Let Me Forget.

I spent that entire night watching interviews from You Me At Six.

It was comforting to see Josh being so carefree in interviews. It was a nice feeling.

Then I got a call from Marie.

“What do you want?” I snapped. I hated when she called me when there really wasn’t a point.

“I-I’m sorry Miss Lucas, but the c-company has planned some kind of last minute party for the workers and patients or something a-and I was told to call you and tell you because they’d like for you to be there” She told me quickly. I sighed.

“Where at?” I asked.

She quickly told me the address of some event hall and she told me to wear something classy, but not formal. “So basically semi-formal?” I asked, still annoyed.

She hesitantly agreed and I just hung up after that.

I really didn’t want to get up and do anything tonight, but because the company asked it of me, I had to.

The company was strict. If they asked something of you, you did it. Or you lost your job. And the company had ways of making sure you couldn’t find another decent job in this profession.

It was hard to work like this, because random events they planned last second would pop up and if you didn’t cancel all your plans and go, you were fired. I mean, not like I had plans anyway.

I sighed and got off my bed, walking over and beginning to shuffle through my closet for something to wear. Me, being me, I always had to go for a little more dressy than they wanted. Formal and semi-formal were almost the same thing to me.

I mean, no I wasn’t going to wear this cascading dress and go get my hair done, that’s obvious. But I’d have to wear one of my expensive dresses.

When I finally decided on something, it ended up being a full baby blue dress with a black middle, and a satin bow wrapped around it. I chose some black lace up suedette platforms, some rose shaped accessories and a regular black evening bag. I personally thought I looked really nice.

Heels always killed my feet, but my job required heels most of the time, so after a while I got used to them.

I went into the kitchen and fed my cat, Ali, again. I gave her a little pat on the head bye and then headed out the door.

This event hall was on the complete other side of town, and I figured I’d get stuck in traffic and opted on taking the back roads around instead.

I made it there ten minutes faster than I would have if I fought the traffic.

Inside the hall there was some soft music playing and a buffet of things to snack on. I made a beeline for the food, having not eaten anything all day.

I was scarfing down some chicken when I saw Marie hurrying over to me.

“Miss Lucas, I’m sorry to bother you” She said quietly, causing me to stop eating, “But Mr. Reynolds would like to speak with you.”

I almost choked on my chicken. I grabbed a drink and took a few swallows, trying to force it down. When I had finally managed to, I coughed out a shaky “W-Why?”

She looked over her shoulder before moving a little closer to me, “I don’t know for certain, but I heard there are cut backs being made.”

My heart dropped into my stomach. The only thing funding me staying here was this job. Without it, I’d be on the streets.

I nodded hesitantly before scanning the room, spotting Mr. Reynolds talking to someone across the way.

I gathered up all my courage that I could and strutted across the room. Every bit of that courage was being left in a trail behind me.

“M-Mr. Reynolds. You want t-to speak with me?” I said, trying to stay confident.

He turned to me, his smile faulting a little. Well then, I didn’t know I was that bad.

“Oh yes, Madeline, I was informed that this man is one of your patients now” He said, and I finally looked over his shoulder to who he had been talking to.

God almighty, it was Josh.

“Ah, yes. His first appointment was today” I told him, trying to keep my eyes off the ghost behind him.

“Well, this man is a very important client, and I was reluctant to convince him to come tonight. Would you be a host for him and make sure he’s comfortable here?” He asked me. I was tempted to say no, but then I reminded myself what would happen.

“Of course, Mr. Reynolds” I said, forcing a smile onto my face. He smiled back, an even more obvious fake one, and took his own leave.

I glanced over to Josh and groaned quietly before walking closer. He had turned back and was talking to someone else. I strained to see who and wasn’t really surprised to see Matt standing there, laughing over whatever they were talking about.

I walked up and placed a hesitant hand on Josh’s arm, he turned to see me and just stared for a moment. As did Matt.

“Hello there, Josh. How is your night going?” I asked, trying to be friendly. I wasn’t ever friendly.

“Oh, uh, it’s going great..uh..” He hesitated, not sure what to call me.

“You can call me Maddie” I told him, then bit my tongue. I shouldn’t have told him that.

I saw his eyes glaze over for a second and Matt glanced up at him before elbowing him in the side.

He looked surprised and looked at Matt for an explanation. I hear Matt quietly say to him “Mate, she isn’t the Maddie you’re thinking of. You need to quit with that.”

I lowered my eyes a bit. I was the one doing all of this.

Then a small smile stretched across his face. “Well Maddie,” He said, my name rolling off his tongue as perfectly as it always did, “What is there to do at one of these things?”

I just shrugged, “Not really much of anything. You can eat, or drink punch, or listen to the boring fucking music, but that’s about it.”

I realized a moment later what I actually say and my eyes widened. I could not fuck this up, I’d get fired.

My worries were diminished when Josh and Matt broke out in laughter. I just looked at both of them questioningly.

“I thought you were some uptight American bird, it’s relieving to hear you talk so casually” He told me. I just looked down. He called me American.

He really couldn’t hear my accent at all.

“Well, if there’s nothing to do here, lets go party” Matt suggested. My head snapped up to look at him.

“I-I can’t. I have to stay here” I told him. He frowned at me while Josh quietly asked me why.

I looked around for a second, making sure no one was actually going to hear this. I knew Josh, and I knew he wouldn’t rat me out.

“Well, I’ll get fired. My job for the night is to make you two enjoy it” I told them.

Josh chuckled quietly.

“And we’re obviously not going to enjoy it here. Who’s even going to notice you missing? I’ll make sure everything is fine later, love. Let’s go have some fun” He told me, then glanced down and back up before quietly adding, “Plus, you look fucking fit tonight. Better for a club, not a boring office party.”

I looked over to the side, trying to decide if it was a good idea. Then I stopped.

How long had it been since I’d actually had fun?

“Fuck this, I want to get wasted” I told them, grinning. A shit eating grin spread onto each of their faces before Josh and Matt each took hold of my hands and pulled me away.

The last person I saw was Marie, and I smiled at her. She looked shocked, maybe because she’d never seen me smile, and then smiled back.

This was going to be one hell of a night.