My Happiest Memory - Boyf Riends AU -

1.8 How to get so close, but yet so far

The next morning, I awoke - no fresh dream or memory left for me inside my own mind. I was slightly disappointed at this, I had been hoping that I'd at least get another memory like I did before about the one with me and Michael under a tree.

I thought back on the memory and why exactly I'd thought it must have been a dream in the first place. The reasoning was simple - it had all seemed way to surreal and perfect to be real.

The perfect neutral temperature - the clear summer sky. The calming silence filled only with bird song. The grass did not feel wet, didn't give me the worry of getting dirty - just felt soft beneath my hands.

It had felt like a fairy tale - a unreachable fantasy, one I could only ever dream of.

Then, the boy next to me pulled me back to reality. Of course, Michael had not disrupted my good mood at the time, but he was what made me feel that the surreal landscape was in fact, real now.

The memory had been perfect - there was no other way that I could describe it. My happiest memory had come to me first, but I couldn't help, but feel that that could only mean that the worst memory I used to have would come last.

The thought made me shiver, although I knew that either way if I wanted to be, well, me again, I'd have to remember everything about me. This included good and bad memories.

I quickly reminded myself that Rich and Jake were coming over today. I felt a buzz of excitement at the idea of having to of my old friends here in the flesh - sure, Chloe had been great, but these two had been close to me during high school. Chloe admitted herself that we were friends, but we weren't that close. 

I jumped up, deciding that maybe it would this would be the best time to just make sure that the house was not too much of a wreck. I didn't think it was, but you never know - there could be a stray sock littered in the kitchen.

Too my surprise and utter coincidence, I did actually find a sock under the table in the kitchen.

I highly suspected that maybe the thought had really come to me because somewhere deep down an old thought had come back to me, reminding me that there may be a sock in the kitchen. Or it could just be that I'm thinking too hard into this and it was just coincidence.

At this point, I was grasping at straws, but after hearing so much about myself and having those few memories - I was becoming desperate to find any links between current me and old me.

The doorbell rang and I jumped to my feet, rushing towards the door. This must be them - Rich and Jake. 

I opened the door and was greeted by two strangely familiar faces. As I looked harder at them, I began to slowly recognise them and make connections on younger Rich and Jake and current Rich and Jake.

Neither had changed very much from when I saw them in my memory. Rich was still very small, Jake was still tall, but they both did look much more mature than my memory - which was to be expected considering it was years ago now.

"Hey Jeremy! It's me, Rich." Rich grinned at me, probably adding the 'it's me, Rich' bit on just in case I didn't recognise them.

"Hi Rich, Jake." I turned, nodding at Jake who smiled widely back at me. "I'd like to say been a while, but honestly I don't remember the last time we saw each other." I commented.

Okay, maybe my comment had been a bit un-needed and could be considered quite pessimistic - but I was finding that that was just a part of my nature at this point. I stepped aside, letting Rich and Jake into the house.

"It has been a while, I haven't actually been to your new place before. You just messaged me the address when we were talking once before the..." Rich hesitated, before I nodded at him, basically telling him that it was fine to mention the accident. "Car crash." Rich finished.

"Yeah, I have looked around through boxes and stuff, but it looks like old me didn't think I needed to keep old photos and stuff. At least, I can't find anything like it anywhere." I sighed.

Jake frowned at me, then turned towards Rich - who seemed just as confused at Jake's frown as me. He then looked back at me, sighing and shaking his head. "I just, I don't know." Jake paused. "Don't you think that's a bit weird?"

The last comment was directed more at Rich than me, but I shook my head anyway. "It's just - you used to be such a sappy guy, like, you had loads of photos printed out of us all." Jake shrugged.

Rich's face lit up as Jake mentioned this. "Wait- wait, no you're right!" Rich practically punched Jake in the shoulder in excitement. "Remember, Jeremy told us ages ago that he put all of the better photos in that box memento thing!"

Jake took a few seconds to process what Rich had just told us. I just stared at him. If he was right, this could help a lot. It might even trigger another memory!

"Oh, my, god! Yes, you're right - and I remember exactly where you hid it, because you sent me a photo." Jake turned, looking at me. "I know we haven't even sat down yet, but do you know where your desk is?" He asked.

I nodded, gesturing for them to follow me. I took them all the way too my room, which was a complete mess. Clothes were spread out all over the floor, but at this point I was too excited to care.

Jake rushed over to my desk, me and Rich closely following behind him. I peered over Jake's shoulder as he pulled my desk forward a little, panting as he did so (desks are not light!).

Sure enough, hidden behind the desk was a small, square box - same height as width - pushed into a small curve in the wall behind the desk, which looked as though it had been carved out by the original owner to hide who knows what.

Jake leaned over and in that moment I thanked any existing god that Jake was tall with long arms - I would not be able to reach it and probably would've ended up breaking something.

Jake smiled at me, handing me the box. I took it from his hands, dusting of the top of the box, I glanced up at them, grinning. I turned the box over in my hands twice, trying to find a opening. Then, I saw it - and my heart sunk.

I swallowed back waves of disappointment and crushed hope, looking back up at the eagerly awaiting Rich and Jake.

"It's locked."