Splintered Memory (27 page)

“
True,” Nick said; “but do you know what I thought was really weird though.”

“Charlie’s face
,” Matt said answering Nick’s question for him.

“Yeah
,” Nick replied. “She looked embarrassed one second, and then amused the next. Then when she noticed that people were looking in her direction, she suddenly looked like she didn’t understand why anyone was looking at her at all.”

“I saw that too
,” Matt said; “but I thought it was just me.”

“I’m lost
,” Ben said. “What are you saying? It was as if she remembered and that’s why she was embarrassed? Or she was embarrassed because she couldn’t remember? It could’ve been that she was just amused at the thought of ever having been stupid enough to have slept with Rich.”

Matt and Nick both shrugged.

“She obviously didn’t remember,” Rich said; “amnesia!”

Matt looked from Rich to Charlie
, and he could’ve sworn that she’d been watching him less than a second ago. Yet he could now see Emily watching him, and he turned back towards his friends.

“I think I
’d better go and ask Emily to dance before I die from a withering glare,” he said.

“You’d also better dance with Bex
,” Rich suggested; “and maybe apologise.”

“Yeah
, yeah,” Matt said as he started to walk over to Emily; “but you know she already knew right?”

Nick and Ben
both laughed again as Rich looked completely shocked.

If Matt had thought
that the wedding and early part of the reception had gone slowly, it was nothing compared to when the party on the dance floor had gotten under way. Once he had asked Emily to dance, she’d taken this as a sign that he was showing everyone there that they were a couple.

She had made him stay on the dance floor for
twenty minutes, and she’d spent most of the dances pressed up against him almost inappropriately until he’d finally put a bit of space between them. When he had managed to shake her from his side completely, and had left her happily talking to Bex and her bridesmaids, it had been half past twelve and Charlie had been nowhere in sight.

“She
’s prettier than I remember her being,” Claire said to him as he stopped by the bar near to where she’d already been stood.

“Hmm
,” Matt said distractedly.

“The girlfriend
,” Claire said. “Although has there been any need to flaunt her around quite as much as you have been doing. You are aware that your wife’s also in attendance right?”

“I wasn’t flaunting anybody
,” Matt said angry with himself for sounding defensive.

“Touchy!” Claire remarked instantly.

“What do you want Claire?” He asked dropping any pretence of politeness.

“
I’d like for you to stop hurting my best friend. But tell me? Did you come here with that as your sole intention? Flaunt the new girlfriend around, and then make some unfunny derisive remark about Charlie in your best man’s speech. Did Emily think that was funny?” She asked.

Matt could feel his temper rising and he said angrily; “fuck off Claire. I don’t think you have the
right
to talk to me about Charlie. Where were you after the accident?”

Claire was about to respond when Charlie said; “
Guys. It’s Rich and Bex’s wedding, don’t argue.”

They both turned to look at
her, and it was clear that neither of them had seen her arrive.

“Matt
it wasn’t a shock for me to see you with Emily today,” she said. “I’m guessing someone had obviously told their mum or dad, and you know how these things go with our families. Plus when I left, I never expected you to stay single. So don’t let Claire wind you up, because honestly no one thinks you’re flaunting Emily around.” She then smiled at him reassuringly.

He
didn’t reply, and she smiled at him again and said; “can you give us a sec?”

Matt
nodded and walked away, but as he sat down at an empty table across from them he couldn’t help but watch the exchange that followed. He’d never seen Charlie like this before. She was clearly angry with Claire for something, but he couldn’t understand what Claire had done.

Normally he would’v
e thought that if Claire was being yelled at it’d be deserved, not that Charlie would ever have agreed with him about that. Yet tonight, Claire had been taking Charlie’s side. How could that have annoyed Charlie so much he wondered?

T
he argument continued, and Matt couldn’t tear his eyes away. He saw Rich walk over to them, and he contemplated stopping him. Any man that was about to come between Charlie and Claire was a braver man than him, but Rich didn’t. Rich didn’t come between them. He took Charlie’s side instantly, and when Claire turned her back on both of them Rich walked off with Charlie. What the hell was going on Matt asked himself bemusedly?

He got up to
go over to where Rich and Charlie were now stood talking to find out, but he could see that Rich for some reason now looked upset and that Charlie was consoling him. It didn’t make any sense, and he decided that enough was enough. He didn’t see why he had to be in the dark about whatever was going on, and he quickened his pace over to them. Unfortunately Emily suddenly appeared in front of him.

“I’m tired
,” she said.

“Go to bed then
,” he said shortly irritated that she was here. He then looked past her to Charlie and Rich. They were now hugging, and he felt an old feeling of jealousy rise up inside of him.

“That’s not very nice
,” she said pouting as she always did when something wasn’t going the way that she wanted it to.

As with all traits that seem attractive at first, Matt had
long since grown to hate her pouting and now found it widely annoying and childish. He didn’t say this though, he instead said; “sorry, but I can’t go to bed before the bride and groom. It’s part of my best man duties,” he lied pulling her into a hug so that he could survey the situation behind her more closely.

“Oh
okay,” she said nestling into his hug and holding him tightly.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes at her, but as he did he saw Rich and Charlie look in his direction. Charlie smiled across at him, and then she said something to Rich. Matt returned her smile somewhat weakly, but this seemed to prompt Rich to smile at him as well.

Matt suddenly felt like he was sixteen again. He was once more watching his two best friends share something intimate. He wondered what it was that Charlie was saying to Rich, and he followed his best friend with his eyes as he walked away from Charlie and over to Bex. He watched Rich drag his new wife away from her adoring bridesmaids, and take her out onto the dance floor. Yet when he looked back to where Charlie had been stood, she’d gone.

“On second thoughts maybe we can go to bed. I think Rich has everything in hand
,” Matt said.

He felt Emily lift her head from off his chest
, and she took his hand in hers. He knew that when they got back to their room she’d try and initiate sex, but he really wasn’t in the mood. So when they got back he deliberately asked her to go and put on the sexy little night dress that he’d seen her pack, but whilst she changed in the bathroom he lay on the bed and feigned sleep.

Matt heard her sigh as she realised that he’d fallen asleep, and he kept his eyes closed as she tried to wake him. Finally she lost interest and got into bed to go to sleep
. Unfortunately while he continued to lie still, his mind was transfixed on the image he had of Charlie as she’d turned round to look at him at the reception desk. He felt the familiar pull on his heart as he tried hopelessly to shut her face out of his thoughts, but as he lay awake he felt increasingly irritable and he longed for some drugs to take.

The
wedding had been the wakeup call that Charlie had needed. Even though she’d seen Matt with Emily in Birmingham, there had been a part of her that had hoped he’d be at the wedding alone. She’d thought that if he was, then maybe surrounded by the romance of a wedding there was a chance that he might realise that he still loved her and would tell her. She could then reveal to him that she was his old Charlie, fully recovered and memory intact.

Unfortunately it hadn’t played out like that, and Emily had been with him. Charlie had also seen for herself that they really were a couple, and on top of this they were happy. She’d watched them over the day, and she’d seen that Matt had moved on with his life.

Charlie’s heart had stung, but as the pain had seared she’d realised that she hadn’t moved on. Even though she’d moved to London with the intention of starting a new life, she hadn’t allowed herself to relinquish her ties to the past. She’d been holding out for a story book ending with Matt, and she hadn’t wanted to admit that she was actually a single woman in her early thirties.

What had made things
worse was that in the lead up to the wedding, she’d managed to convince herself that she’d been too kind to Matt in her recollection of how he looked. She’d told herself that in reality he couldn’t possibly be as good looking as he was in her head. Yet seeing him at the wedding had dashed any hopes that she’d had that Matt was just average.

As she’d turned round to face him when she’d been at the reception desk checking in, he
’d actually taken her breath away. She hadn’t in fact been able to believe the kind of disservice that she’d being doing to him in her mind.

The real Matt was so much more handsome than the one in her head. He still had that cheeky smile which had always set girls hearts on fire
, and had often gotten him out of trouble with everyone’s mums and all the female teachers at school. His eyes had still been the same dazzling hazel colour, and they’d still lit up when he’d smiled.

Charlie had known that when she got back to London she’d have to start dating again. She’d also known that Claire would be the best person to help her do that. So even though she’d been angry with Claire for her actions at the wedding, she’d forgiven her knowing both that she needed her help and that her intentions had been good.

During the wedding, it had become clear to Charlie that Claire was looking for any excuse to tell Matt about her memory. Yet what had irritated her more was when Claire had let slip the fact that she’d already told Rich.

Charlie had to admit though
, that the one good thing to come from Claire having told Rich was that she’d got to congratulate him on his wedding day as herself. There had been no having to pretend that she had no memory, and it had been clear that Rich had been touched at this. Although she had felt awful about making him upset, and she’d asked him to stop looking so sad. He’d smiled and said he was just feeling guilty about Matt though. Yet she’d said that there was no reason to, and she’d told him to look over at Matt who she’d already spied hugging Emily.

“Rich he’s moved on, and he seems happy. You look at them and tell me Matt’s not happy
,” she’d said. Rich had turned to look at Matt, and he’d smiled at them. “It’s better that he never knows. We had our time together, and now they deserve theirs,” she’d told him before hugging him and smiling over at Matt again who she’d seen was still looking over in their direction.

Rich had been pacified, but that night Charlie had lain in bed unable to sleep. She had finally given up the fight, and she’d gotten up and gone and sat in the hotel bar. She’d been looking for a distraction, a few straggling guests from the wedding, but she’d settled for a drink.

The bar tender had been a young girl whose English hadn’t been very good, and so Charlie had sat at the bar in silence thinking about Matt and their past together. At about 4am and with no explanation, the barmaid had walked away and had left Charlie with a quarter of a bottle of vodka and a few cans of diet coke. Charlie had then proceeded to get horribly drunk.

She’d known that she should’ve been happy for Matt, but she missed him. She’d also kept thinking back to his speech, and the split second during it when they’d exchanged a glance and she’d known that she’d very nearly given the game away.

He’d looked in her direction with a look of apology on his face, which she’d known had been for him having made reference to her indiscretion with Rich. Yet as he had, she’d been laughing at the looks on both Bex and Rich’s faces. She’d caught his eyes, and they’d smiled at each other. It had been a smile that they’d shared many times before. It had been a smile that had always been just for them.

Charlie had seen off the last of the vodka, and had stumbled back towards her room. She’d realised in her drunken haze that the only way that she could be sure that Matt would never find out about her memory, was for her to never see him again. That would also remove any temptation she’d have of telling him about it. She’d known that to protect him, she needed to stay away from him.

She’d gotten into bed and had decided that when she got back to London she’d file for divorce. She’d known that it was time to put her past behind her once and for all. It was time to move on with her life, a life that he wouldn’t be a part of. Yet the thought of that had made her cry.