to happen - but, I was willing to forgive him. I had a feeling that he was truly sorry, because if he wasn't, I wouldn't have gotten that ring back.

I stuffed the ring and the note into my pocket before getting in my car with a bouquet of flowers in hand to go to the hospital. I was pretty certain that I'd be the only one there today, seeing as everyone else was busy. They all visited Li most days, but I was there every day. I didn't care whether or not she hated me. I still loved her, I always would. And as long as I loved her, I would visit her. I wanted to be the first thing she saw when she woke up. I figured that that would show her how much I actually care.

Anyways, when I got to the hospital, I was shocked to see someone else there. Someone who I'd never seen nor met before. He was a little shorter than me and seemed to be very well polished. He was wearing a striped sweater, skinny leg jeans, and a watch with a rainbow on the face.

"Hi, can I help you with something?" I asked, figuring that he was a reporter or something, just here to get the latest news on Lila's condition.

"I can think of a few things," he said flirtatiously, making me feel quite uncomfortable.

"Uh, I don't mean to sound rude, but what are you doing here?" I asked as the man looked at me oddly. "If you're here to just snap a picture and sell it to the tabloids, then you should just get the hell out now! You bastards shouldn't be making money off of her poor health!"

"You must be Tom," the man said simply as I narrowed my eyes at him. "Now I understand why she said that you were protective."

"Who are you?" I asked, now quite annoyed with the man. He looked down at Lila with a sense of worry before giving me a half-hearted smile.

"I'm Sam," he said as he held out his hand for me to shake. "I'm a friend of Lila's from New York."

"Oh, right," I said feeling like a complete idiot. "I've heard about you. Sorry about before. A lot of people have been trying to get pictures and stuff. It gets me so aggravated."

"I can imagine," Sam said as he sat down next to Lila's bed. "So, what is it that happened between you two? Because, one minute she's telling me about how much she loves you and how she's going to fix everything and then the next she's telling me that she despises you and she's going to try and get her job back."

"It was just a miscommunication," I said simply as I gazed down at Lila. "She thought that I was over her, when I really wasn't."

"What are the flowers for?" Sam asked casually, not bothering to go into specifics with me. He was a different sort of personality. I didn't really know how to describe him. He seemed almost stand-offish to me, but when Jazzie spoke to me about him she said that he was a "sweetheart". I figured that it just took him some time to warm up to people.

"Oh, I bring them everyday for Lila," I said with a shrug as I put the flowers in a vase. "I figured that when she wakes up she'll want to see something nice, rather than my hideous face."

This made Sam laugh. I guess that meant that I was starting to get on his good side. Or possibly he was just laughing because it was true. I hoped that it was the first one, though. I hated it when people disliked me. It's not that I wanted everyone to like me. I honestly didn't care about that. I just didn't want anyone to dislike me. I mean, if they're indifferent towards me, then that's fine. I just don't want someone to not like me. It makes me feel as if I'm a terrible person or something.

"I'm sure that she'll be perfectly happy seeing you," he said with a smile. "She really loves you."

"Didn't seem that way," I stated. "But, I can guarantee you that when she wakes up, I will make everything alright. She'll fall even further in love with me. We'll get married, you'll see. You can come to the wedding, if you'd like."

"And now I understand why she said that you were a dreamer," Sam said as he shook his head.

"Did she talk about me a lot?" I asked curiously, because it seemed as if he knew a lot about me.

"Not at first," Sam said. "At first she didn't even mention you. But, then Jazzie - you know her, right? - well, I called her and asked for the whole scoop on Lila, because she'd been acting really depressed. So, she told me about you two and everything that happened and your whole love story thing. Anyways, then I cornered Lila into telling me all of the details. After she knew that I knew about you, Tom, she wouldn't shut up. It was like every other word that came out of her mouth was about how amazing you are. She told me about all of the cute little things that you did for her. She remembers them all. And then she talked about how you surprised her and took her to Rome, where you proposed. She said that she gave you a hard time or something, but I thought it was very romantic of you."

"Er, thanks," I said awkwardly, not really knowing what else to say.

"I honestly don't think that you'll have to do anything more than being yourself to make her fall more in love with you," Sam said with a smile. "She really loves everything about you. She wants to be with you forever."

"So, now all I have to do is wait for her to wake up," I said dully as I stared down at Lila's unmoving figure.

It's Step Two all over again.