Harry sat as far back in his chair as the room would allow and tried to process the new information. It was obvious now. He couldn't think why it hadn't crossed his mind before. It all began to make sense. But now he knew why there was a huge gap in his memory, he still didn't know what had actually happened. He quickly thought through all the effects of Rohypnol to try and fill in some of the blanks.
Harry's hands began to shake as he picked up his pad. He could feel his eyes begin to sting and willed them not to spill over.
"Did I hurt you?"
Nikki shook her head, and reached forward and touched the glass between them.
"But what happened?"
"You really want to know?"
"YES!" He wrote in bold letters shuffling his chair back towards the window.
"I thought you weren't talking to me!"
"I am now, and I want to know."
"All of it?"
"Of course all of it!"
Nikki looked up at Harry, he had his hands pressed together and mouthed 'please.' She picked up her pad and began to write. He watched her writing, crossing out, pulling a page out and starting again. Finally after what seemed like a lifetime she raised her pad to the window. Harry could feel his heart thumping in his chest.
"We had some drinks at the pub we had a laugh. You were relaxed, funny. I had a great time. We went back to my place and
we talked, you put on some music and we danced and I kissed you and you said that it was dangerous to kiss someone
you were in love with and you wouldn't kiss me again. I asked you who you were in love with and you said me. And then
you very seriously declared it was bed time, and you went into my room, took off your clothes, folded them neatly and put
them on the chair, got into bed and fell asleep."
Nikki had watched his face for a reaction as he read through her paragraph. She could see him race through it to the end and then restart it and read carefully and then read it again. She knew he would have memorised her words on the third go through.
"You didn't just make that up?"
"Harry if I were making it up, I would have at least made is sound slightly believable."
They stared at each other through the glass for a while. Harry's brain was swimming, he tried to match what she had written to what he remembered but there was still just a blank in his memory. It all did seem bizarrely credible. He felt quite at ease at Nikki's house and it wouldn't be beyond belief that in his drugged state he had just decided to go to sleep. But that still left one big question.
"But why were you naked?"
Harry looked back up at her. It was a big question. He could almost believe that he would have gone to bed by himself and folded his clothes. Falling into bed with a beautiful woman didn't usually include folded clothes on his part, they were usually scattered where they had fallen and he remembered the folded clothes for himself.
"We'd both had a lot to drink."
"That's not really an answer."
"Nikki?"
"It doesn't matter now."
He could see the tears in her eyes now, hovering ready to fall.
"It matters to me and it obviously matters to you"
"It's too late now anyway."
"It is not TOO late!"
"But I'm so sick!"
"Nikki, I'm sure we're both fine," he tried to look reassuring, before holding his pad up again.
"Nikki, why were you naked?"
He stared at her beseechingly through the glass, willing her to take that terrifying step and be honest with him. He saw one tear fall as she looked away from him and back to her writing.
"Maybe, I was hopeful. I told you it doesn't matter now."
Harry watched helplessly as the tears ran down her face.
Hope the angst isn't putting you off…