Lilac Love

Chapter One

I knew you once, but now I remember

I rolled over in the bed and looked at his delicate face as he slept. There was a faint smile on him, either really comfy or having a nice dream. I looked at my wrist and saw the lilac ribbon that you tied to it so long ago; a constant reminder that I still have a heart.

Five years earlier

I looked down at my phone to check the time; thirty minutes till my ride arrives for work. I enjoy my job but I wish I could be in a band though, many people came up to me and asked me if I played in this band and I told them that I couldn't remember, or just a simple no. After the accident the doctors told me that part my memory center was damaged so the past eleven years would be a blank to me for a while. My doctor said that with exposure to what my memories were tied to I would recover faster but I wanted to recover at my own pace, not anyone else's. When I picked up the guitar in my house I started to mess with it and my memories of how to play it started to come back gradually. For some reason though, when I was playing I started singing to it and had no clue where they came from. When I went to check up with the doctor I mentioned what happened and he asked for the lyrics I sang and looked them up. The guy asked if I wanted to know then what songs they were from and I replied saying that I'd rather find out later.

I do, however, remember that my name is Frank Iero and I can play electric and acoustic guitar pretty damn well. I was a rather sickly child and spent a lot of time in the hospital as a kid. What I am not sure of is my age, I told my therapist I'm twenty but he told me that I am actually thirty! I thought it was 2001 and he said was 2012! I asked him why my phone looked so epic and he told me that phone was pretty common this year! I picked a really shitty time to damage my brain.

My ride arrived to bring me to my job as a guitar instructor. I opened the car door and felt the amazing heat from inside and got straight in. The warmth felt amazing and so relaxing. I would have passed out but my buddy was blasting Avenged Sevenfold in the car. The ride to work was pretty boring though, nothing changed, the same route, same amount of traffic, and same idiots on the rode. I would drive myself but my therapist advised against that until I was much better and agreed on what year it was. I hated it, I would have loved to drive myself to work, especially since it was at night, the sky was just so cool to look at.

We were halfway to my work when my friend decided to break the "silence" and lower the music.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"You haven't given me an answer to my question yet."

"I told you it would be a while before I answered."
"It's been a month. I know it won't help you get your memories back but it'll help you stop gettin' your ass beat."

I sighed. "I'll have an answer for you when I clock out, promise."

The car went quiet again and my friend turned the music back up. I had hoped he forgot about that question, I know it would help me out but the thought of changing my life was awkward. Granted I had already changed my entire life since the accident changing it again would probably just stress me out even more. For fuck's sake I just wanted my old life back, whatever it was I wanted it back; it was probably better than this life I had. Now that I promised to give him an answer by the time I finished work I really had to give it some thought. Hell maybe it might actually help with regaining my memories. Maybe I would get them back the second I changed my life, again. Maybe I would be able to go back to my old life with the new life.

We arrived at the arts studio and I got out of the car and waved to my friend as he gave me a look that screamed for me to give him an answer by the time he came back then drove off after I shut the door. I walked in the building and greeted the desk staff. I clocked in and sat in a chair to soak in the warmth of the building.

"Still have a shitty memory Frank?" one guy asked.

"Oh fuck you," I replied with a laugh.

"Tempting offer but I prefer guys that at least know who the president is," the guy laughed again. Of course I had to say that to the other gay guy on staff, he was pretty cool though, and everyone loved him, including the stuck-up Christians that came here. He was always helpful and polite with everyone.

I walked into the office and got my electric and acoustic guitars. I heard the desk staff making a fuss about some guy that just walked in but I didn't pay attention to it and made sure my guitars (well at least the acoustic) was in tune and that the both were still in good condition. The fussing at the front continued and it got harder to concentrate on what I was doing so I eventually shut the door, not even noticing who was causing the fuss. The office became much quieter when I shut the door and I sighed from relief then went back to the tuning. I checked the time and noticed I still had some time so I decided to play one of the songs I remembered and sang to it a little. Funny though, I almost cried while I was playing the song because I couldn't remember how I knew the song, the song was also depressing so that didn't help either. I heard a knock on the door and opened it. The guy that usually teases me was standing in front of it with a huge smile on his face but I could tell there was some extreme jealousy behind it.

"Some guy is here to see you old man!" he teased.

"Yeah right, you're just trying to get me in my classroom!" I laughed.

"No I'm serious; go over to the desk...now…" I got confused and walked over to the only guy standing on the other side of the desk. He seemed surprised to see me for some reason. I assumed I did something wrong.

"You're Frank Iero?" the guy asked. He had a sort of pulled back Mohawk, the fuller part was blonde and the sides were a brown, he had brown eyes, and very thin lips yet I was immediately attracted to him and I seemed to remember him from somewhere.

"Yeah? What of it?"

"I'm Mikey Way, I was told I could find you here if I wanted to talk to you," the strange guy replied as he stuck out his hand which I took and shook. The moment I touched his hand a flash of memory went through my head and most of the images involved this exact person. My face probably looked blank because the teaser slapped my face to bring me back to reality.

"Uh….y-yeah….but I'm about to teach a guitar class so could it wait till later possibly?" I asked while still in shock.

"Sure! I can talk to you right after if you want," he replied with a smile.

"Is it that urgent because I have to meet someone after…?" I responded, remembering my friend wanted that answer tonight.

"Well…kinda…"

"Tell you what," I interrupted, "give me your number and I'll text you when we can talk. The thing I have to do after shouldn't take long so we can probably talk right after that if it works.

"What time would that be?"

"Um….like 10:30 is when we could talk?"

"That works! Can I see your phone?" I handed Mikey my phone and he put his number in it then handed it right back.

"Cool, I'll text you the second I'm done with everything. I gotta head to my class before my students break something. It was nice meeting you!" I went back into the office and grabbed my guitars then walked off to my classroom. I heard one of the guys yell something down the hell and I laughed about it and rolled my eyes.

When I got to the classroom I sat down in my chair and thought about everything that just happened. Meeting this guy that I'm already attracted to, remember him from somewhere, and he wants to talk with me later. Along with having to give my friend an answer by ten tonight! I thought about the question while I was teaching. Weighing the pros and cons of what would happen and it seemed that the pros outweighed the cons but I still wasn't sure. I had the class break into groups and practice with each other and took advantage of the group work to think some more on the question at hand. By the end of the group work I made my decision and was able to concentrate better on the class.

I decided to begin teaching the class a new song, one of the ones I remembered. In fact it was the one that almost made me cry so it was ironic yet convenient at the same time. I played the song entirely first and the class was impressed with how I played it with ease; some even said I make it look easy. I laughed and said it was all in practice. I had to remind the class I had no clue how I knew the song due to my accident since they were asking where I knew the song or the name of it. We spent the rest of the class going over the first verse, or what I thought was the first verse. Some kids had a bit of difficulty with it so while the others that were getting it practiced I helped the ones that were struggling. I took some sort of pride for being able to teach others how to play such a beautiful instrument. I thought of it as a way to relax and I hoped my students thought the same too.

Class was coming to a close so I told everyone to stop playing while I gave my usual speech on what to do for next week. I heard some groans so I had to reinforce that it would help and all the stupid bullshit teachers are told to say. Luckily the students for this class have to be at least seventeen to join so I was allowed to swear, within reason. I hated having some restriction on my language, it was so stupid. I waited for the last person to leave the room before I packed up my guitars and went to go put them back in the office. When I put the guitars in the office I made sure to lock the cases because I got paranoid someone might want to do something to them. As I went to go clock out some of the guys asked me how the class went and I said it went fine and mentioned to the kids that were struggling, still. One person gave me advice and someone made a joke about it.

I put my jacket back on and walked out of the building. Sure enough my friend was there waiting for me but the car was off and he was waiting outside of the car. I walked over to him. "Why are you waiting outside?"

"We aren't leaving till you give me an answer."

I sighed and chuckled lightly. "You won't give up will you…" I looked at him for a few more moments before I answered. "Yes…"