Olivia's POV
I close my eyes and prepare myself for the impact that I'm sure will end with something in my body broken. Instead of the hard asphalt, however, I feel a strong hand wrap around my upper arm and pull me back up. The same arm then moves around my waist and helps me step off the bus without as much as a single misstep.
The moment my feet touch the hard ground I look to my side to find Samuel standing beside me. Without as much as a glance, he removes his hand and takes a step away from me.
"Why did you help me?" I ask once the bus drives off. "Didn't you say that you aren't allowed to interfere with my life?"
"Don't take this as more than it is." He turns his back to me and heads in the direction of my house. "I helped you so I wouldn't need to deal with you going to the hospital again."
I'm about to follow him, but before I can take a single hop forward, my muscles scream in protest. I have obviously overestimated the amount of hopping I am able to endure in one morning. With a loud sigh, I lower myself onto the sidewalk and rest the crutches on the ground beside me.
"What are you doing?" Samuel returns to my side.
"You go right ahead." I wave in the direction of my house. "I need a short break and then I'll be right behind you."
He stares at me for a moment and then crouches down beside me. Without asking for my permission, he grasps my right arm and slings it over his shoulders. Then he wraps his left arm around my back and orders, "Grab the crutches."
I have just enough time to wrap my fingers around the crutches before he hauls us to our feet. While supporting most of my weight, he begins to lead us in the direction of my house.
"Don't misunderstand," he repeats. "I don't feel like standing in the middle of the street. That's all."
I stare at his profile for a second and then open my mouth to question the truth of his words. Right at that moment, however, we round the corner onto the street my house is on and my eyes land on a couple standing thirty feet away from us. I immediately recognize Brooke's ash blonde hair and bright red lips, but I don't recognize the back of the tall guy standing in front of her. From his position, all I can see is the back of his chocolate brown hair and the wide arch of his shoulders.
"Brooke!" I call out.
The moment her name leaves my lips Samuel removes his arm off my back and throws my right arm off his shoulders. The unexpected action causes me to lose my balance and I go tumbling to the ground. I'm barely quick enough to brace the fall with my hands, so I don't fall flat onto my face.
"What are you doing?" I prop my body onto my lower arms and glare up at Samuel.
"If you wanted me to keep helping you, you shouldn't have called the other human."
"Liv." Brooke rushes to a stop in front of me. "Are you okay?"
"No." I continue to glare at Samuel, while Brooke helps me back onto my feet.
"Where have you been?" Brooke asks once she makes sure I have both crutches back underneath my armpits.
"I went to the intersection from the accident to see if I could remember anything."
Brooke freezes with her hand in the middle of flicking her hair behind her shoulder. "Did you remember anything?"
"No." My shoulders slump in defeat, but then I remember something that immediately causes them to rise back up. "Who was the guy you were talking to?" I glance behind Brook's back, but there's no one there anymore.
"No one." Brooke finishes flinging her hair behind her shoulder. "I... I'm actually glad I ran into you. I... You see... My... My cousin asked me to set him up on a date with you."
"What?" Despite being childhood friends with Brooke I can't remember having ever met her cousin. "The one from the hospital? How does he know who I am?"
"He... He saw you... when... when we ran into each other at the hospital. When I went to visit his younger brother. So, what do you say?"
"I don't know." I look at my foot, which is still wrapped in the cast.
"Come on." Brooke purses her bright red lips into a pout. "He really wants to meet you."
"Fine." I give in with a sigh.
"Yes! I promise you won't regret it. I'll set the date up at Ramona's café. You know where it is, right? How does seven sound?"
"I'll look it up and seven's fine."
With one last wave, Brooke scurries down the street in the direction of her house, while I begin to hop over to my house.
"A date? In your state?" Samuel walks up to me but doesn't offer to help me again. "What about your crush?"
"My crush? Oh, you mean Weston?" I shrug off the thought of the popular quarterback I shared my history lessons with this past year. "He's a school crush, and right now it's summer break. It's the perfect time for a summer romance."
"I'm not going to suffer through your date."
"You won't have to. Your six hours with me will be already up by then." I ignore the way I feel his eyes bore into the side of my face and continue onward to the house.
Maybe a summer romance is just the thing I need to get my mind off my missing memories.
*
I look at the black sign spelling out Ramona's Café and take in a deep breath. This is it.
I hop across the three steps leading up to the glass entrance and while struggling to keep both crutches in one hand, I open the door. A high-pitched ring fills my ears as I enter the surprisingly dark, yet cozy café. On my left is a row of chairs faced toward the glass wall, overlooking the street outside, while the rest of the left side of the room is occupied by a wide counter. The scent of freshly brewed coffee lingers in the air, wrapping me inside the rich aroma.
I make my way over to the right side of the room and sit at an empty table for two. I take the chair positioned with its back to the wall and rest the crutches against the wall beside me. The position gives me a wide view of the café; or more importantly its front entrance.
One peak at the clock on the wall behind the counter tells me my date is late. Because I know the second I get too bored I will bolt out of the café, I busy myself with looking around the semi filled room and the colorful photographs of what looks like someone's travels hanging all over the walls.
"Oi." A young waitress, who can't be more than a few years older than me, walks up to my table. She has her eyes focused on the white phone in her hands while chewing on a piece of gum. "What'd you want?"
"I'm waiting for my date," I say. "We'll order once he gets here."
The waitress looks up from her phone, but all she does is give me a once-over and then focuses back down. "He ain't coming. Or he'll get one look at you and scram. So, either you order something or I kick you outta here."
"Can I borrow your phone then?"
"What?" She snaps her eyes back to me, but this time they remain there. "You ain't touching my baby."
"Well, my phone got destroyed and I still haven't bought a new one. So, either you let me borrow your phone, so I can call my date and tell him to meet me somewhere else, or you wait until he arrives and then take our order."
"Whatever." She rolls her eyes but walks back to the counter without either forcing me to place an order or escorting me out of the café.
I don't even have time to send the waitress a winning smile when a high-pitched ring of the doorbell draws my attention. In walks a guy about my age with a head full of tousled sandy brown hair that makes him look like he just walked out of bed. He stops a step inside the café and begins to look around the room, while his hands remain in the back pockets of his loosely fitted jeans.
What catches most of my attention though, is the figure that enters the café right behind him. Opposite to the stranger, he surveils the room much quicker before his eyes stop on me.
He is no one other than my Guardian Samuel.
The guy I assume is Samuel's charge also ends up looking directly at me, but opposite to Samuel's wide-open eyes, he looks a tad uncomfortable. Without wasting another minute, the two head in my direction.
"You," I say the moment Samuel and his charge stop at the other end of my table. "What are you doing here?"
"My cousin Brooke asked me to come. Said you were interested," the boyish-looking guy says.
"What?" I glance at him. "I wasn't talking to you. I wasâ"
Then the reality of the situation hits me and I snap my mouth close. Not only is he the guy Brooke set me up with, but he is also another one of Samuel's charge, just like I am. And right now he has no reason to think that I'm talking to anyone other than him. After all, as far as he knows there are only two of us present around the table.
***
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- E