I love you. Forever.

Chapter 31: Memories

Ben’s POV

I had fallen asleep in the chair sitting next to Becs with my head resting on her bed. I have no idea how long I’ve been out. I woke up feeling her run her fingers through my disheveled hair. There was a slight tremble in her fingers as she did. I slowly brought my head up and gave her a gentle smile. “I’m sorry.” She pulled away timidly. “Hey, its okay baby doll. You can touch me. I know it’s a lot right now but you can be comfortable around me.” I say softly. “I…I want you close.” Becs whispered not understanding why she feel’s this way. I can see in her eyes she wants to remember. She then traces the features of my face with her finger tips as I melt into her delicate touch. “You’re familiar to me.” She said hesitantly. “Do you want me to lay beside you?” I asked softly praying to God she wants me to. I need her in my arms. “Yes.” She responded in a whisper. That one important little word made my heart sing. I gave her my best smile. “Let’s raise this bed so we can sit up.” She nodded at my suggestion watching my every move. She told me when it was comfortable and slid over giving me room. I slowly eased in next to her. “Can I hold you?” I asked hoping I didn’t overstep but I need contact with her. She nodded her head slowly while looking up at me. I can see her mind race through her hazel eyes. I wrapped my around her shoulder and her body automatically leaned into me as though she was made to be by my side. She relaxed after a few moments but remained quiet. My body was on fire being close to her again. “Who are you?” She asked looking down at her hands. I won’t lie and say that didn’t hurt a bit. “I’m Ben. Your boyfriend.” I said as softly as I could. “Ben.” She whispered under her breath. “Rebecca, I don’t want to overwhelm you but would you like to see some pictures of us?” I ask while pulling out my phone. “I can tell you how we met?” Please say yes. Please remember us. “Okay.” She said with a small smile looking up to me. It took everything I had to not shed any tears seeing her bruised and swollen face. She is healing but the marks of her attack are still evident. I smiled at her warmly and opened the gallery of pictures on my phone starting with our very first picture. “Before I show you any pictures, I will start with how we met.” She nodded with interest. I gently squeezed her shoulder and allowed my fingers to draw small circles on her upper arm. “It was the first day of school. I was the new kid. The very first friend I met was a guy named Matt. Matt is actually your best friend. You will see him later if you’re up to it.” She nodded her head following along. “Well Matt and I drove to school together on the first day. As we got out and walked towards the school I noticed the most beautiful red curly hair I have ever seen.” I sat my phone for a moment to gently tug on a curl.” She smiled brightly at that as my inner self begged for her memory of me. Of us. “I didn’t even see your face yet, but I knew I had to meet you. I asked Matt to introduce us. You turned around as we walked up and you took my breath away Rebecca. You are the most gorgeous girl in the whole wide world.” I see her right cheek blush lightly. Oh how I missed that. These last few days have felt like eternity. “I could tell you liked what you saw too. Your beautiful hazel eyes danced and widened when you looked my way.” I teased lightly making her giggle a bit. “Then you threatened to kick my ass when I sat beside you in our first class. You are very protective over Matt.” She laughed as she eyed me up and down. Her laugh was music to my eyes. “Oh believe me Becs…Rebecca, you are a force to be reckoned with. We ended up spending most of our classes together and flirted nonstop. You agreed to go on a date with me. And we kissed for the first time before it even started." Her cheek became even more rosier after that. “It was perfect.” I whispered close to her ear. Oh how I wanted to nip her ear lobe. I showed her our milkshake picture. She touched the screen for a moment. “You are very handsome.” She said thoughtfully before looking at herself in the picture. “But I don’t look like that anymore.” She said with tears in her eyes. She must have saw herself in the mirror earlier. “Oh baby, its okay…doc says the swelling and bruising will go away. Its only temporary. You will heal in time. Rebecca, you are always beautiful.” She gave me a faint smile before resting her head on my shoulder. I continued on. “We both love chocolate milkshakes and we always share. Maybe I can sneak you in one tomorrow.” I whisper just as the doctor and nurse walk in. My parents followed but stayed by the door not wanting to overwhelm Becs. She giggled because they heard that. The doctor smiled. “I may just have to look the other way if a milkshake will bring back that pretty smile of yours Miss Sampson.” She nodded happily. The doctor winked at us giving his permission. "Do I need to move?” I asked hoping I wouldn’t have too. “No, no. Keep telling your story. You’re doing good, but can I see your picture?” Dr. Carter exclaimed. "Of course.” I said showing him my phone. “Aw that’s lovely.” Dr. Carter said kindly. “Will I look like that again?” Becs asked. I swiped over to the next picture for him to see her full face. He smiled at our selfie we took together at the party. “Oh yes, my dear. You may have minimal scarring if any at all. If you do, most won’t notice. Please continue on, we are just going to check your vitals and change your dressing.” Dr. Carter explained. “After we ate, you took me to the park to show me the best view in town. You climbed on top of the monkey bars with ease and patted the spot next to you. So for you baby doll, I heaved my big and bulky self up on top next to you. And no, I wasn’t as graceful as you were.” Everyone chuckled at that. “We talked watching the sunset. I found out that you loved beaches, the color blue, cheeseburgers and chocolate milkshakes.” I chuckled causing her to smile. “And that if were to become any animal, you would be a wild mustang because they are wild and free. We both also found out that we were each other’s first kiss.” I winked down at her making her blush. I noticed she relaxed even more into me when hearing the things she likes. “What did I learn about you?” She asked. “That I love snowboarding, red is my favorite color…” I lightly tug on a curl again playfully…”I’m a meat and potatoes kind of guy and that I want to be a badass lion if I were a animal.” Her smile grew as she took in all the details. She rested her delicate hand on my leg but quickly pulled away when she realized what she did. “Its okay my love, I don’t mind.” I whispered. She looked up searching my eyes hearing that. I smiled at her and she slightly nodded. She slowly placed her hand back on my leg and rested it there. God how I needed her touch. “Then I jumped down off the bars and helped you down but I made sure to guide you right into my chest.” I winked at her again. “And we had a hot make out session.” She gasped turning red as the doctor and nurse chuckled. “Oh to be young again.” The doctor laughed enjoying our love story. “And yes baby doll, I make you blush a lot.” She shook her head giggling. “Why do you call me that? You said it when I woke up.” She asked still giggling beautifully. “My little cousin had a baby doll that had red hair with crazy curls just like yours. That and you fit perfectly in my arms; just like a baby doll.” I brought my hand over and caressed her unbruised cheek with my knuckles as I gently held her closer to me. “I like that.” She said smiling up at me. “A few days later we both said that we love each other even though we just met because it was love at first sight.” Her eyes became watery. “I want to remember. I’m sorry.” She said sadly. “Its okay, baby doll. I will help you remember.” I cooed in her ear. “You will remember in time.” Dr. Carte encouraged. I was grateful for that. I pulled out her promise ring and necklace I kept in my pocket. “I gave you this promise ring at the beach soon after. They had to take it off of you so your pretty little fingers can heal.” She took the ring out of my hand and examined it. “Benny and Becs. Forever.” She whispered while reading the engraving. I watched Becs close her eyes trying to find any memory she could grasp from her mind. “Baby, let’s put your ring on the necklace until your hand is healed.” She nodded handing me the ring. “I love it. Can I see the necklace?” I see her eyes admire the locket. “Sure, maybe you can wear it?” I asked looking over to the doctor. He nodded with a smile as he lingered wanting to hear more of our story. I opened the locket for her and she smiled seeing the 2nd picture. “I’ll tell you about that one in a few minutes.” She gave me the necklace back so I could put it on her. “But before that, you decided to play in traffic scaring me to death. You jumped in front of a moving car to save a little boy’s life. Thank God you both were fine. You are brave and compassionate baby doll. You always think of others before yourself. You’re the most selfless person I know. That was also the weekend I chased you around the house and throwing you over my shoulder and jumping into the pool. You were not too pleased. I believe you called me a jackass and said that payback is a b***h. With that, my dad loved you.” We all laughed. “Here’s the next picture.” We were hugging each other for a selfie at the party. “We danced and stole lots of kisses. And you sang for me. I took this picture to capture the moment forever. But before that, you hustled me at a game of pool. Then you picked pocketed me as I played beer pong.” I chuckled looking back at the night. “I shouldn’t be hearing this.” The doctor laughed since we were underaged drinking. “Don’t worry. Its not a habit.” I laughed again. He just shook his head. “You took care of my drunk ass as I teased you nonstop. But you were a trooper the whole time. Then we spent most of the day together cuddling on the couch and watching movies. Oh here’s a short clip of you playing volleyball. Your nickname is grizzly on the court because you’re an intense and aggressive player. You earned multiple trophies and championships. You are also one of the best players in the state. You are also a talented ballerina. I will show you a video when we get to it.” I smile down at her and she smiles back. Her eyes are much brighter than before. She’s more relaxed and less confused as she takes in what I’m telling her. “Want me to keep going? I don’t want to overload you with everything.” I said still meeting her gaze. “No, please keep going.” She said eagerly. Dr. Carte nodded to encourage me. He’s studying her reactions to our story. “This picture is of us playing a carnival game. My mom took it. I kicked your cute little behind at the water gun game and you stole my prize.” I pouted comically. She giggled at that. “It was the ugliest purple and brown teddy bear they had but you loved it.” She smiled. “Can you bring it?” She asked. “Sure babe. Here is a picture of us after one of my football games. You had snuck up behind me and jumped on my back. I knew it was you though because no one dares to do that to me.” I winked at her. “Dad took it at the perfect moment.” She smiled fondly at it. “We are laughing.” I see her eye dancing while looking at every detail of this picture. I then showed her a series of random pictures we took with my family and her mom when we all went out and walked the town. I tried to steer away from talking about her parents. I only want to tell her good memories right now. I think she needs to hear other memories from her mom. But the picture that stood out to Becs the most was a candid shot one of our parents captured when we weren’t paying attention. She was facing me with our arms wrapped around each other. I was kissing her forehead. Her eyes were closed but she had a huge smile on her face. Breathtaking really. “I love this picture.” She whispered like she was telling me a precious secret. “Me too.” I whispered back. I searched her eyes for a moment before I took my chances and kissed her forehead softly. She looked up at me and smiled as a single tear escaped her eye. “I want to remember.” Her voice was small and almost weak. “You will baby doll.” I said holding onto to faith that she will be restored. She looked back at the phone in my hand and swiped to the next picture. It was a video of her dancing with the little girls at the recital. “Your little dancers adore you. You are so talented Becs. Her smile grew bigger and bigger as she watched. “That’s familiar to me.” She beamed. “Dancing is a huge part of what makes up my Rebecca Everly Sampson.” Her smile widened even more hearing that. “Will you dance with me?” She asked sheepishly. “When you are recovered, I’ll dance with you anytime you want Becs.” I snuck another kiss on her forehead as she smiled. Thank God she is open to all of this. “This picture was taken during Halloween. You were the hottest Roaring 20s flapper ever. And you made me dress up for the first time in years as a old school gangster. Pinstripe suit and everything. Though I look damn good in a fedora.” I cheesed making her laugh. “Eh, you’re alright.” She clapped back taking all of us by surprise. My girl is definitely in there somewhere. “Hey now missy.” I pretend pouted as she gave me her classic shitty grin. I chuckled. “See baby doll, you are already getting better.” I playfully tickled her shoulder. She swiped to the next picture. We were both soaked in our costumes. “It started raining on us as we walked around town. We chased each other in the rain and made the best of it.” I smiled back at that memory. “You got so cold. We ran home and put on dry comfy clothes and I held you close to warm you up.” I can’t wait to hold her like that again. f**k, she needs to heal quickly. “These are more recent. I surprised you when we flew to LA for a fundraiser ball my dad’s company hosted. We took the company helicopter and I flew. You were so surprised and loved the experience. There’s dad and me up front and you and mom in the back. Here we are at the ball. You looked absolutely stunning wearing that dress. It was completely backless and I had to chase guys away from you all night long.” All of laughed at that. “You drove me wild in that dress.” I whispered in her ear just so she could hear. She blushed once again and gently elbowed my side. “This is the surprise dance you and my dad did. You two were amazing that night.” She lit up watching the dance. “No wonder you had to chase guys away. You have it all Rebecca.” The doctor smiled at her. “We will get you back to that.” He stated with confidence. She thanked him as Jordan popped his head in. “Hey there.” He smiled. “Thank you for getting him.” Becs said referring to me. “No problem Rebecca. Glad to see you smiling. How’s it going?” Jordan asked. “Going well. We were talking about LA.” I answered. “Oh really? Did he tell you about the time you brought him to his knees?” He asked with a devilish grin. What an ass. “No Jay. I did not.” I glared at him. She looked from him to me confused. “You two were sparring and you kicked him in the crotch. It was the greatest moment of my life.” Jordan bellowed. Becs gasped and covered her mouth as I cringed. I still hurt from that. “Oh no, I’m sorry.” She said embarrassed. “Thanks a lot Jay. f*****g asshole.” I chuckled. “Its okay Becs. I’m recovering just fine.” I assured her. We noticed her eyes getting droopy. “Lets take a break now and rest for a bit.” Dr. Carte suggested seeing her tired. “Can he stay?” She asked the doctor. “Of course, Rebecca. We will check back in later.” He said leaving us alone as Jordan followed him. Mom and dad left as well. They never made their presence known to keep from overwhelming Becs. I saw my dad nod in my direction and I gave a slight nod back. They would sit out with Jordan. “Want me to lower the bed?” I asked about to get up. “No, but can you stay just like this?” She asked as she rested her hand on my thigh again to keep me from moving. “Of course baby doll, I’m not going anywhere unless you want me too.” I placed my hand over her dainty one. She smiled up at me again. “Umm, have we been…you know…together?” She asked timidly. I smile warmly at her. “Yes, many times. We are each others firsts and I am praying lasts.” I said softly. “I want to remember. I really do.” She frowns. “Oh baby, you will. I will be with you every step of the way. I will share many more memories with you as we go along. I love you, Rebecca. We will get through this together.” I’ve held in that “I love you” for as long as I could. I needed her to know even if she can’t say it back right now. “I…I” She stuttered before I stopped her. “Its okay my love. You don’t have to say anything.” I said intertwining our fingers. “No, I mean..I feel in my heart that I love you. Even in my dream I knew. I just can’t remember.” My smile grew at that. That was all I needed. “Again baby, its okay. But hearing you say that makes my heart very happy.” I kissed her rosy cheek. “I feel butterflies in my stomach when you do that.” She said softly. “Me too baby doll.” I cooed. She took her necklace and ring in her hand and looked closely at each. “Benny and Becs. Forever.” She whispered to herself. She smiled at that before laying her head on my shoulder. I heard  her whisper my name once more as she drifted to sleep.