Love Drunk: Chapter Eighteen

Dexter Maloney's accident had a huge impact on a number of people, not just himself! His mother, brother and best friend were all worried sick that he would never wake up. Selena was pining for her heartthrob and hero while Erin was concerned for Ashton's well being. But it was little Lainie, Dexter's once precious Freckles, who bore the brunt of the whole thing! Waiting patiently for him to wake up, only to discover that he had no memory of her. Will his return home make him remember?

Dexter stood on the pavement and looked up at the building he lived in with his brother and best friend. Seeing the old bistro up and running seemed familiar somehow...

...a vision of himself sitting in there flashed through his mind, and was gone.

"You okay?" Ash tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah!" He muttered and headed for the stairs.

When they reached the lobby, Drew and Charlotte were standing there alongside Lainie and two other people who were familiar but he couldn't work out who they were! 

The male came forward and shook his hand, "Good to have you back mate!" Dexter felt an overwhelming urge to hit this guy, and he had no idea why! For a moment he was so consumed with hatred, and like the vision he had outside, it was gone in an instant!

"I take it by that look you don't remember me either?" the male laughed softly, "Alex! Lainie's other half!" he winked, a wicked smirk lingered on his face for a moment as Dexter blinked and looked over at the girl who had been at the hospital...

...Lainie! "Welcome home Dexy!" she half smiled, stumbled forward as if she was coming towards him and stopped herself. The other girl that Dex didn't recognise repeated Lainie's sentiments and walked into what he assumed was her flat.

"Yeah welcome home!"

"Thanks...Lainie!" he smiled back, trying hard to remember her but failing, "And..."

"Roxy?" Lainie answered, knowing that her best friend would also be a stranger to him. But as soon as she told him the girl's name something caught his eye. 

"Drew? You and Charlotte..." Dex raised an eyebrow at Drew's closeness with their neighbour.

"Yeah!" Drew chuckled, "Me and Char!" as Charlotte grinned.

"Dexter Maloney you must get your memory back!" she shook her head, still grinning.

"I'm trying Char, really I am!" he replied and looked at Lainie again who seemed to be studying him.

"Well, we'd better..." Alex started.

"Yes! I have to go and do some cooking!" Lainie added, "We'll see you at the diner in a while? I've closed it for a few days but Ash and I thought it might trigger something, you built it for me, remember?" 

As Dex shook his head, sorrow in his expression... 

...Lainie forced a smile and said "No matter, see you in a bit!"

When Dex got into his flat, nothing had changed much. More paintings lying around than he remembered but apart from that...

...and his room! "Huh!" he exclaimed when he saw the two paintings of Lainie hanging on the wall!

"Told ya!" Ash said in a sing song manner behind him, "You loooove her!"

"Shut up!" Dex snapped, "It's bad enough not remembering her at all, I don't need to be reminded of a love I can't feel!"

"Sorry!" Ash mumbled.

"I wanna remember her so badly! I wanna know how it feels to..."

"What?"

"...to be in love! Ash, if I'm as madly in love with her as you say I am and I can't remember...then that's worse than having her and losing her to that...Alex!"

"Dexter..."

"No Ash! She's so beautiful! She's so sweet and homely and...I WANT TO LOVE HER!!!"

Ash gave him a reassuring reply, "You will! Despite your pathetic silences, she's your soul mate! Dex I've never seen you like this before with any other girl! She is your true love and you won't be able to forget her for long!"

"I hope you're right bro!" Dex sighed, "And that Alex guy?"

"Yeah?"

"I HATE him already!" Ash giggled like a schoolboy,

"Well that's a start!" he nudged Dex playfully and left him to his thoughts.

Charlotte and Drew were tending to her chickens before going to the diner. She felt sad for Dex and Lainie, but even sadder that Alex was in the way! "Oh Andrew, I don't know what it is but...maybe it's because I want Dexter to be with Lainie so much but..."

"You don't like Alex either do you?" Drew finished for her, echoing her feelings too.

"I don't! And I feel bad for that as well!"

"Don't Char, he's a creep! Roxy told me! And Dex told me he was really horrible to him behind Lainie's back, calling him names and threatening him! If Dex hadn't had that accident, and if he didn't care so much about Lainie, he'd have flattened that twerp in a heartbeat!"

"Oh Andrew!" Charlotte frowned, "Violence is never the answer! Unless it's my mother and it's really the only option!" Drew laughed, Charlotte could be so funny without even trying.

"Oh Char, you're adorable! Listen, we've got about an hour to kill before we need to be at the diner!"
"I know that Andrew!" she rolled her eyes and laughed.
"Well...I have a surprise for you!"

 "Andrew, you do know that I'm afraid of heights don't you?" Charlotte gulped as Drew helped her into the hot air balloon.
"Yes Char I do! But I'm here to protect you and...I thought it would be romantic! Anyway, I'm getting this for half an hour. The guy I hired it from, his mother is in the room next door to gramps in the care home! He said you get a perfect view of the mountains from here!"

As they were lifted off of the ground Charlotte groaned and gripped Drew's hand tightly. "Chill Char!" he murmured, "Do you honestly think I'd let anything happen to you???" Knowing this to be true, she loosened her grip but didn't let go of his hand.
"It is kind of...exciting!" she giggled softly.

"Come on Char, look at that beautiful view! It's just...breathtaking! It's like...gazing into your big brown eyes and just getting lost!" Charlotte blushed and picked up her binoculars...

 "Andrew? Is that..."
"I think...eww yes it is! Oh Roxy, Roxy, Roxy! What are you THINKING???" Charlotte twitched her nose and lowered her binoculars,
"Well clearly she isn't thinking! Should we tell Lainie?"
"God no Char, not right now with Dex and Alex and..." Drew also lowered his binoculars. He and Charlotte had spied Roxy in a clinch with her ex, Kevin!

Drew screwed up his face and sighed "There are just some things the human eye should NOT see!!!" Charlotte nodded her head, grimacing too and replied,
"Amen!"

Dex walked into the diner and nothing seemed familiar. Even when Ash pointed out his paintings on the wall, nothing came to his mind. That Alex guy was there, he really didn't like him at all!

"Hi Dexy!" Lainie called to him, "I made you some special coffee!"

"Thanks!" Dex felt overwhelmed, they were all trying too hard! He needed space! And just as he was thinking this...

...Alex approached him. "Can I have a word mate?"

"Yes." Dex nodded as they stood aside from the others.

"So you really don't remember my Lainie?"

"Afraid not!" Dexter shrugged.

"Nothing at all?" he kept prodding.

"Nothing!" Alex seemed to smile and nod at this but suddenly his face changed as he growled...

"Good! Make sure you keep it that way, right mate? She's MY girlfriend and you're nothing to her! Got it? NOTHING!" As soon as Alex changed from friendly to aggressive, Dex was once again transported into another memory...

...Alex being cruel and nasty to Dexter behind Lainie's back! Yeah there was no love lost between them, that much Dex remembered! "He hates me and I hate him!" his mind told him...

...then the vision was gone again! Things were starting to come back, Dex was remembering things, an urge to scoop up Lainie and run hit him like the van that put him in this predicament in the first place. And his heart began to burn. Hopefully soon he would remember Lainie completely and then he would save her from this creep! "So we understand each other?" Alex cut into his thoughts.

"Oh yes Alex, we do!" Dex replied, yes they did! Dex knew what he had to do now. Remembering more and more about Lainie and how much he loved her...yeah he seriously needed to get rid of this horrible excuse for a human being! As he and Alex parted ways, the door flew open and a very annoying female voice screeched...

"Oh my baby! My hero! You're back!!!"

Another memory hit Dexter's brain, and he felt sick! "Oh God!" he sucked in a breath as the vision of him kissing this girl flooded his mind.

She ran over to Dex and kissed him rather forcefully...

...as he replied in an embarrassed tone "Hey Selena!"

Erin stood in the doorway and smiled at Ash as he pulled her outside...

"Erin! What are you doing here?"

"Oh so I do exist then!" she replied bitterly.

"What?"

"I came to the hospital to support you and you didn't even look at me Ash! You didn't acknowledge my presence! And that really hurt!" Ash looked down at the ground then back up at her, spinning her around to face him.

"Erin, I'm sorry. I can't do this right now, my brother needs me! He's still recovering. I can't deal with a relationship at the moment...or whatever this is that we have I..." Erin interrupted him...

"Whatever it is that we have???"

"Can't we just be friends? For now?" Erin could feel the tears welling up in her eyes, at least he didn't say he wanted her out of his life completely, friends she could just about handle!

After a long pause she sniffed and replied "Sure Ash, we can be friends!"

"My priority is my brother, you do understand don't you? He's all I've got!" Erin nodded in agreement. She would be his friend, but deep inside her heart was shattered into a thousand tiny pieces...

...because Erin Daley was so madly in love with Ashton Maloney it made her whole body ache with a yearning that she felt could consume her at any moment...and it was killing her!

Ash stormed back into the diner as Selena was all over Dexter. He saw Lainie's face fall as she excused herself and retreated into the kitchen, Alex saw her go too and immediately glared over at Dex as Selena mumbled breathlessly "Oh I was so worried about you, I thought I'd lost you lover boy!"

Ash grabbed hold of Selena, less delicately than he did Erin, and deposited her out the door. "Off you go blondie! Lover boy is very tired and emotional right now, and Lainie is actually closed. This is a private party, bye bye!"

After successfully getting rid of her, Ash turned on his brother. "Okay tell me you didn't!"

"What?" Dex could feel his cheeks turning crimson as Drew called over to Ash,

"Ashton not now huh?"

"Did you have sex with a fan?"

"I..."

"And how do you even remember her or having sex with her if you can't remember Lainie or the diner or..."

"Stop!" Dex clenched his eyes shut and held up his hands as Drew backed him up,

"Come on elder Maloney, give him a break eh?"

"Okay, okay! I'm starting to remember! I've been having flashbacks, memories. Little things have been triggering my past and..." Dex sighed and shook his head, "When Alex spoke to me there, lots of things came flooding back! And just there? When Selena came in? I remembered sleeping with her one night because I was so down about...look can we do this later?"

Ash gave his brother a disapproving stare, "No little brother we cannot do this later! You have to come clean here Dexter! Little Lainie is breakin' her heart thinking you don't know her and all this time..."

"No Ash! NOT all this time! Just in the past couple of minutes! Okay? I remember Lainie, I remember it all! It just took that one thing! That one...emotion!"

"Dex, you need to tell her! Why would you not? Why was that not the first thing you did when you got your memory back?"

Dex could feel a mixture of frustration and guilt boil up inside of him, "Because I just wanted to pretend we were starting again, my slate was clean! I never messed up her date with Rob, I never deliberately set up my gallery debut on the same day as the diner opened...I was a good guy with a fresh start! And now..." suddenly the kitchen door opened...

"Now what Dexy?" Lainie appeared with teary eyes, she'd heard what he said! And his heart sank to the pit of his stomach!

Oh Dexy, what are you like? What will happen next eh? ;)