A.N. Hey, readers! Once again, thanks for the reviews, for those of you who reviewed! It always motivates me to write…Sorry I haven't updated in almost a week, but my schedule has been very hectic recently. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please review and let me know what you think!
How do I get that back with Bay? Emmett wondered. How am I supposed to make her remember what we had- what we have, when the reason we became so close so fast was because Ty was out of the picture? Except now he's back, and he's in the picture, and he's not leaving, and I'm at a disadvantage. Emmett didn't like the feeling of being at a disadvantage; it felt so contrary to who he was. How am I going to teach Bay sign language a second time? What if she's not so motivated to learn? After all, she thinks her "boyfriend" is a hearing guy!
The despairing feelings were starting to weigh Emmett down even more, and he really didn't want them to. He sat up, his eye catching the picture near his bed. Things sure have changed, he thought. A few months ago, I never would have guessed that I'd be sitting here, thinking about my girlfriend this way…thinking about how to get her to remember me…or rather, remember us.
But as Emmett looked at the picture some more, his determination grew. He cared too much for Bay to let this setback tear them apart forever. He wouldn't just sit by lazily, waiting to see if she ever remembered her relationship with him. He was going to be proactive, make things happen. You'll see, Bay, he thought, sending her the message telepathically, you'll remember us again soon.
A few days later, Emmett woke up in the morning more determined than ever to get Bay to remember. Thinking about the various memories he had with Bay had brought a smile to his face, and had encouraged him to proceed with his plans. It was pretty handy that Bay lived in the same place as his best friend, and he was going to use that to his advantage.
He drove over to the Kennishes', figuring that he could stop in and visit Bay (who had been discharged from the hospital) on the pretext that he had come to the house to visit Daphne. He popped into Daphne's room momentarily so that he wasn't completely lying to Bay, and so if Bay asked Daphne about it, he'd be covered. True, maybe he was overanalyzing, but that was kind of the mindset he was in right now.
Daphne was listening to music, tapping her foot along with it, when he popped his head into her doorway. He waved, she responded, and then he was off on his mission.
When he got to Bay's room, the door was mostly closed, so he knocked, waited a second or two, and then went in. His high hopes for the day plummeted when he entered her room. Ty was sitting there with Bay, laughing with her.
That used to be me, Emmett thought, clenching his fists. That's supposed to be me. He strengthened his resolve, though, and thought, That will be me.
"Hey," he waved at the pair, mentally grimacing at thinking of them as "together".
Ty smirked and waved back, scooting his chair closer to Bay's bed. Bay waved to him, too, confusion on her face.
"I was visiting Daphne and thought I'd stop in to see how you were doing, Bay," he explained, using his prepared excuse.
Ty snickered, his skepticism evident. Emmett just stared at him, wordlessly telling him, I don't care what you think. Bay's going to be with me soon.
Ty stared back, challenging him. She thinks I'm her boyfriend now.
Emmett took a deep breath, calming himself down so that he could do what he came here for, and not get distracted by punching Ty in the face…despite how tempting it was.
"How are you feeling?" Emmett signed, very slowly, mouthing the words while doing so in order for Bay to understand.
Bay still looked at him a little suspiciously but still answered, "Fine, better, I guess."
He smiled at her, hoping the tension he was feeling wasn't apparent in his smile. He wracked his mind for something else to say, but to be honest, he hadn't prepared for Ty to be there when he visited. He was having a hard time resisting the urge to stride over to Bay's bed, lean down, and kiss the accident out of her, making her remember him. But he knew that wasn't going to happen, no matter how much he wanted to stick it to Ty.
Thankfully, finally something went right, because Bay glanced at the clock, then looked at Ty. "Didn't you say you have an appointment at 4:45, Ty? You probably need to go now, right?"
Ty looked torn, clearly not wanting to leave Emmett alone with Bay, but knowing that this appointment was important and that he couldn't be late. Finally, he gave in, bent down and gave Bay a kiss, eyeing Emmett while doing so, and then heading to the door.
The temptation to punch the guy got stronger when he kissed Bay, but Emmett resisted the urge yet again, instead deciding to unnerve Ty by raising his eyebrows at him while leaving, clearly conveying his pleasure that he (Emmett) was now going to be left alone with Bay. Ty glared back, trying to instill fear into Emmett but it didn't work.
I invented the killer glare, Emmett stared back at Ty. You're not going to intimidate me.
After Ty finally left, Emmett walked closer to Bay, careful to maintain a sensitive distance between them because he see the wariness in Bay's eyes as he approached.
"So, what's the deal with us?" Bay asked. Emmett laughed. She may not remember everything, but she's still the same upfront Bay as always. "I mean, I sense that there's something between us, but, you're just Daphne's friend, right?"
A ribbon of hope was unwinding in Emmett's heart, making his heartbeat faster. If she can sense something, then hopefully this will be easier than I thought!
"You and I also became really" Emmett paused, unsure which word to use that would best describe their relationship, "close."
She raised her eyebrows at him, sensing there was more. "Close?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and looking at him. "How close?"
Emmett smiled. "Really close." He took out some pictures that he had brought of her and of the two of them together (although he had sadly decided that any pictures of the two of them looking more than friendly were not for this visit).
She looked at him, her gaze seemingly seeing into his soul. "You're a photographer?" she asked, looking up at him after examining the pictures.
"Yeah, we bonded over our love for art. That's how we became close."
"Hm, sounds plausible enough," she said.
Emmett smiled at her questioningly. "You think I'd lie to you about this?"
"Um, I don't really know you or remember you in any context except for being Daphne's friend, so I don't know if you're a pathological liar or a saint."
He smirked at her. "Closer to a saint."
His heart warmed when he saw her laugh. It was like even though mentally, she didn't remember him so well, the dynamic between them hadn't changed so much because maybe her heart remembered him.
" I bet," she teased.
"So, are you allowed to leave the house?" Emmett asked, unsure about the rules.
"If my parents know where I'm going and who I'm going with and have the number of the person I'm going to be with, then yeah," she responded. "'Course, they probably also will want the person's social security number, birth certificate, and last three report cards, too," she finished sarcastically.
"Well, I don't have my last three report cards or my birth certificate with me today, but I can give them my phone number and social security number, if they really need it," Emmett replied, smiling. Bay laughed again, and Emmett continued, on a roll, "If they agreed, would you be up to go to the park with me? Just to hang out? It's really great weather."
"Sure," Bay replied. "Why not? I don't really know you all that well, or at least I don't remember you all that well, but I get the sense that we are close, like you said. It'd be nice to get out of this room."
He helped her down the stairs, saw her calling out to her parents to see where they were. Once again, they were in the kitchen, so he and Bay headed in that direction. The Kennishes' hadn't lost their memories, so they were perfectly fine with Emmett taking Bay to a park. Their only concern was about how he was going to get her there.
"I don't think Bay's up to riding on your motorcycle yet, Emmett," Kathryn said, concerned. "Do you want to take one of our cars?" she offered.
"I brought my mother's car today because I didn't want to inconvenience Bay if she wasn't feeling up to riding on my bike," Emmett responded, glad he had thought ahead. Kathryn and John smiled at his thoughtfulness (score one for Emmett), kissed Bay good-bye, and shooed them out of the door.
Emmett drove them to the park that they'd spent a lot of time in. A couple of months ago, they had agreed that it was kind of "their place." Today, he had brought along a blanket to sit on and some water bottles in case they got thirsty.
Bay sat down, breathing in deeply. "Wow, it really is nice out today…although some of this might be attributed to the fact that I've mostly been holed up in my room for the past couple of days, so traveling to a dumpster might be nicer than the stale air in my room."
Emmett was pleased to see that Bay was, consciously or unconsciously he wasn't sure, slowing down her speech so that he could understand. Apparently, her body was remembering some of the signs that he had taught her, too, because she was using a few of them.
"Well, sorry this isn't a dumpster, if that's what you were looking for," he teased, "but I thought this would be nicer. We liked to come here a lot."
She looked at him, her gaze so clear and innocent, yet so curious. "What'd we do here when we came? Just sit and talk?"
Emmett flashed back to one of their trips to this park. It had been a really hot day and they'd decided to bring a picnic lunch and sit in the shade and eat together. They'd brought along plenty of water, too, to make sure they didn't get dehydrated.
They were sitting together under a tree, alternately kissing and chatting. Bay suddenly flopped down on her back, putting her hand melodramatically over her forehead, then signed, "I'm so hot!"
He gave her a suggestive look. "Yes, you are. So am I."
"Very funny," she replied, her mock displeasure giving way to a huge grin. "Ugh, I long for winter, for the cold, for when this heat will stop!"
"You know, there are ways to keep cool," Emmett said, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.
"Yeah, what's that?" she asked, skeptical.
"Well," he signed, opening a water bottle secretly at his side so that Bay couldn't see, "water's supposed to be good for keeping cool."
"Emmett," she said, sitting up slightly, leaning on her elbows, "has the heat gotten to you? We don't have a pool here! We could've just stayed at my house if we wanted to swim!" She looked at him like he was crazy.
"Who said anything about a pool?" he asked innocently.
"Then what-?" Bay started to ask, but before she could finish her question, Emmett dumped a third of his water bottle on her head. "Emmett!" he saw her scream. He doubled over laughing, until he saw her grab another water bottle and start to open it. That's when he ran for it.
They must've looked like fools to any outsider, but to him, it was the most fun he'd had in a while. It was light-hearted, good, clean fun that just brought the two of them closer together. She finally caught up to him and poured her whole water bottle on him, effectively soaking him. He shook his head back and forth, droplets flying this way and that, and then signed to her, "Always plan ahead…" and he indicated her empty water bottle and his 2/3 full water bottle. He saw her start to scream and then run, and he ran after her, slowed down by his laughter.
He caught up to her a few feet from the tree they had been sitting under, grabbed her around the waist, and poured most of the rest of his water bottle over her. "What'd I tell you?" he asked, lowering her gently to the ground, and then proceeded to kiss her like never before.
When they came up for air, he asked her, "So, feeling cooler?"
"Yup," she responded, leaning against his shoulder.
"Good, how about now?" he asked, and then poured the remaining ounce of water over her head.
"Emmett!" she squealed, laughing, and they started to make out again.
Snapping back to the present, Emmett remembered Bay's question and answered simply, "Yeah, we'd sit and talk, sometimes bring a game or something, ate some food."
Bay looked around. "I like this place."
Emmett looked at her, and signed, "Me, too."
A.N. Alright, everyone. I know that not so much happened in this chapter, but as in all books and stuff, not every single page is going to be filled with action. There needs to be good, light-hearted stuff in between to get to the more climactic moments, right? Anyway, the next chapter, too, will probably contain some flashback-y stuff, but I don't want to drag it out too long, so at most there will be one more chapter of solely flashback stuff. I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you thought!