Every One Of Me by Jessica Wilde

voice. Trevor had shown up, but I didn't dare look up. I was
engrossed with the picture in front of me
    My heart pounded against my chest like a sledgehammer and I
shook my head. "How can that be? These two people look like they are… in
love. Charlie and I never…" I looked back at her and the look on her face
was full of pain and regret. "Mom? This can't be me and Charlie. I would
have remembered something like that. You know I would have!"
    "It's us, Tess."
    That voice.
    I looked over and saw that it wasn't just Trevor and Ellie
that had arrived. Charlie was standing in front of me with his hands shoved in
his pockets looking like he just stepped out of "World's Sexiest Man"
magazine. He looked cautious as I met his green eyed gaze. The flicker in his
eyes told me he was telling the truth.
    "I don't understand," I said, looking back down at
the picture. "I don't remember this. Charlie, I would have remembered
something like this." My eyes went blurry from the threat of tears, but I
quickly blinked them away and put the album down on the coffee table like it
was a bomb ready to destroy everything I ever knew. My hands were shaking and
my mind was racing, trying to dig up the memory that would have stayed with me
forever.
    If Charlie had ever held me like that before, I would have
locked it up inside my head and never let it out. It would have been the best
day of my life. It would have meant happiness for the rest of my life. Whatever
happened… I had no memory of and I wanted to run away from the implication that
there were other things I didn't know, didn't remember.
    "It's us. I know now why you don't remember," he
said softly and knelt in front of me, pulling the album off the table and
holding it up to study the picture. He touched it lightly running his finger
down the image of the smaller figure and grinned. "That was the scariest
and happiest day of my life."
    I felt like I was having an out of body experience. Like I
was looking down from the ceiling and watching the scene play out in front of
me. My face looked ridiculous and Mom looked like she was about to pass out. I
ignored the image of Trevor and Ellie standing off to the side because she was
doing what she always did, studying her nail polish.
    But Charlie. Charlie was something else. He was gorgeous
kneeling on the ground in front of me and looking down at the tender moment in
his hands. He looked happy.
    I could barely take in a breath and realized I was gasping
loudly for air when my mom put her hand on my back and rubbed up and down.
"I… I don't… what happened? Tell me… please." I clutched my chest and
kept staring down at Charlie.
    I had to get a hold of myself. Deep breaths, clear head,
don't switch, don't switch, for the love of God, don't switch.
    He nodded and glanced at my mother. "It's time, Sarah,
but I think we need to be alone."
    She stood quickly and ushered Trevor and Ellie through the
kitchen and to the back deck before I could process what he had said.
    "Time?" I breathed.
    "Yes. It's been too long." He shook his head and
irritation flashed over his face. "I want you to know that I begged your
mom, begged her, to let me tell you. She made me promise, though. I keep
my promises, Tess." His hand had moved to my knee and he squeezed gently.
    "I know that," I said confidently. He did keep his
promises. Every single one of them. Never made a promise he wouldn't keep and
it's one of the reasons I loved him so much.
    "We had gone to the lake late that morning," he
began nervously, "and spent the day swimming and just doing whatever. No
one else was out there and it was really the first time we had ever been
completely alone out there. You wore this white bikini with pink polka dots and
I couldn't take my eyes off of you all day." He paused and looked back
down at the picture for a minute before closing the album and setting it aside.
    He moved closer until my knees were pressed against his
stomach and grasped both of my hands in his,