Disclaimer : Only person I own is Derek, and he's just an image of my imagination, so, yah. Other'n that, same rules apply. Blah blah. Here ya go.
Boom.
"Derek, are you going to wake up or not, dammit?"
I rolled my eyes at my husband. His eyes remained closed, but a smile slowly grew on his face.
"Derek!"
I pulled his pillow out from under his head. He burst out laughing and pulled me back into his arms. I rolled my eyes yet again as he kissed me firmly on the lips. I kissed him back until he seemed satisfied; he pulled away and sat up.
"Oh shit," he muttered, looking at the time. "Steph, baby, I gotta go.. I'm late to work." He jumped up and quickly got dressed. I laughed at his frantic actions, then stood up and wrapped my arms around him from behind.
"You don't have to go to work." To tell the truth, I wasn't willing to let him go.
"Yes I do." He flashed me his dazzling smile, and kissed me on the nose. "You've kept me away from work three times this month."
I rolled my eyes. "Pleeeease?" I pouted.
He hesitated, looked at the clock again, and looked at me.
"I guess one more time won't hurt."
I grinned as he joined me back in the bed.
After we were done, he kissed me on the forehead. "I'm going to be jobless if you keep doing this to me," he joked.
"Whatever," I told him pointedly. He kissed me again, then started his vehicle and left.
Derek and I had been married for three years; my memory of anything before then was hazy. According to Derek and his family, he had found me abandoned and left to die in the slums of Trenton, New Jersey. He told me he knew the man who had hurt me; it had been an ex of mine. It did not seem weird to me that I had no memory of the evil man; according to the doctors, I had recieved a severe concussion. All I knew was that less than two months after Derek had found me, he proposed and I immediately said yes. We had moved to a quiet town in Washington, Derek had gotten a job at a local car dealership, all that fairy tale stuff.
I had once asked him about my past; all he told me was that my parents were dead, and that the man who had hurt me was a well known but dangerous businessman. He had shown me a picture, in warning to tell me to always stay away from the man. I planned to do exactly that.
That is, until things with Derek started getting worse.
It had been a bad day for the both of us; Sunday was always a tense day, because we always had his family over. I had recently had a slight arguement with his sister, but when I told him about it, he had laughed it off and insisted that I did as well.
He had done as always; He, his father, and his brothers and brother-in-laws all went out to the bars after lunch, leaving me alone to the house to clean. Cleaning was not one of my strong points, but Derek never seemed to mind. At the bars, Derek would drink little to none, and always be the designated driver to get the others home in one peice. That night, however, he had come in, drunk as hell, and when I asked him why, he had hit me.
The emotional pain hurt way more than the physical pain, but he apologized a million times the morning after. So I sucked it up and forgave him. Then, it happened again.
This time, I had a black eye and many more bruises to show for it.
So, I did the only thing I could think of.
The next morning, after Derek left for work, I was on the next available flight to Trenton, New Jersey.
When I got off the plane, I realized I had no clue where I should go. I looked around, faintly wondering how I could have ever lived here. I did not know any land marks, but I knew that I had grown up here, so I followed my instincts and wound up at a place called "Pino's".
"I must be insane," I muttered, stepping through the doors. I was hit with the intense smell of pizza. Mmm.
"Wait a minute," I said softly. "Pizza?"
Derek and I were not big pizza eaters.. in fact, now that I had thought about it, I had not eaten any pizza for the past year.
"Holy shit, Stephanie?"
I turned quickly to see a fat black lady overdressed in Spandex running toward me. I ducked underneath my table.
"Damn, girl, where you been?" The woman managed to bend down to look at me. "Why you under there?" She grabbed my arm and I unwillingly stood.
"Um.. I'm sorry.." I could tell that my face was beat red, "Who are you?"
The lady's jaw dropped. Then her eyes narrowed. Then she raised her eyebrows.
"Holy shit and dickens, you don't remember ME? Lula? Girl, what tha hell happened to you?" she pointed her finger at my purpleish black eye. I waved her away.
"Lula.." the name sounded vaguelly familiar, like maybe an old pet rabbit or something.
"Yeh, Lula. Girl, come with me." She grabbed my arm and, with the strength that only an elephant would have, literally drug me out of Pino's and down the street. She threw me in a bright red convertible, then stopped quickly and yanked me out at some bail bond's place. For some reason, the word "duck" popped into my head. I shook my head in confusion.
"Come on, maybe this'll jarr your memory."
Bewildered, I followed her.
"Holy fucking shit, Stephanie, is that you?"
A tall, skinny man ran out of a room from the back as soon as I stepped into the building. I stared at him.
"Yes, I'm Stephanie.. Who are you?"
The man's face was as confused and disbelieving as Lula's.
"The girl doesn't remember a thing," Lula explained to the woman behind the counter.
"Holy fucknuts," the woman said in wonder.
"Not true," I declined quickly. "I remember the name Lula." I crossed my arms over my chest defensively.
"Steph, what happened to your eye?" the woman asked.
"I.. uh.. well.."
Lula, who had been sitting on the couch beside me, jumped up.
"It was that Ryans guy wasn't it? I'm going to hunt his ass down and-"
"No!" I spoke over her. They all turned to me.
"No?" said the skinny man in disbelief.
"I love Derek," I said softly. "I.. Wait.. How do you know Derek?"
The three gazed at me with opened jaws.
"What?"
"Uhh," the woman was the first to regain her voice, "You really don't remember a thing, do you?"
"I told you she's clueless," Lula said matter-of-factly. "Probably, he brain washed her."
"Connie."
I didn't know where that name came from, but for some reason, I just had a gut feeling that I should say it.
"That's me," said the woman. She smiled. "Do you remember anything else, anything at all?"
I shook my head. "I don't even.. I.. Are you my friends?" I looked at the three of them.
"Lula and I are," Connie said. "Vinnie is your duck-fucking cousin."
I burst out laughing, not at the description, but because of the thought I had had when we drove up. That meant that I knew these people. I had lived here. I had memories from here.
"I think.. I think certain things are triggering my memory."
"Like what?" Connie asked me, sitting me down in the vacated couch.
"Like, for example.. the name Lula was familiar.. and.. I remembered your name when I saw you.." I blushed slightly. "And.. I thought about ducks when we pulled up here.." Lula and Connie laughed, while Vinnie rolled his eyes.
"How about this," Connie suggested. "I'll drive you around and see if anything jumps out at ya."
I bit my lip, wondering if she and I could both fit in a car together, then decided to go for it.
"Okay," I agreed.
She grinned. "Alrighty, let me grab my keys."
A lot of the things were unsucessful, but some triggered old memories deep within me.
"I used to work there, didn't I?" I asked, pointing at a place called "Cluck-in-a-Bucket".
Connie laughed. "You burned that place up," she grinned.
My eyes widened. "Oops?" I said softly, hoping it hadn't been expensive to rebuild.
We continued to drive, until I saw a house that immediately drew my attention. "Who lives there?" I asked, pointing at it.
Connie followed my gaze. "Joe Morelli," she said hesitantly. "Um, you and him were.. well.. engaged."
I gaped. I had been engaged, and didn't know about it?
What had Derek kept from me?
I watched as random houses passed by, until I shrieked, "I know this place!"
Connie pulled up beside it and nodded. "This is where your parents live, Steph."
"My parents?" How could that be possible? "My parents are dead, though."
Connie just stared at me.
"Aren't they?"
She shook her head, then exited the car. "Come on," she said. "I think you have some explaining to do, and here's the best place to do it."
I dunno when I'll get the next chapter up, but I'll start working on it. I will, I swear.. -coughz-
Review.. and maybe it'll inspire me..
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