Remind Me

Chapter Fifty-Four

Joey kidnaps me early in the morning. He drags me out of bed in a tired and grumpy state, and he's lucky I don't gouge his eyes out.

"I'm taking you somewhere," he says once we're safely into the kitchen.

"What? Where? Why?" I ask, rubbing my eyes. What is it, two in the morning? How is he wearing a smile right now?

"I can't tell you where-"

"Has nobody gotten the memo that I hate surprises-"

"-but I can tell you why. You're always spending time with that icky boyfriend of yours and I want to have a bestie morning," Joey says with another huge grin. "Now go put some clothes on and get in my car."

"I'm wearing clothes," I lean against the wall and close my eyes. "Can I sleep in the car at least?"

"I guess so. But you won't have a really long nap. We aren't going far. We're going to my favorite place on planet earth, though," Joey says.

"Oh, gosh," I stand up again and walk towards the staircase. I take each step slowly and feel like I'm going to fall over in exhaustion. When I reach the doorway to mine and Clarin's room, my hand stops on the handle. I close my eyes and take a deep breath. It's just a room. And all I need to do is take my clothes and walk back out. No big deal.

I hurry inside and shuffle through my bag on the floor, where I take out a pair of jean shorts and a Led Zeppelin T-shirt. Then I all but sprint out the door and into the bathroom to change. There. That wasn't so bad.

Once I make it back downstairs where Joey is waiting for me, I'm somewhat more awake than I was. He's shoving a piece of toast down his throat and hands me a banana. Through his disgustingly full mouth, I can somewhat make out the word, "Eat."

I take it and peel it like a civilized human and I can see the impatience on his face as I eat the banana bite by bite. I stare at him the entire time and he is tapping his foot anxiously. When I near the end, he lets out a groan and pulls the peel at of my hand to slam dunk it into the garbage can with all his might.

"Come on, we've got to go have a good time already!" Joey exclaims, dragging me out the door and to his car.

"Chill," I roll my eyes as he practically throws me into the passenger seat.

"Excite."

"Don't tell me what to do," I let out a huff as I put on my seatbelt. He's the one who dragged me out of the house at six a.m. "Tell me where we're going."

As he peels out of the neighborhood, he glances over at me with a huge grin. "Don't tell me what to do."

And not within five minutes do we pull up in front of the last place I would have expected. This is a huge building full of blow-up bouncy houses and slides and crap. My eyes widen in disbelief. I turn to him, prepared to laugh.

"Wait," Joey says, holding up both hands in surrender. "You remember everything. So can you think back to all our many conversations and tell me why I brought you here?"

I tilt my head at him, narrowing my eyes in concentration. A bouncy house place? I have no idea. But then it hits me.

"Oh," I nod. "You and Owen met here. You were... What, nine?"

"Ten," Joey corrects. "And yes, that is correct."

"And... You spent every summer when he came back up here with him? Until you moved down to Pearlin University. Yeah, I remember."

"Good girl," Joey grins at me, ruffling my hair. "Now let's get in there and I'll show you how it's done."

"Wait," I say, grabbing his shoulder before he opens his car door. "Aren't we too old? Are we even allowed in there?"