The World Forgot

Ryan was taking Amanda dancing this evening. It seemed so old fashioned and a little corny, but Amanda was quite thrilled at the idea. He had been telling her about this little hole in the wall place a friend of his had told him about and she was enamored by though of being in a small, dimly lit room with other couples in their own little bubbles.

They had been dating for almost a month now, but to Amanda it felt like so much longer. She hated to admit it—to say it, think it, anything—but what the hell? She was falling fast and hard for Ryan. There was just something about him.

She knew that he wasn’t trying to make her fall in love with him. He was always cautious and almost a little distant with her, but that’s what she loved about him. It was crazy, she knew. But her thoughts were full of Ryan—the way he would kiss her softly whenever they did kiss, and the way his nose crinkled whenever he was really smiling, the boyish glint that always seemed to be in his blue eyes. He was truly mesmerizing.

“Hey I’m heading out.”

Amanda jumped when she realized Ryan was standing in front of her desk and she smiled up at him.

“Okay,” she said. “See you at 7.”

He leaned over the desk and kissed her quickly.

“See you at 7,” he repeated. “And you better be ready.”

“Oh, I will be.”

Ryan winked at her and she watched as he left the office. She glanced at the clock and was glad to see it was almost time for her to leave as well. She sometimes stayed a little while after the office closed to tidy up her desk and make sure things were ready for the next day and that files were where they needed to be.

She was putting a file back in one of the cabinets behind her desk when her boss, Howard, poked his head around the corner.

“Amanda,” he said and she turned to look at him. “Could you come to my office before you leave?”

“Yeah,” she answered. “No problem.”

This was her reminder that it was the last week of the month. She felt a nervous dread pooling in the pit of her stomach because she knew she was going to find out who she was getting removed from her memory.

---

When Amanda opened the door to her apartment to let Ryan in, he wasn’t surprised to see that she had been crying. She was dressed and ready to go despite the pain hiding behind her eyes, and just like every other time Ryan couldn’t shake the guilt that quickly overcame him.

“Did you know?” she asked as they stood in her open doorway. Ryan nodded and her tone suddenly became angry. “And you still asked me out at the beginning of the month? Even though you knew I’d have to forget you?”

“You asked me to,” he said, eyes focused on his feet for a moment before looking up to meet her gaze. “You asked me to ask you out at the end of last month.”

“Have we dated before?”

“Yes.”

“For how long?”

“Almost a year,” he said.

“How can you stand it?” she asked, and he could see tears filling her eyes again. Ryan just shrugged, reaching up to brush stray hairs behind her ear.

“You’re worth it.”