Page 12 of Our Moon
“Everything is fine,” Trevor says. “I promise. It’s just that, well, it kind of feels like we’re getting an old piece of you back is all.” The other two nod their agreement.
“What do you mean?” I ask, looking each of them in the eye before moving to the next.
“Culinary school was your dream,” Chase says. “Before.”
My eyes dart back to his. Culinary school had been my dream? This is a positive thing, right? I chose the same future as I had before. It definitely has to be my subconscious. “Why didn’t you guys tell me?”
“Dr. Moody didn’t want us to overload you with too much information,” Trevor says. “I guess we were all afraid if you knew about your plans from before, then you might try too hard to want those same things again and that could cause setbacks, or it might influence your decisions. You might have started doing things because you thought they were what you should have been doing. She thought it would be better if you steered your path on your own so that you would be making choices as the person you are now, not based off the person you were before.”
“But Iamthe same person.” And Dr. Moody is the one who suggested culinary school. Practice what you preach much?
“Yeah, and this kind of proves that,” Alex smiles, then rolls his eyes. “But you know Dr.Moody, she fully believes in the ‘no pressure’ methodology.”
I nod, knowing he’s right. “So you guys kind of knew this all along, huh? I mean when I began to spend all my time in the kitchen, you had to have had a clue.”
Alex smirks. “Yep. We totally celebrated behind your back that first day when Trevor took you grocery shopping.”
“Y’all are so sneaky,” I laugh. “I can’t believe you didn’t invite me to the party.”
“We’ll invite you to the next one,” Alex retorts.
“So you’ll let me in on the secret if I do something else the old me would have done?”
“I guess so,” he says.
“I’ll help you out with the application for The Art Institute tomorrow,” Trevor offers. “I bet I can dig up a copy of your old application in dad’s office, or maybe the school still has it on file. You were accepted to the program already. Shouldn’t be too difficult to get back in.”
“Thanks,” I smile, genuinely happy now that I have a goal in mind and knowing that I have their support.
“Mom and Dad would be real proud of you, too, Al.” Trevor says quietly.
Tears come to my eyes as I nod in response.
“Wanna play with us?” Alex asks as he pulls out the controllers, thankfully breaking the somber moment.
“Nah,” I say. “I’m just going to head up to bed and read for a little bit.” I say my goodnights and go upstairs.
As I lay in my bed, I think about what just transpired. I don’t know much about amnesia, aside from the few things Dr. Moody told me and what I read on the Internet, but I feel like this had to be a positive sign. I’m gravitating towards things I had previous interests in. Somewhere deep down, I’m still me.
Chapter Six
I’m in the kitchen, taking a sheet of chocolate chip caramel cookies out of the oven, when Chase comes in the back door.
“Hey, Al,” he says as he steps inside and wipes his feet on the doormat. It rained earlier in the day, and the patio is still wet.
“Oh, hey, Chase. The guys aren’t home. Alex is with Joey, and Trevor just ran out to the store to get me an ingredient I forgot for dinner.” I set the cookie sheet down on the hot pad and turn to face him as he pauses in his path to the man room and turns around.
“Okay, I guess I’ll come back in a little while then.” He gives me a shy smile and heads back to the door. For some reason, I don’t want him to go. Since we spoke the handful of words to one another the night of my culinary school announcement, I haven’t wanted to avoid him as much, but for some unknown reason, things still seem strained. Perhaps it’s the fact that I ignored him for weeks after the pool/dinner incident.
“You can stay,” I tell him quickly. “I don’t mind. This is the last batch. I just need to put them on the cooling rack and then maybe we can go watch TV or something while you wait for the guys to get back?”
He looks at me like he’s trying to figure something out, then nods his acceptance to my offer. “Okay, anything I can do to help?”
“I don’t think so, thanks, though. Why don’t you go find something to watch, and I’ll be in there in a minute?” I pick up the small spatula I’ve been using to gently remove the cookies from the sheet.
He nods again, still looking at me strangely, and heads to the man room. I hear the TV turn on and finally exhale. I didn’t even realize I was holding my breath. There’s just something about him. I shake the feeling off, reminding myself that I can’t even think about going there with my brother’s best friend, my brothers’ brother. But I can at least play nice with him.
I move the cookies from the sheet to the cooling rack. After plating a few and pouring a couple glasses of milk, I make my way to the man room with the tray full of goodies. Chase immediately gets up to help me, and I smile my thanks as I hand over the tray.
