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Major might have spent longer lying in bed, staring up at the ceiling, and contemplating his life as a human and his future as an amnesiac, but his stomach, denied the joys of human food for far too long, growled loudly, and he was conscious of just how hungry he was and just how much he wanted to remind himself what food really tasted like with human taste buds.
He put on clean pajamas and slung on a robe, making his way downstairs to the kitchen. He rummaged in the refrigerator for a few minutes, but nothing looked quite right for his inaugural human meal. Then it struck him. He knew exactly what he wanted. The perfect, ultimate "I'm human again" celebration. Pulling his head out of the fridge, he saw his roommate just coming into the kitchen.
"Ravi! Where's the ice cream?"
His roommate stopped where he was. "Ice cream?" he said innocently. "What ice cream?"
"The ice cream you house at night when you think I can't hear you. That ice cream. I know you have some."
"But—that's my ice cream."
"Uh-huh. Which you're going to share with me now, while I can still remember who you are and be grateful to you." Major turned on the puppy-dog eyes. No one ever said no to the puppy-dog eyes.
Ravi was no exception. His eyes narrowed, acknowledging that he was being manipulated. "Fine. But that's a low blow, and if you remembered it later, you would have been ashamed of yourself."
"Maybe it'll come to me in the middle of the night, an odd feeling I can't quite put my finger on."
"I hope it does. I hope it disturbs your sleep for years to come."
But Ravi dug out the ice cream from the back of the freezer, behind the bag of frozen peas neither of them was ever going to eat, and Major scooped himself out a generous bowl full while Ravi watched him sadly.
"You going to leave any for me, or just … finish the whole thing?"
"Do you know how long it's been since I've been able to enjoy ice cream?" Major took a big spoonful. God, that was good. It was so good.
"Fine. I'll put it on the list, and I'll hide it better next time. Now, can I draw your attention to these?" Ravi waved a pile of what looked like postcards under Major's nose.
Around another mouthful of ice cream, which might be the best thing he had ever tasted in his life, Major asked, "What are they?"
"Flash cards. So that we can gauge how your memory is doing."
"Can I eat while we flash?"
Ravi sighed. "Sure."
Major waded through that bowl of ice cream and started on a second, adding chocolate sauce to this one. There was ice cream all down his chin, and he didn't even care. "Oh, god, it's so good!" he exclaimed. Looking up, he focused on the cards Ravi was holding up. "Peyton. Hospital." He took another bite and dropped the spoon, because this was just hands down the best thing ever. "Oh, my god. So creamy. Mm!" He closed his eyes in bliss and leaned back against the wall, sighing happily.
"Okay," Ravi said, "I'm glad you're human and are again able to experience the concept of flavor, but could you at least dial down the noises?!"
There was a bag of potato chips lying open next to him, and Major crumbled a handful into the ice cream. "Clive," he said in response to the next card. "Coach Reeves. Aw! Minor. Low blow," he added, frowning at his roommate before shoveling in another spoonful of creamy salty crunchy sweet goodness. "Oh, my god! It's the crunch, with the salty, and the chocolate? Boom!"
Ravi made a face. "And we'll stop here." He tapped the cards together on the table, laying them aside. "No lingering zombie signs, that's good."
Liv came in just then, fresh from her shower, and Major looked up at her with a grin.
"Liv, hear that? The cure works! I'm human again."
She frowned as she came toward him, looking at the ice cream on his chin and the giant spoon in his hand. "But … it also turned you into a baby?"
"His reunion with human food has been intense," Ravi explained. "The good news is, his memory seems intact thus far."
"Yeah. I remember everything." Major looked up at Liv, thinking of how she had been last night, the way she had felt in his arms. Just like it used to be—like it should be. "Including last night," he said softly. "Which was … you know … spectacular." He hadn't felt like this with her since … the early days. Back on campus, feeling all fizzy and light-headed every time he saw her. God, he had missed being with her. More than he'd missed food, and that was saying something.
Ravi cleared his throat. "Still in the room."
Liv's eyes were soft as she looked down at him. She was thinking of last night, too, he could tell, how special it had been, and how good they were together. "Yeah. Also complicated, but I—" Her gaze dropped to his chin. "Okay, no! I can't have this conversation with you looking like this. And, also, I need to get home."
"All right. I got things to do, too." Coffee. He could smell the pot Liv had made earlier, but he wanted the real stuff. The good stuff. Then maybe a steak. And bacon. But first—he dug into the ice cream again. So good!