I Can't Forget What You've Forgotten

When we had arrived at the local Starbucks, we got our seats at a round table near the corner of the building. Zacky went to order the drinks and get me a muffin since my stomach and I were having quite the argument on the car. It didn't want to shut up and stop nagging at me for food.

From a distance, I tried to study him a bit more to the best of my abilities. I couldn't bring the necklace up in the car, and I wasn't sure as to why. It felt awkward to me to have to ask him such questions while he was driving, in which only half of his attention would be on me and the actual conversation. As he spoke to the cashier woman, I searched for a sign of anything that would make it easier for me to bring up the conversation.

I couldn't come up with any. They all either sounded stupid or they were rather blunt and straight to the point.

He came back a few minutes later with a white receipt in hand and a muffin in the other. He handed it over to me and I began to devour it, as slowly as I could to maintain the last bit of manners that I had at such a time like this. My stomach gurgled and urged me to swallow the food faster; it was beyond selfish and greedy at this point.

Zack ended up staring at me strangely but he soon turned away, shaking his head while trying to fight the smile off his face. He leaned back in his seat at an angle and rested his arm on the back of the chair; he began to observe the store while he waited for the worker to prepare the coffees for the band. It wasn't until after I had finished my muffin that I noticed a silver chain hanging around his neck.

"What's that?" I asked him once he had gotten back from getting the drinks, placing one and a half cup holders down on the table in front of us.

He glanced up at me with a raised eyebrow. "What's what?" he asked back, sitting down in his seat and mixing the milk and sugar packets into his coffee.

"The necklace." I pointed to the silver chain that hung around his neck, tucked and hidden inside his shirt.

He looked down at his shirt and noticeably mouthed 'oh', as he quickly reached into his shirt. He pulled out the chain to reveal the heart charm that hung on the end, dangling and glimmering in the sunset. He outstretched his arm across the table, waiting for me to take it from him. I took it and observed it closer.

It was the exact same replica of the necklace that's inside my pocket. The exact same chain, material, texture, and even the heart were the same design. I flipped the heart over to see if there were any engravings on the underside. Just as I expected, Z.Baker & Z.Hail were engraved into it, the same font and size as the writing on mine.

"What is this supposed to be?" I asked him, looking up to see his eyes glued on the heart that dangled in between my fingers.

He diverted his gaze back up to me. "It's the symbol of our love." I raised an eyebrow at him as he smiled, before he started to laugh, hopefully, at himself. "Oh wow, that was cheesy," he said, shaking his head and I shook mine as well, giggling at the little stupid moment. He sat up straighter, leaning forward with his elbows on the tabletop. "It's just something we got together near the end of high school."

"Kind of like those best friend necklaces?" I asked and he nodded slightly, thinking himself.

"Like those matching ones, yeah. But except ours..." he paused for a moment, "Ours is more than best friends."

I nodded and reached into my pocket, pulling out my own copy of necklace. I held them closely next to each other, comparing them, although there isn't much to compare. It was odd looking at two of the exact same object, knowing that one of them belonged to you but you have no memory of getting it or what caused you to get it.

Couldn't there be something out there that would make this easier for me?

I heard him chuckle and I glanced up at him. "What are you laughing at?"

"You still have that?" he asked, his eyes shining bright as he nodded his head towards the objects.

I nodded slowly, uncertain of what to say. "I guess so. I found it under the bed when we were still moving my stuff from the apartment and figured that it belonged to me since it had my name on it." I shrugged. "Somehow, I have this little attachment to it and yeah..."

He nodded, smiling. "Well, good. At least you still have it- or, have it now." He stopped and his eyes rolled to look up at the ceiling before shaking his head. "Whatever. You know what I mean."

I laughed and nodded my head. "In a way, yeah."

I handed him back his necklace and he slipped it back around his neck, hiding it inside his shirt. A silence fell over us as we both picked up our drinks and resumed back to drinking them. What else was there for me to say?

I've solved my problems - or at least, I've received the answers to some of my questions... The necklace certainly didn't belong to Zack- he had his own, which was exactly the same as the one I had. Who else would they belong to? Obviously, we must've had something together in the past; not even best friends would get necklaces like this.

But what exactly, did we have? And how strong was it? What happened?

What happened to me? He must know if we were 'close'. But the only problem was how to bring it up. It didn't seem like an easy topic to talk about and truthfully, I was afraid to know. Maybe I'm better off not knowing, and just going along with the flow, accepting whatever comes my way. I'll just follow with whatever it was that would make these people happy; perhaps it'd lead me to a happy path.

What do I have to lose?

"Oh!" Zack broke the silence, placing his cup down on the table. "Me and the band are starting up touring again soon," he started, "And I wanted to ask if you would like to come?"

I laughed at his abruptness and nodded. "What else do I have to do? I don't have a job and I don't know anyone else around here."

He grinned. "Great."