Remembering


"Good morning, Mr Brooks. Looking… sharp as usual." A male receptionist smiled as Punk walked into headquarters.

"Shut your face, Packston." Punk greeted in his usual manner. It had been the same receptionist since he was a little kid, running through these doors, now he could defend himself.

"A pleasure as usual, Mr Brooks." Packston smiled, "Your mother is in a meeting right now." He said formally, sitting behind the long, ravish, glass reception, in a three pieces suit.

"With who? Is it important? I have to talk to her." Punk said as Packston looked up on the computer.

"A Mr Hemmingway." Packston said as Punk rolled his eyes.

"Sounds like a prat. Thanks." Punk patted his hand on the reception desk as he walked off.

"Mr Brooks, you can't go in-" Packston called, but Punk had already gone into the elevator, throwing a middle finger up as the door closed as Packston scoffed and returned back to his work. He wished Punk was more mature like his sisters, but he'd known him since he was just a little boy, he was always destined to stick out in the family, Packston knew that.

Punk got out on the top floor, walking down the corridor as he passed a million office girls who he had definitely slept with, looking down at the ground as he walked off into his mother's office, knocking the door and then bursting on in.

"Phillip!" Lorna shouted.

"Hey, mom I need to talk to you." Punk said.

"Well I'm in a meeting." Lorna said, pointing to the man across the desk sitting down as Punk just nodded to him.

"It's a family emergency." Punk said.

"Phillip I am-"

"It's quite alright." Mr Hemmingway smiled, "I can just wait outside in the waiting area. Call for me when you're ready again." The man smiled, taking his briefcase and walking out of the room.

"Ok, mom-"

"That was a very important meeting you just barged in on. This better be good." Lorna shook her head.

"The girl you interview yesterday. You can't hire her." Punk said as Lorna stood up, placing her hands on the desk.

"Is that really your emergency?" Lorna gritted her teeth.

"Well… yeah." Punk shrugged, "Just… don't hire her, yeah?" Punk nodded.

"And why not?" Lorna asked, "Oh, because you've probably slept with her like you have with this entire department… this entire building." She spat angrily.

"I wouldn't say I've slept with all of them." Punk smirked as Lorna shook her head, "No… that's not the point though, the point is… it's gonna make my life a lot harder, if you hire this girl." She said.

"Well then I think I should hire her." Lorna said, "Melissa is right, I am too easy on you." She shook her head.

"Mom, c'mon. Please, don't hire her. It's not-It's not because I've slept with her. Well partly it is but… please, help a son out." He begged.

"I'm hiring her." Lorna said, "You need a challenge in your life right now. She has a ton of experience anyway, I think she'd fit in well in Exodus." She shrugged.

"You can't put her straight to Exodus." Punk said, "You never do that. You start them off in Atomic, then Leviticus, then they go to Exodus." He said, "Can't you see I'm legitimately being serious about you not hiring her?" He said.

"I can, and I think you shouldn't get used to avoiding your problems, sweetie. Now, I know you've never had girlfriends, so… who is she? Why are you so worried about me hiring her?" She asked. She held a very close relationship with her son, just like all her children.

"Ok well I met her in high school. Senior year. She hated me because I- it doesn't matter but do you remember the Summer after I finished school, after senior year? You and dad sent me away to work in a hotel resort place because you thought I was becoming too spoiled, which was totally ridiculous."

"You came back a new boy after that Summer." Lorna observed, "Done you the world of good." She nodded.

"Well, her dad owned the hotel and she was there, the full Summer." Punk said, "Do you get the picture because I don't wanna go on?" He said, "If you love me, don't hire her."

"I'm gonna hire her." Lorna nodded, "As much as your little love story touches me, the girl wants a job. You're an adult now, Phil. Start acting like one. Ok?" She said as Punk just stood up angrily, storming out of the office and heading for the elevator.


"She-She gave me the job." AJ shook her head later that night, walking into the living room where Paige was sitting eating Chinese food.

"Shut up, that's great." Paige muffled through her full mouth, "Well done." She nodded, "See, I told you, you didn't do as bad as you think."

"I can't believe it." AJ smiled, sitting down on the opposite couch, thinking to herself as Paige watched her.

"Look, the very few times I've been in Exodus, it's been so busy, you can barely move. He doesn't show face much. I just spotted him one time behind the bar."

"He never drank." AJ shook her head in a whisper.

"Yeah, well he was just standing looking around. He disappears in the back most of the time. You probably won't even see him." Paige shrugged.

"And what if I do? It's going to be so awkward. I mean… it's been thirteen years but...it still feels like yesterday when I first saw him." She shook her head...

"We could throw this huge party whilst your mom and dad are out of the state." A blonde haired man, Dean suggested whilst Punk's other high school friend, Seth stood beside. They were in the last few weeks of high school, all eighteen years old, all the schools local jerks.

"Nah, fuck that. Monica would snitch on me."

"Ugh, Monica. Did I tell you how much I love her?" Dean asked.

"Every day." Punk moaned, "And you really gotta stop it."

"I can't help it. It's those legs, man." Dean shook his head as Punk turned to him.

"That's my sister."

"Well it's not like she's around, is it?" Dean questioned.

"Still my sister." Punk repeated as they walked through the school car park.

"Would rather me talk about Melissa?" Dean grumbled.

"Woah." Seth groaned, "Melissa is 11, don't be weird." Seth shook his head.

"Ok… but I mean, your mom is looking quite good these days." Dean said as Punk put him a headlock, playfully fighting with him in the school car park as Seth watched sniggering. This normally happened every morning.

"Alright, alright… break it up." Seth laughed.

"C'mon, you know I love Lorna." Dean laughed as Punk just shook his head, walking down the car park as they passed a car that had the hood up, a young girl bending over it and trying to fix whatever it was she thought was broken.

"Here." Dean dug in his pocket, "Twenty bucks to take her on a date." He handed to Punk.

"Oh, not this game again." Punk groaned, "Why is it always me?"

"Because girls like you more than us for some reason." Dean said, "Just go." Dean shoved him forward as Punk groaned, shoving the twenty bucks in his back jean pocket and walking over to the girl.

"Hey, you uh… you need a hand?" Punk smiled politely.

"Oh, no. I totally know what I'm doing." The brunette rolled her eyes, "Truth is… I'm just pulling at things and I could probably blow this whole car up and I wouldn't even notice." She spoke to herself as if he wasn't there.

"Uh… I know a bit about cars." Punk said, "I can take a look." He said as she looked up at him, letting him see a glimpse of her face for the first time. She was… drop dead gorgeous. Her hair was silky, dark and so long. Her eyes were big and innocent and her skin looked so soft and-"

"Ok, you can take a look." The girl nodded with a small chuckle, folding her arms and stepping to the side a little as Punk moved forward and looked around the car.

"So how come I've never seen you around here before?" He smiled. He would have remembered a pretty girl like her.

"I've just moved her. I'm April… or AJ, AJ is fine." She said, "My dad moved out here and insisted I finish school here."

"But there's only a few weeks left."

"Which was my argument. But he wanted me to go." She shrugged, "So here I am." She sighed.

"Where'd you move from?" Punk asked.

"Ugh, Jersey." AJ smiled, "And I take it you're from here?" She asked.

"Yup. Been here since I stepped out of my mother." He said as she laughed to herself, watching him look up at her and smile. She had a gorgeous laugh, when he heard it… that was the only thing he heard. He never usually took these strong likings to a girl before.

"Ok, you've uh… you've pulled out your battery for some reason, or it's fell out, I don't know." Punk shrugged, standing up straight and pushing the roof down, "Try it now." He dusted his hands off on his jeans as she walked round to the drivers side, leaning in and turning the engine on as it ran perfectly.

"Oh, well thank you." AJ smiled walking back out to him, "My dad would have killed me if I broke his car." She shook her head as Punk smiled down at her.

"Can I… take you out some time?" Punk smiled, "Since you're new here, maybe I could show you around?" He said as AJ smiled to herself. Normally she didn't make friends on the first day, especially not boys.

"Yeah, that would be… nice." AJ smiled.

"Clarke's at 6?" Punk smiled hopefully as she nodded.

"Yeah, that works for me." AJ nodded.

"Ok. Well I'll see you then." Punk said, walking off as AJ watched him with a smile. She could tell he wasn't popular, but he definitely wasn't a nobody. He was very sweet and charming, and it felt nice to have someone approach her on her first day, out of the goodness of their hearts…


"I still don't know why you forgave him." Paige laughed to herself.

"I didn't. It was when he appeared at my dad's hotel to work for the Summer. I didn't really have a choice. We left high school on bad terms." She said, "But he knew he'd done wrong."

"Didn't you know that his family were as rich as rich could get?" Paige asked.

"No. He never said his family was rich. I never really knew, and back then I assume it wasn't as popular as it is today." AJ said.

"True, I guess." Paige said, "It went down a long time ago, though. Maybe it won't be as awkward as you think." She shrugged.

"No. It will." AJ said, "I was in love with him."


A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews on the first chapter! Greatly appreciated. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. There will be a lot of flashbacks in this, but I'll try to balance it from present day to past. It's just easier for me to show what went on with them. What do you guys think about it? What went on with them? REVIEW and let me know what you think.