A Recollection of Ideas: A Series of One Shots

The day that the phone rang, my life changed.

Well, it changed for the better…I hope.

When you’re forced to remember, the memories resurface like a body pushed underneath the water. Maybe you wanted to hide the body, never see it again, maybe not…either way, it’s floating to the surface and you need to remember it.

Two weeks ago….

I sat there, sitting in the silence of it all. I was scanning through blueprints, looking at the designs of new buildings that clients wanted me to assess. I’m an architect, and I’m proud to say that I’m fairly well known throughout my city. I work as a waitress during the evening hours just to keep me busy, but being an architect is my main job. It might sound boring, but it works for me.

“Mittens, you pesky rebel.” I chuckled quietly. The cat meowed quietly. I was taking care of her for today while Alan was out. Sure, sure, I had my own house and I lived alone, but Alan lived across the street. It had always been this way.

In third grade a flame of ginger hair attached to a small body had moved across my street. He was outgoing and had an affinity border line obsession over cats of all sorts.

In fifth grade, we were in all the same classes. By then, we had become best friends. I had no clue why we were so attracted to each other; maybe we bonded over pranking the bully that had duct taped my notebook shut. I think that was the reason.

We had sleepovers every night, or what had seemed like most nights, by the time we were in eighth grade. None of our friends ever really knew about it because I guess it was just ‘socially unacceptable’ for guys and girls to sleepover at one another’s houses, much less mingle together in public!

In tenth grade, Austin Carlile moved into the neighborhood. Our friendship hit a rough patch because suddenly everyone thought the ginger was gay for the tall boy on the street. Trust me, he’s not gay. Austin made me pissed off for a solid month after Alan started hanging out with him. Let’s just say that this was all resolved after I…not so gently…reminded Alan who had stayed home from school with him when he was sick, helped him limp home after he broke his ankle skateboarding, and been with him since childhood.

But…Austin and I became friends soon after. He bought me ice cream one day. Trust me, I’m won over very easily with food. We were all chill.

I smiled at the happy memories as Mittens curled up on my lap. Alan had left to go to the studio to help record some tracks with his band, Of Mice and Men. He left me in charge of Mittens when he was away and I was pleased to say that the cat enjoyed my presence as much as I enjoyed hers.

The phone rang unexpectedly. Mittens grumbled loudly as I moved her off my lap to answer it. “Hello?” I asked hesitantly. It was a number I didn’t recognize. Who could it be?

“Hello, is this Ms. Luna?” A female’s voice asked confidently. I nodded before realizing that she couldn’t see me. Alan would tease me about this bad little habit of mine if he had the chance.

I responded after a minute. “Yes, it is. Who is this?” I asked quietly.

“My name is Lynn, from the hospital. Alan had you as his emergency contact in his medical records.” I paled as she spoke. Hospital…emergency contact…oh no, what has this boy gotten himself into?

Regaining my composure, I cleared my throat. “The hospital?”

“Yes, Alan was in a car accident. He’s currently in a coma in the emergency room. A Mr. Austin Carlile told me to call you to have you come down here and fill out some paperwork.”

“NO! ALAN!” I basically screamed, dropping the phone as my knees went week. Mittens bolted out of the room at my outburst. No, no, this can’t be happening. Not a coma…anything but that…he has to wake up! He has to wake up!

“I’m very sorry miss!” And I bolted out of the room, barely managing to snag my keys through my mess of tears.

No, please wake up!

A day later….

I couldn’t believe this had happened. They wouldn’t even let me in to see him yesterday. I couldn’t fill out the paper work. My tears smudged the ink and my hand shook too much. Austin just held me tightly to his chest as I cried into his shirt. Tino, Phil, and Aaron were watching, hiding their faces as they too began to sob for their friend and guitarist in a coma.

I waited as the elevator slowly inched up to the third floor, a bundle of flowers in a vase trembling in my hands. The bell dinged and I stepped out. Searching a moment for his room, I knocked before realizing…he wouldn’t respond.

Stepping inside, it was empty, but lit up with beautiful California sunrays. The curtains had been drawn to shed light on the boy with the inferno of red hair that fell around his bruised and battered face.

He had a few brown bruises along his prominent jaw. A cast was around his arm. He almost looked…okay, like everything was alright. He could’ve been released today or tomorrow if it wasn’t for the fact that he couldn’t wake up.

Tears flooded my eyes. My best friend, laying so still. The heart monitor beeped faintly, almost forlornly. I pulled a chair up to Alan’s side, setting the flowers down on the table next to the bed. I touched his hand gently, feeling the dull warmth radiate from it.

I couldn’t even speak. I just sat there, gently holding his hand. He wasn’t awake. When would he wake up?
Four days later….

It was less than a week since the accident; five days, in fact.

But then, I got another phone call.

They said he woke up.

I was in his room in record time, a nurse standing by his side. I was out of breath from running to his side. His eyes snapped to me, wide with alertness and…fear? The nurse was taking read of his pulse and temperature and what not.

“Oh, you must be Luna. Alan woke up here, but he seems to have amnesia. We don’t know how bad it is, but we’ll be keeping him here for a little while until he remembers or is well enough to get back out into the world.” The nurse nodded and I sighed.

“Oh that’s good that he’s-NOT FINE!? AMNESIA!?” I screeched as the nurse held up her hands.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Luna, but I’m afraid that he doesn’t remember what happened or who anyone is. We tried to ask him of any family members or friends, but he doesn’t remember anything, not where he lives, not if he has pets, his age, or even his name.” And with that, the nurse was gone.

I felt as if someone had punched my stomach. No…not this. He was awake, but he didn’t remember anything.

He didn’t remember me.

“Alan?” I whispered. The boy just looked at me with golden eyes like angel’s fire. I approached a chair, sitting down in the corner. I forced the tears not to spill.

“I guess I’m Alan.” He finally spoke, so hesitantly it hurt. I bit my lip, ducking my head from letting him see me cry.

“Yes, you are Alan Anthony Ashby. You’re my best friend.” I choked out, the tears finally falling.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know you. How can I trust you?” he asked warily. I sobbed into my hands, feeling so hopeless. “How do I know you?”

“We’ve been best friends for years, ever since we were eight or nine. Don’t you remember!?” I cried out. His heart rate monitor skipped a beat, speeding up out of fear.

“No! I don’t know you!” He cried out, strangling the words. I stood up, not able to take any more of this.

“My name is Luna. I live across the street from you. I wish you would remember. Mittens misses you.” I whispered, starting to head towards the exit, my footsteps weighing down on the world. I started to open the door when his soft words stop me.

“Pretty girls shouldn’t cry.” I gasped. That was something that normal Alan would say. That was always his phrase when I was crying about something. He would hold me and kiss the top of my head and make me feel better by saying those words. My eyes lit up as I whirled around.

I think I have a plan. Two days later….

I was back in Alan’s hospital room, but this time, I had guests. Jaime and Vic came waltzing in, hand in hand. I pulled up seats for them next to Alan’s bed. His eyes went wide in confusion once again.

Here was the first part of my plan, right about to be put into action.

“Alan, do you remember Vic and Jaime?” I asked carefully.

“No, I-I don’t think so.”

“Well, you want to remember, right?” I asked. He nodded, his look more determined.

“Yes.”

“Good, well then, I’m about to tell you a story….” I began. Vic and Jaime laughed. Jaime nosed into Vic’s shoulder, smiling at the singer.

“Oh no, not the high school roof story.” Vic grumbled. Jaime kissed his shoulder and squeezed his hand.

“Oh, hush up!” The bassist quelled

“It started how all good stories start: after band practice….” I began. Alan patiently listened. That was my cue to start.

I was walking out of a great band rehearsal. You came up to me, bumping my shoulder like usual and walking me to my locker. It had to be eight at night, a late practice. After getting my books, you started to tease me for being such a nerd, but I shut you up quickly enough. There was a stampede of footsteps upstairs. Probably the football jocks practicing again, or running laps inside since it was fairly cold outside.

“Come on, let’s go back to your house to make cookies!” You had complained. I punched your shoulder and wanted to explore more. There was a cackle of laughter, a door slammed shut, and the footsteps over my head on the second floor disappeared. You kept on complaining but I was insistent and headed upstairs.

The jocks had just disappeared around a corner. I figured out that they must’ve come from the janitor’s closet. How they got in there, I don’t know. I dragged you behind me, and it was just us two, sneaking through the halls like a black ops mission.

Well, the door was locked and we couldn’t get it open. There seemed to be more noise from above us and we couldn’t figure out what was up there. Me, being the animal humanist and whatever, decided that the jocks had probably thrown an injured bird up on the roof or something. I couldn’t figure it out, but I wanted to explore more.

That was when Jaime burst around the corner. Jaime ran towards us, pushing to the door. For some reason, he was out of breath and seemed a little beat up.

“What happened?” I had asked him. He jiggled the door knob before you grabbed his arm.

“They have some kid! He’s pretty short, Mexican, and kind of quiet, but the jocks were pushing him around before dragging him upstairs! I chased them up here, but some of them stayed behind and tried to push me away. I left them and snuck around here. I think they threw him up in the closet!” Jaime explained quickly. Uh oh, this was trouble.

I took out a bobby pin and a paper clip, trying to jiggle the lock open. The doors were notorious for being easy to lockpick, so it wasn’t too bad to be a smooth criminal. We all ran into the large closet, searching high and low for the kid. The noises came from up the ladder, a trapdoor above our heads locked shut with bent crow bar.

Jaime took action first and basically did a total vertical to rip the crowbar away. We all scurried up the ladder to the roof. The night was dark, but not dark enough for us to not see.

A small figure was tied up…and pantless. I looked away, blushing under the darkness.

“Kid! Are you okay?” Jaime asked. Alan and I recovered from our shock and ran to the kid’s side. I peered around the edge of the roof and saw his clothes hanging from tree branches. The kid seemed to be in near tears.

“F-fine.” The kid stuttered out.

“You guys need a ride home?” Alan offered. Jaime shook his head, holding the sniffling kid close to his side.

“It’s okay, I can drive.” Jaime dismissed his, soothing the fractured kid. Somehow, he got his name out of him. It was Vic Fuentes and he was often picked on but this time it had escalated. We left them there on the roof, with Jaime holding onto Vic like a wounded animal, and us attempting to retrieve Vic’s clothes from the tree below.

“That really happened?” Alan asked for a moment. Vic blushed, looking away.

“Yeah. It was terrible.” Vic grumbled. I looked hopefully to my friend, looking for a sign that he remembered. Nothing.

“I’m so sorry about that.” Alan eventually finished. I sighed in defeat.

I still had another few steps to the plan.
Three days later….

I was back once again in Alan’s room, but Vic and Jaime weren’t here with me. Instead, Alex and Jack of All Time Low had helped me out today. Alan had a very interesting story to hear…

Jack was still running a little late and Alex said that he was in the elevator. I was talking quietly to Alan, well we were sitting there in mostly silence, really. I was just describing the band he was in. That’s when he looked at me with bright eyes.

“Luna?”

“Yes, Alan?”

“You forgot something from the story last time: You and I got back at the football jocks by painting all their footballs neon pink.” My mouth fell open in shock.

I had forgotten that part of the story!

He remembered!

He remembered!

“D-do you remember anything else?” I asked him nervously. He shook his head.

“Everything is fuzzy and black. I know that I knew you, but I don’t remember everything we went through. Within the next second, Alex and Jack knocked on the door. I let them in, still grinning wildly. They sat down next to me, introduced themselves, and began their story.

“Jack, do you want to tell it?” Alex asked.

“No, no, Luna needs to tell this one again. She had the best point of view.” Jack laughed.

“Okay, okay! It started when you and I decided that we should go to the beach…”

We were all at Warped Tour a couple of years ago. It was Of Mice and Men’s set when you jumped into the crowd, leaving your guitar far behind on the stage. I was sitting on an amp box side stage and Tino was making weird faces at me from behind his drum set. The crowd was going wild.

Alex and Jack came up beside me. We were all really good friends and tour mates. They were going to be playing their set on the main stage in about an hour. We were making gestures as talking over the loud music. Austin waved when he saw them. I laughed as you stuck your tongue out at me. It made me want to jump off the stage and chase after you on a sea of arms and smiling faces.

Well, I looked back to my side and saw that Alex and Jack weren’t there anymore…they were on stage….and then, they were gone.

It had happened in the blink of an eye. I went down to the pit to see where they had gone. Well, the crowd suddenly started screaming and pointing. Austin finished up the song pretty quickly and the band was staring at where you used to be. You started crawled back on stage, standing in shock.

Your guitar was gone, but it had been replaced with a giant stuffed unicorn with a sign that said “JALEX WAZ HERE, MOFOS.” You could only stare at in shock until the crowd started screaming again and started yelling towards the back.

There stood two very proud thieves with a guitar in their hands. The crowd had been their escape and they crowd surfed to the safety of the back, but the hands wouldn’t let them go. You took a beautiful swan dive and chased them around the crowd until they finally released the guitar, or maybe a fan had pulled it free and had safely delivered it to you.

But don’t worry, there is a happy ending to the story: you got them back later, at their set, where you replaced their banner with one of a cat.

Overall, it had been a wild show.

“I-I….I think I do remember that.” Alan spoke slowly. Jack and Alex high fived before grinning.

“Do you remember the cat banner? That was funny.” Jack giggled. Alan scowled before chuckled lightly.

“No, I just remember you two being assholes.”

Three days later….

It was the very last step of the plan. Kellin and Jack were here to share the very last story. Every day that I had visited Alan, he seemed to be doing better, and his memory regaining.

And this time around, I had something special in my purse.

“Where to start, where to start?” Kellin sighed wistfully. Jack Fowler shrugged.

“Start at the coffee shop, when Alan was all hyper…”

“Oh that part…I remember it so clearly…” I chuckled.

I asked you how your coffee was and you responded with the usual: good but needs more caffeine. There is a reason that we don’t give you tons of sugar or liquid energy anymore, and we were about to discover the reason why.

Kellin, Jack, you and I were walking out of the small coffee shop in Utah when out of nowhere, a small cat appeared turning the corner of the street and disappearing behind a building. The three of us passed a scared look as your eyes widened and we could see the energy start to race through your veins.

“C-C-C-C-CAT!” you stuttered before sprinting off like a bat out of hell. You raced past a parked car, nearly taking a flying leap over a fire hydrant, and turned the corner.

“Oh dear lord…” I silently swore.

“What the hell just happened!?” Kellin called as we started jogging after you.

“He loves cats! He saw a cat and he had to chase it!” I yelled as I struggled to turn the corner as sharply as you did. It was like you had just vanished.

“Let’s never give that ginger coffee ever again. When he took off, he had the speed of a cheetah on drugs.” Jack grumbled. I took the lead of the three as we skidded around the corner. The little kitten was backed up against the corner. You were kneeling in front of it, coaxing the scared creature from it’s hiding spot behind the trash can.

“Alan, leave the cat alone!” I grumbled at you. If it wasn’t for me keeping you in check, you would’ve kept every cat that came across your path.

“It’s hurt! I’m not leaving her!” Alan defended fiercely. I shook my head as Justin and Kellin took the turn and started panting heavily.

After a few minutes of coaxing, you eventually left. I guess the small feline had crawled under the trashcan and you just left her there, finally! Well, we all left and went back to our bus for the tour.

A few days had passed. I hadn’t seen you as often as usual. You either never left your bunk because of sleepiness, sickness, or unless forced to for a concert. But you never left without your black jacket that you loved so dearly, that…that I remember.

I thought that the jacket was just your ‘lucky jacket’ or some crap like that. Little did I know it was for much more…

After the show in New York, I was walking back from the venue when one of the techs started laughing and mentioning your name with another sound tech. I wandered over there to see what the fuss was about.

“Hey Luna, you have to see this!” The sound tech passed his phone over.
“Seriously, how did he pull that off for the past five days!? We had to go through at least four different states!” The bass tech laughed to the sound guy. I started to read the post. It was on Twitter, photo credit to Adam Elmakias, of course…

There it was, a picture of Alan holding a little cat in his arms with one hand raised to the sky with the metal symbol. The cat looked perfectly comfortable settled in the crook of his arm. Its front leg was bandaged. His guitar hung lazily off the man’s neck.

I can remember the caption to this day: Lion king went metal tonight. Alan apparently found Mittens five days ago and has brought him on stage in his jacket for every show since then.

I ran back to bus, stormed to your bunk and ripped over the curtain. Sure enough, you were settled in the corner, the cat sleepily curled up on your chest as you stroked its black and white fur.

“Dammit, Alan, WHY!?” I had cried loudly. Tino put a hand on my shoulder.

“It slept on my drums once.” He laughed as he walked away. I continued to scowl at you.

“Because she was hurt! Kellin and Jack helped me take care of it when you were away. They like her!” You had argued.

This had been our first and only fight. We argued for a solid ten minutes before you made me hold her. Yeah, yeah, I fell in love with her and begrudgingly let you keep the kitten.

“Mittens?” Alan asked after I finished. A fogged his eyes as he remembered. I reached into my purse and…sure enough…pulled out the cat who hissed at me and purred when she saw Alan.

The ginger’s eyes lit up in sudden remembrance.

“I remember her! I remember Mittens! I remember that!” He cried out softly so as not to alert the nurse of the stowaway. I set the cat on his chest and she rubbed up against his cheek, purring loudly in affection of her owner. He shook with joy.

“I remember…I remember her…”

I always knew that the damn cat would be good for something eventually.
The last day…

My plan was finished. There was nothing more to do. I just had to hope he remembered something, anything, about me, about our history. Thanks to Vic, Jaime, Jack, Alex, Jack, and Kellin, he had started to remember bits and pieces to the stories, but I needed to him to remember more.

It was another long elevator ride before I finally got to his door. Shaking all the way, I knocked. They were going to discharge him today since I was his emergency contact.

I walked into the room, a nurse helping him into the wheelchair. He waved weakly as his eyelids drooped in sleepiness. I helped push the wheelchair as we went back down the elevator and into the parking lot.

The drive home was quiet. Alan fell asleep along the way and when I pulled into his driveway, I went to his passenger side door and helped unbuckle him before he grabbed my arm. I helped drag him into his house.

“Luna, that’s your name right?” he asked again. I bit back the disappointment as I nodded.

“Thank you.” He whispered as he closed the door behind him. I would have to let him rest.

For the rest of the afternoon, I sat in front of my desk, reviewing and studying more blueprint. He couldn’t even remember my name this morning. I felt like we took a step back. Would he ever remember? The doctor didn’t give me a lot of details. I would just have to wait and see. I might have to wait an eternity, but I would patiently be sitting here for him to remember.

The doorbell awoke me from my thoughts. I expected Mittens to jump from my lap, but I remembered that she was once again with Alan. At least he remembered her…

The doorbell rang again…and again…and again…and twelve more times in rapid succession. I grumbled at the anxious guest and went to open the door. I rubbed my sad eyes awake as I stared at the figure who held a bouquet of white roses in his hands. His ginger hair was actually kind of neat, and he wore his usual black tank top and skinny jeans.

“Hello, Alan. This is a surprise.” I started off nervously. He tapped his foot nervously as I let him into my house. His golden eyes flickered all over the place, like he was stressed, or like a wild animal trapped in the corner. I think he was just nervous.

“Your name is Luna. And you visited me in the hospital for the past two weeks after I was in hit crossing the street and was in a coma for a few days and lost my memory since then,” He started off, growing more and more confident in each word. I fell silent, eyes widening. I thought he didn’t remember this stuff! And then he continued to say, “but you were visiting me every day and you even snuck Mittens in to the hospital yesterday and Kellin and Jack and Jack and Alex and Vic and Jaime were there as well.”

“Alan, are you okay?” I asked softly. He ignored me and continued.

“And your name is Luna and you have pretty hair and eyes that sparkle whenever you get really happen. We’ve been friends since I was nine years old and we met when I tried to throw away my dead lizard but you made me bury it because lizards deserved proper burials. We became friends when Robby James duct taped your drawing notebook shut and we pranked him back because I thought that your drawings were really pretty and don’t deserved to be shut away like that.”

“Alan…” I stared cautiously. He held up his hand for me to let him finish.

“And when Austin came into the street, I thought he was pretty cool and he said that he came from Florida and that his mom died and I felt bad for him so I tried to be friends with him but then you got jealous and then one day when we were going to hang out, you kidnapped me and tied me to the back of your closet and when Austin came over to ask if you had seen me, you told him, and I quote, ‘He is gone for today. Alan and I have been best friends for seven years and I should know where he is. And by the way, I do not ship Cashby one bit.’ And then you closed the door in his face and then you went and yelled at me that we have been best friends for seven years and that you still don’t ship Cashby and that you know I’m not gay and that you’ve been there for me since we were little and that you hated being tossed to the side like an old toy. And then I said I was sorry and told Austin that he should get you ice cream so that you two would be friends. So he did and now we’re all really good friends and see? Austin is a good guy. And guess what? Remember when your boyfriend broke up with you and you were very sad Junior year of high school but someone kept on leaving little notes to make you happy in your notebook? Yeah, that was me, because pretty girls shouldn’t cry.” Alan finalized breathlessly. I covered my mouth with my heads, tears pricking the sides of my eyes.

He remembered. He remembered everything.

“But that’s not all. I remember it all. I remember when we got Mittens and hanging out with Jack and Alex and Zack and Rian. I remember when you got your job and I was so happy for you and got you more of your favorite ice cream. And I remember that your favorite flower is roses, white, to be exact. You used to have a rose garden and it was the most beautiful thing in the world and when you were sick from school, I brought you more flowers for you to have so you could have some of your garden in your room. And I would read poems to you because you loved poetry and you also wrote some of the most beautiful poems ever. And you are the most wonderful girl, Luna. You are always smiling, you’re my best friend, and you’ve helped me out so much, and ever since I met you I fell in love with you. I love everything about you and your confidence and your beauty and your positive outlook on life.” He finished with his eyes wide, like he just realized that he just spilled his heart out to me. I was still frozen with shock.

Instead of saying anything, he just held out the roses to me, his head down. I took my favorite type of flowers in my hands, staring at them. I moved out of the hall, quickly setting them down in a vase. He was still there, tapping his foot nervously.

“Alan…Alan…” And that was all I could choke out.

“Do you…um…do you…like me…like me back?” He stuttered out quietly, suddenly shy under the spotlight. I smiled like a fool, reaching up to press my lips against his. He seemed shocked enough to freeze up. I pulled away and a whine escaped his lips. His golden eyes brightened as he covered his mouth in embarrassment.

“Alan, you’re such a fourth grader. Of course I love you back, dummy!” I giggled with unbridled joy. At the last word, he wrapped his arms around my waist, leaning down and immediately enveloping my lips in his, pressing against me with passion and joy. I pulled away, cupping his face with hands. He was so warm against my hands. His smile seemed to stretch for miles on end.

It was Alan, my Alan. He was back. He was back. He was back.

“Oh Luna, I missed you so much.” He whispered. I buried my face against his chest.

“I missed you too.” I whispered. He leaned down, kissing the tip of my ear. I hugged him tighter.

“Movie night tonight?” He suggested. I nodded. We took no time getting ready and snuggled under a blanket. His arm snaked around my waist as I wrapped my arm around his chest, head buried against his shoulder as Big Hero 6 played on. I laughed and giggled with him. Occasionally, he would bend down, kissing me playfully and making my nose wrinkle up at the sensitive touch. Once the movie finished, he tucked the blanket around us, shutting off the TV.

“Alan?” I eventually asked with a light yawn. He reached up, smiling as he stroked my nose playfully.

“Do you wanna have a sleepover?” I asked. I leaned up and kissed the corner of his smile just to be sure.

“Just like old times.” He agreed.

Notes

This one shot is for the very lovely and very patient sadieluna! Sorry it took so long for it to be up, I didn't have a lot of time! However, I hope you enjoy this one shot!

Don't forget to keep on requesting one shots! I'll hopefully have more time to do more soon!