Eyes full of stars | ✔️

Chapter 19: Everytime

"Why are we

Strangers when

Our love is strong?"

-Britney Spears

*

I woke up and blinked, the light was too strong. I raised a hand to cover my eyes and try to adjust them. Very slowly, I started to make out my surroundings. Apparently, I was laying in a hospital bed and having the worst headache ever.

I moaned for the pain and touched the top of my head... only to find out it was bandaged.

"What...?" I gasped.

"Lily!" a voice on my left exclaimed. I turned around to see Felicity sitting on an armchair. "You are awake!"

I observed her. She was beautiful, wearing a blue navy and white blouse, white trousers and crimson shoes; her make-up was ruined and she looked exhausted but she was shining like the sun behind her, outside the window. She sat on my bed and took my hand, her eyes watery.

"Felicity" I smiled, then frowned. "Where am I?"

"In Kent" she replied. "How are you feeling?"

I took a deep breath. "Tired. I have headache."

Felicity caressed my face. "I'm so happy that you woke up" her voice was breaking, but she tried to smile nevertheless.

"What happened?" I asked. "How long have I slept?"

"Almost one day. The doctor will be excited to know that you woke up before she suspected." She leaned on me. "Off the record, she is good in her job but she's a smartass. And you know I hate smartasses." She straightened and winked at me, making me chuckle. Then, her face became serious. "What do you remember?"

I shook my head. "Everything is so confused... but... why are we in Kent?"

Felicity looked at me in silence for a moment. "We came here for your birthday..."

I blinked. "My birthday?!"

An image of a chocolate cake with a candle shaped like a golden "L" popped into my mind, but that was it. I grabbed Felicity's hand, as I tried to make out more memories, but all I could get was a stronger headache. Everything was black and painful. I suddenly felt very scared. Something was wrong.

"Felicity... I... I'm not feeling well!"

She quickly got up and took a few steps backwards. "I'm calling the doctor!" she exclaimed before rushing out of the room.

***

Doctor Sial visited Lily and instructed the nurse to give her a medicine to alleviate her headache, then she got closer to Felicity, who was standing by the door.

"Her headache is totally normal" she said. "Confusion too. We'll be running some tests to make sure she hasn't got any permanent lesions."

Felicity sighed, but nodded. "Do you believe she can receive visits now? Sebastian and Toby are eager to see her..."

"Who are Sebastian and Toby?" Lily's voice came from the bed.

Both Felicity and Doctor Sial turned towards her.

"What do you mean, who are Sebastian and Toby, Lily?" Felicity asked, taking a few steps towards her friend, Doctor Sial following behind.

Lily frowned. "I mean that I have no idea of who they are" she explained.

Felicity and Doctor Sial exchanged looks. The doctor took an instrument - a sort of torch shaped like a pen - out of her pocket and, again, visited Lily's eyes. "Ask her more questions about the gentlemen" she instructed Felicity.

Felicity sat on the bed. "Don't you remember Sebastian? He's your boyfriend. You have been in love with him for so long!" Lily kept on staring at her like she was talking nonsense and Felicity started panicking. She swallowed and added "Toby is your friend. You have been knowing him for just a couple of months, but you two are so close now!"

"I don't know what are you talking about, Felicity" Lily whispered. "I am single and have no male friends."

"Keep asking her of people she might have forgotten about" Doctor Sial said, now touching Lily head, ears, neck.

"Do you remember Mr. Lavender? And Melissa? And Grace?" Felicity tried.

Lily chuckled. "My boss, my colleague and the receptionist? Of course I do!"

Then, Felicity mentioned the names of her own family, common friends and anyone else who would pop into her mind, even the postman and the guy from the grocery store. But after ten minutes it was clear that Lily perfectly remembered everyone... everyone except for Sebastian and Toby.

"Show her some pictures of them, if you have any" Doctor Sial suggested, looking concerned.

Felicity took her phone out of her handbag and opened the photo app. She showed Lily all the pictures from her birthday party. "This is Sebastian, your boyfriend" she indicated him in some photos where Lily and Sebastian were together, they were even kissing in many of them. When Lily showed no interest or acknowledgment, Felicity scrolled through more photos. "This is Toby" she said, showing the pictures of the cake war between he and Lily. This time, Felicity had the impression that Lily's eyes were locked on the phone display for a couple of seconds more, but when she looked at Felicity again, her friend understood that her attempt had been completely useless.

Felicity was forced to stand up and look at Doctor Sial in the most defeated and desolated way.

***

Two hours later, Felicity was driving back to the bed & breakfast, completely exhausted and sad.

Doctor Sial was honestly astonished of Lily's condition. She claimed she had never heard of such a case and discussed it with some colleagues of hers, who were as astonished as she was. After analyzing the case furthermore, the doctor came to the conclusion that, supposedly, Lily's amnesia was partial due to the fact that Sebastian and Toby's faces were the last ones she had seen before losing consciousness. It was also possible that the occurrences of that night had a big role, as the shock of seeing the men fighting like that might have pushed Lily's brain to forget about them. After some recommendations, Doctor Sial stated that Lily was probably going to restore her memory in a relatively short amount of time. All that Felicity, Sebastian and Toby had to do was trying to be there for her.

Felicity pulled over, parked the car and rushed in the bed & breakfast, heading to her room. She needed to remove those clothes and take a shower and that was exactly what she did. She wore sneakers, jeans and a hoodie. When she finished, she took a deep breath and went to knock on the door of Sebastian's and Toby's room, which was immediately opened by the latter.

"Felicity" he sounded like speaking from beyond the grave, his eyes wide open. "Lily... ?"

Sebastian appeared by his side. "How is Lily?"

Felicity stared at them. "Let's go downstairs" she said. "I need coffee and food. I'll explain everything."

***

It was so strange. Felicity told me that I had hit my head on a fountain edge and now I had no memory of some guys named Sebastian and Toby... allegedly my boyfriend and close friend, respectively. How could I have forgotten about such important people?

The more I would try to remember, the more I got confused, to be honest. The birthday party was a big black hole - except for the chocolate cake -, I remembered only flashes of the past few months and there was no man in any of them.

Anyway, according to Doctor Sial, my head injury was now healed enough to let me spend my recovery at home, with the recommendation that I would get checked by a neurologist in London. Felicity would have picked me up the next morning, she already had talked to Mr. Lavender to ask a week off work in order to get some rest and try to make my memory work again.

As for now, my priorities were get rid of my headache, go back home with my best friend and cuddle Sherlock.