“Thanks Ash. For everything.” I rest my head on his shoulder, enjoying his warmth in the bitingly cold night air.

Laurence inhales “still, sometimes I wish I could just forget. Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this at all.” He laughs, and I grimace at the irony.

“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be” the words slip out before I can stop them. Oh fuckedy fuck. Might as well tell him the truth now he’s poured his guts out to me.

He stiffens, pulling away from me slightly, so he can look into my eyes. “What do you mean?” I exhale, running a hand through my inky hair, which I left down.

“So you know how I hurt my brain?” Laurence smirks. “I do believe the proper term is ‘brain damage’, mr I-chose-to-study-brains-at-university.” I roll my eyes and take his hand, lacing my fingers with his.

“That. Well, truth is, my hippocampus got damaged.” Laurence stares at me blankly. “Babe I can tell you about ethnomusicology but I have no clue what that hippy- happy- hippo-thing is.”

I laugh, resting my chin on my hand. “Babe I’m trying to tell you I have amnesia” my giggles diminish when I see Laurence’s expression change to that of regret.

Fuck! What if he won’t want to be with me because my memory is fucked! That’s stupid, I tell myself. If Laurence is like the others then fuck him too.

“Crap, Asher I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said that about forgetting, just now. I- I didn’t realise, I—“ I place my finger on his lips, silencing him.

“It’s fine! Really!! I’m not sensitive about it” well I’m sensitive about 90% of things so to be honest this probably fits in there somewhere.

I bite my lip, removing my finger from his lips. “Sorry for telling you like this. I- I was scared to tell you, because everyone except my family and Megan, when they found out, would distance themselves from me.”

I glance down at my lap. “I was afraid you’d do the same.” Laurence lifts my chin, locking eyes with me. “I’d never do that. It sucks you can’t remember, I can’t even begin to imagine what that must be like for you.”

He cups my cheek “however, your hippypampo being fucked doesn’t change the fact that I like you.” I giggle, placing my hand over his on my cheek. “Hippocampus, but close enough.”

It takes a moment, and then I realise Laurence just confessed to me. I look up at him suddenly “wait! Did you just- did you—“ Laurence kisses me.

His lips are warm and soft; his hand comforting as he runs it through my hair. I smile against his lips. “Well, I was going to say: I like you too, but you denied me even that much!”

Laurence kisses me once more, then hugs me. “Sorry, I found a rather successful way of shutting you up, is all.” Giggles overflow me; I feel so giddy and happy I barely know what to do with myself.

So, I just hug him back.

We sit there, in the cold, hugging on a shitty old metal bench in our friends’ back garden, and somehow it’s perfectly romantic to me.

—————

“So, are we boyfriends now?” I ask as Laurence takes my hand, guiding me to the door to the inside. “Not sure, do you want us to be?” I grin, squeezing his hand. “Yeah.” He squeezes back.

“That’s sorted then” he turns and smiles at me, and I reach out to touch the mole by his eye. “It always crinkles when you smile, and it’s fucking adorable, you know that?” Laurence kisses my hand tenderly.

“Well I’m glad your majesty thinks so!” I groan and push my hair over my shoulder. “For a moment there I forgot being obnoxious is your hobby, however, as you would say, it’s also part of your ‘charm’”. He just grins at me.

I catch up to Laurence and follow him through the door. “We’ll just explain to Jackie and Jamie, so they don’t think we randomly disappeared” I nod and stand closer to him so as to not get separated in the crowd.

Spotting the twins, we hurry over to them. “Hey guys, what’s up?” Jamie asks, dancing with Jackie. Laurence motions to his still-soggy shirt. “Someone poured alcohol on me.”

Jamie stops dancing and moves closer, placing a hand on Laurence’s shoulder. “Are you ok?” Laurence nods, gesturing to me.

“Luckily, Asher was there and helped me calm down. But, we’re gonna go if that’s ok with you guys.” Jackie and Jamie nod in synchrony, Jackie coming to hug me.

“Thanks for helping him, hun. And thank both of you for coming!! I know parties aren’t really either of you guys’ thing, but it means a lot that you came.” I kiss her on the cheek, smiling.

Jamie and Laurence exchange a few words while Jackie points out two girls standing not too far away from us. “Ash, those are my girlfriends; I’ll introduce you to them next time, ok?” I blink at her.

“You having two girlfriends makes sense. You’re too good for just one” Jackie squeals and hugs me again, then laughs, moving on to hug Laurence.

Once we’re done with goodbyes, Laurence takes my hand again and we head to the door. “Let’s go home.”