Irene shoved her chair back as the liquid splashed her front, staining the girl's clothes. "Ava, seriously?" Tristan said, scowling at the girl.
"How can anyone sit like that? Be more careful next time," Ava said, while Irene scoffed at the girl's words.
"Not my fault you're tripping over your own feet," Irene shot back.
"It was YOUR chair," Ava said, glaring at Irene.
"Yeah. The café is full of chairs, most people can navigate that without a problem... Or did you need mommy and daddy here to hold your hand?" Irene retorted, with a sweet smile on her face, while next to her, Tristan covered his face as if trying to hold himself back from laughing out loud.
Ava squinted at Irene, as if recognizing her. "So you're the one who overdosed downtown, aren't you? I'm not even surprised. How did they let you out of the asylum?"
"Hey, Ava! We're already forced to put up with you for the seven hours a day we're in school, which is WAY more than enough. Maybe you could mind your business and go back to whatever or whoever it is you're doing these days. Thanks so much," Tristan said, while another guy about their age came up behind Ava, putting his arm protectively around her shoulders. "Oh great, it's Kevin." Tristan murmured sarcastically.
"These freaks are bothering you, babe?" Kevin asked, looking at Ava.
"I think Ava was just leaving... Weren't you?" Irene said, making Tristan give Ava a cheeky wave.
"Bye, Ava."
Ava was just about to leave when Amelia reappeared at their table, looking warily at her. "Oh, look who it is... I'm surprised you can even afford to come here. Hope you're not relying too much on your friends' charity," Ava quipped, looking smugly at Amelia.
"And I hope Kevin here isn't dating you just for your money. Except you have such an unkind attitude that I'm certain it can't be for anything else... Unless you REALLY put it out, but that's got to be the most high-maintenance ever. Now, I know you must be just THRIVING off this attention, but can you run along, so I can catch up with my friends? Thanks so much," Irene said, and Ava gritted her teeth, seething in anger.
"Well, you're just—" Ava trailed off when Tristan cut her off.
"Oh my God, Ava! STOP TALKING. Please. I'm begging you to shut up! Do literally anything else with your mouth. I'm sure Kevin will thank you, too," Tristan said, and for once, Ava was rendered speechless.
She looked at Kevin, who looked like he wanted to punch Tristan in the face, but he kept his mouth shut.
After an intense staredown, Ava turned her back on them and stormed out of the café, while Kevin followed after her like a loyal dog with his tail between his legs. "I dislike that girl," Amelia, who had been quiet since she arrived, said through gritted teeth.
"Me too! Please tell me I had enough sense to dislike her before I lost my memory, too?" Irene said, making Tristan chuckle at her words.
"We all did. She's... well... Ava's family ruined Amelia's father's business," Tristan revealed, and Amelia stared down into her drink, saying nothing.
"Amelia, do you want to talk about it?" Irene asked.
Amelia shook her head as she answered, "Not really, no. Maybe you're lucky to have amnesia, Irene. I would give anything to forget what Ava's family did to mine… or to get revenge." The sudden dark look in Amelia's eyes made Irene shiver, while Tristan gave her a look that told her not to pursue the issue for now.
Later that night, as Irene lay in bed playing games on her phone, Dax the cat ran into her room and jumped on her. "Aah! Kitty, you scared me… What is it?"
Dax bumped his head against her hand and purred happily as she stroked his head. The longer Irene looked at him, the more intense the feeling in her heart became.
She knew the cat. She couldn't remember anyone else from before, but she remembered Dax. "Why does your face seem so familiar to me, huh?" Irene mumbled, not expecting a response, but the unexpected happened and shook her whole being.
"Because we know each other, silly little girl… You haven't got much time. You need to remember everything," Dax said with urgency, and Irene jumped away from the bed in fear.
*****
Irene woke up in a cold sweat as she lay back on her pillows, sorting through her memories, trying to remember if anything before the hospital surfaced during the night, but she could remember nothing.
Suddenly, she sat up in bed, and that's when she remembered her cat talking to her last night. 'Did he really talk?' Irene mused, then shook her head. 'No, it had to be a dream.' Still, Irene felt that it was so real, and the voice sounded like a person's voice mixed with the purring of a cat.
Irene looked around her room, but the cat was nowhere to be seen. 'He said I needed to get my memories back, and soon,' Irene thought, shaking her head. 'As if I don't know that already—it's all I think about! Pets can't talk. It must have been a dream, or something,' Irene concluded in her head. Then she heard noises coming from the living room and leaned forward, listening.
'That's Aunt Ashley, but who's she talking to? It can't be Dax, can it? No, Irene! You just talked yourself out of this, remember?' After that, Irene stood up and entered her bathroom to get ready for her first day at school after the incident that happened to her.
Irene walked to the standing mirror in her room and twirled, admiring herself from all angles. She was wearing a denim shirt with two pockets on the front and a denim knee-length skirt. She smiled at her reflection and then rushed downstairs, relieved to see that Ashley wasn't talking to Dax at all.
But she scowled when she recognized who Ashley was talking to. "I think she'll want to hear what I came to tell her… Besides, she will probably have more questions for me than I have for her," Diego said, while Ashley frowned at him.
"She's not ready for this, detective. Irene is still healing. You can't just decide to show up whenever you feel like it," Ashley said, while Irene cleared her throat, and the two of them stopped arguing, turning to look at her.
"Ah, there she is… Just the girl I wanted to see," Diego commented.
"Irene, honey, you don't have to talk to him. It's your first day back at school. I don't want you to do anything that might upset you."
"I just need a moment of your time, and then I'll be out of your hair," Diego said, and Irene sighed.
"Fine, make it quick,"
"Of course. I understand it's your first day back at school." Irene stared pointedly at him. He cleared his throat and started right in. "Right, well. I finally got my hands on your blood tests from your hospital stay. You tested positive for a handful of substances."
"Impossible. That's ridiculous," Ashley exclaimed.
"Wait, what?" Irene sputtered.
"Drugs," Diego revealed.
"Drugs! Do you hear yourself, Diego? Our Irene, strung out on drugs?" Ashley said, and Irene's brows pulled together as she thought, 'Wait. What does she mean, 'our Irene?' Ashley continued firmly, "She's never done drugs in her life, let alone—" She trailed off as she snatched the lab results from Diego, reading the list.
Ashley was taken aback by seeing that almost all of them were positive. "Ridiculous! Not possible! She'd be dead."
"Dead, or completely wiped of her long-term memory, maybe?" Diego said with a shrug.
"She isn't a drug user! Stop pretending like you don't know that," Ashley said, glaring at the detective while Irene thought to herself, 'How would he know that about me?'
"Then what do you think happened, huh? Paint a picture for me, since you seem to know so much, Ash," Diego shot back, raising his brows at her.
"Well, I mean. What about Rick? Have you bothered looking into his story?" Ashley said, and Diego let out an exasperated sigh.
"Ashley, come on… You can't be serious."
"Well, whatever. The tests are wrong. That's what I know," Ashley insisted.
"Maybe we should head down to the hospital and have Doctor Martinez explain them to you herself. How about that?" Diego suggested, while Irene looked between him and her aunt as she thought, 'Jeez, they're fighting over me and it's like I'm not even here.'
"Hey. Can I ask something?" Irene said, and Ashley and the detective stopped arguing and looked at her.
"No. You don't," Ashley answered, knowing very well what her niece wanted to ask her. She looked at Diego and spoke with conviction. "She doesn't."
'But how does she know for sure? Maybe I should ask Tristan and Amelia instead,' Irene mused.
"Get on with your questioning, detective. She doesn't have all day. I'm going to make us some coffee," Ashley said as she headed to the kitchen, while Diego watched her go, then called after her.
"I'll have my usual—" He trailed off when Ashley poked her head back into the room and interrupted him.
"There's no coffee for you in this house." She said and withdrew back into the kitchen.
Diego rolled his eyes before taking a seat with Irene in the living room as he muttered under his breath, "Figures."
'There's something going on between the two of them,' Irene mused as she watched the exchange between the two adults.