Am I really that Ignorant? (andrew)

[STEPHANIE ELLIOT SCHMIDT]

The smell of the sea hit Stephanie as soon as the cab rolled across the border into Wells Beach. An heir of familiarity, and a hint of a memory crossed behind her eyes but nothing definite. It was frustrating how familiar everything looked when she could swear she'd never been here before. The man to her left who'd picked her up from the airport and accompanied her seemed to know her so well. As if they'd been friends all their lives. But his face was drawing a blank.

Pictures of the night that had brought on the bout of amnesia flashed in her head making her want to shout. Actually more than shout. She wanted to kick and protest the fact that it had happened. But most of all she wanted to tell someone that she did indeed remember the assault. But the fear of being re incarcerated in the sterile prison where she'd been cooped up for months asleep had made her lips remain shut.

Every few moments she would allow herself a glance at her companion out of the corner of her eye. She had to admit he was good looking. Better than if she would be perfectly honest with herself. Which made her certain if she had known him in some past life she would know who he was now. So in turn everyone else was crazy and she was the only sane one in this world.

Yeah right as if she could be that lucky. Her musing continued until the cab stopped outside a brick building. Actually most of the buildings around appeared to made of the same material. Giving it that small town conformity that made her bored, but also safe. Even in the hospital she hadn't been able to relax completely. Yet now she was at ease even allowing her face to curl into a smile.

Now she was ready to get out and stretch her legs. Maybe, hopefully go somewhere fun instead of doing the touristy walk around thing she had a feeling 'Andrew' had in mind. It was an educated guess that he had to have been coerced into playing tour guide today. After all who would volunteer to babysit her when there was obviously better things to do. Fish to be caught or drugs to be taken. Lets face it folks in a small town drugs had to be the type of thing that kept the teenagers entertained. Thats what was depicted in the few movies she'd seen since waking up anyway.

Of them all Cruel Intentions struck her as the most realistic. Sometimes she wished she could be that girl. The one who manipulated all the boys and got unconditional love she could flaunt in their faces. But not today. Today she wanted to remember who this man was. Remember his touch. Even if it was nothing more than a hand. His voice. And everything. The only thing she wanted to forget was the greeting that left him walking funny though the airport.

"I really hope I didn't hurt you to bad... " She said earnestly.

[ANDREW JUSTIN MILLER]

Some people wouldn’t normally do this type of thing when a new person came to town, but not Andrew. He looked for inspiration from every direction and meeting someone new in town was a good way of suddenly being hit. It also depended on the person he was meeting and today he had a good feeling he would meet some inspiration. Just like he hoped for she definitely had inspiration written all over her when he first saw her. She had the looks, and all, now all that was left was to introduce himself. What he got from walking over to her was the last thing he expected.

He had walked up to her from behind when he touched her shoulder and the last thing he remembered her doing was turning around and giving him a knee to the groin. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to say his name or anything like that before he was on the ground gasping for air. It felt so bad that he felt like he might throw up any second now and even though they were in the middle of the airport he put his hand on his groin and slammed the other one on the ground to try and take away from the pain he felt. He knew with these days women were big on being defensive about themselves but he had done nothing to threaten her, all he did was simply touch her shoulder in a gesture to get her attention.

It was starting to pass now though and he got up to walk around a little, he could feel the feeling coming back in his groin and got a drink from a near by water fountain to get the bad taste out of his mouth. After a few minutes the pain went away but there was awkwardness to his walk after every step he took and she seemed to notice it. “It’s fine…I enjoy it when a woman puts a knee in my sack…” he told her a sarcastically and normally he would say groin but her whole knee went full on into his sack and he wasn’t going to watch his mouth. “I think I’m alright now…” he told her taking in a few more deep breathes. He got the feeling she had used that knee plenty of times before which was why she was so good at placing them perfectly, because it was a direct shot. “So, what brings you to Wells beach?” He didn’t need a pencil and paper to write this down, his memory was great so everything she said he could go home and write down to see if she was book worthy.

[STEPHANIE ELLIOT SCHMIDT]

The sarcasm was not lost on her and Stephanie began a slight giggle at his words. It wasn't often a man didn't try to pretend in front of her. At least she didn't think it was. And she was beginning to like this person. His question caught her off guard. She'd been under the assumption that someone would have already filled him in on her reason for being here already. But maybe he was just attempting to make conversation. Conversation she really didn't want to have but she supposed she owed him that much after the little incident at the airport.

"I'm told I grew up here. " She began. It was hard to find the right words to use. Words to make him understand with out delving too deeply into the past event she wished she'd forgotten. "I don't really remember much besides my name which is Stephanie by the way but I prefer Steph... if you didn't already know that."

She couldn't look at him while she spoke. Because she didn't want to see the confusing and curiosity bloom on his features. Like she was some freak at the circus. 'Come one, Come all... see the amazing Blank Girl... Amnesiac of the 21st century' She could hear the words screamed through an imaginary loud speaker in her head and it pissed her off. Why did he have to go and ruin their nice time by asking questions?

Okay that wasn't fair. She really had no reason to be angry. Outside of her own insecurities. Irrational ones at that. It wasn't as if he could see that she remembered that day. Or what happened that day.

Looking down the street she attempted to calm herself down. It wasn't really working until the smell of the sea made its way yet again into her nostrils. It had a sobering effect on her, making all her muscles relax. "Enough about me though... let's talk about something else."

The town had begun to intrigue her. It was a large change from Vegas. Which was all show, to cover up its seedy underbelly. She'd learned that lesson the hard way. And she was intent on never going back to that town. Or any other big city. This small town was just what the doctor ordered literally.

[ANDREW JUSTIN MILLER]

The moment had passed and it was time to get down to business for Andrew. With his editor on his ass every few weeks about how the book is coming he needed something good and Steph here had juicy written all over her and that was meant to describe her physically too because she was very good looking. Another thing that came to mind besides what brought her too town was why she left her previous one, not many people come here unless they’re looking for peace and quiet, and judging by that knee he got earlier that might be what she wanted too. But for what reason? He’ll find out soon enough, you can count on that.

When she began to talk instantly he recognized the signs of amnesia. Either she was great at faking them or she just plain didn’t remember. What person can forget where they grew up unless they have amnesia or are completely insane? She definitely had story written all over her. “I knew your name…just wanted to see if you had any nicknames and stuff before calling you by it.” he told her with a nod of his head. If she wanted to talk about herself she would have said more so he wasn’t going to push his luck right now, after all he had plenty of time to get to know her a little more since she was staying in town now. “And in case you didn’t know I am Andrew…most of the time I go by A.J. though…” he rarely got called by Andrew but the few exceptions. His mom and a few ex-girlfriends called him by it but other then that no one.

It was probably time to get moving though, as much as he liked standing there he wanted to walk around a little more and it seemed she did too by the look she had right now. Before he could suggest anything she said it, and as a writer there was never anything more intriguing then hearing someone say enough about themselves. It was obvious she had a very interesting story inside of her, and he was going to get it. “Alright…enough about you…although I didn’t plan on asking anything else. I respect your privacy…” he told her now walking down the street she was just looking at assuming she would follow.

“You like the ocean? Swimming? Fish? Sea Food basically?” this was an easy question to answer and it wasn’t personal so he wouldn’t see the problem in it. “Because around here people are crazy about there sea food…” he quickly explained with a little laugh to himself afterwards. He was never the best tour guide but he got the feeling she wouldn’t want to be treated like some 11 year old seeing the Eifel tower for the first time.

[STEPHANIE ELLIOT SCHMIDT]

One thin eyebrow raised when he spoke about respecting her privacy. She'd thought he would press her for more, most people in her life did now. They wanted her to keep reinstating that she had no fucking idea about her past. It seemed to her like they wanted her to cuss at them and get indefinitely stressed. Something in the back of her mind was nagging that stress wasn't going to increase her chances of regaining what she'd lost. Nor was it going to keep her temper in check. That was one thing that she really needed to work on.

And he was talking again. AJ... hm she could live with that. It sounded almost cute, and slipped from the tongue like an endearment. A slight blush tinged her cheeks and it irritated her.

" A.J huh? Its got a certain ring to it. I suppose" she mumbled with out thinking. Her eyes were focused ahead and her feet started taking her down the pavement as if they knew where to go.

She stopped in front of a building that smelled like fresh baked goods but her eyes weren't seeing it. Instead it was almost as if they saw through it. Her eyelids were closing before she even realized exactly what was going on. A brief flash of fresh bread laid out on a counter. The whole room smelled delicious and even standing where she was she could feel her mouth watering. When she snapped out of her would be memory she glowered. Why would the fates do this to her? Give her just enough to peek her curiosity but not enough to satisfy her need to connect.

Her foot connected with the brick almost painfully. She was mildly aware that he had asked her a question before she began her walk. Sheepishly she turned to see if he had followed her and began her reply before she was sure. " Yeah I like sea food... not particularly fond of fish though.. I'm more of a lobster kinda girl when it comes to the catch of the day, I'm not a cheap date I'll tell you that right now," Her words were confident even when she was anything but.

Every step since she'd woken up in that hospital bed had been uncertain. Careful. And the whole sense of treading carefully felt wrong. As if she weren't meant to be this person. A stallion trapped in the body of a house cat. She longed for the ease of freedom. And for that matter for the safety of love. Even familial love would be welcomed now. That is if she could remember them. Being in a constant fog wasn't very fun.

"I'm starved though so if you're offering lead the way AJ."

She flashed him the best smile she could muster. Which was pathetic even to her own face muscles, which now ached from over done fake enthusiasm. In an effort to make it seem more genuine she draped herself on his arm. Hoping that she could at least be part of the eye candy scene she'd heard so much about when that not so nice nurse's aide had accompanied her to the airport in Nevada to ship her off.

[ANDREW JUSTIN MILLER]

So far besides the one incident things had calmed down a bit. This was what Andrew had in mind the whole time, to just walk around relaxing and talking a little bit. Of course it looked like they were still going to do that but it would have been nice to do without the knee to the groin earlier. Now though Steph here seemed pretty nice and relaxed, but he still planned on keeping a good amount of space from her, after all he didn’t want to get hit again. The plan was to get her a little more comfortable around him, that way she would open up a little more to him and as they walked by a restaurant he could tell she smelled the food inside. It did smell good too; maybe they should go inside for something to eat? When he looked up at the place he recognized it and that place was way to overpriced…There was no way he was going to pay 20 dollars for some king crab legs, or lobster claws when he could do around the corner and get the same for half the price.

“Thought you might like sea food…” he told her with a laugh as she said she wasn’t a cheap date. He wondered whether she always ordered the most expensive dish or went with her favorite, either way he was going to take her word for it. One thing he did pick up on was how confident she sounded, and he was taking that as a sign of her settling down around him now. If things kept going at this pace he might have his story after a few weeks, shame he wasn’t a con artist because he might be pretty good at it. “I like almost all sea food…after a while it gets kind of old though, but if you move here you better like sea food…” he told her walking some more at the same time and it seemed his stomach did want him to eat because he could hear it growling.

Hearing what she said brought a grin to his face; he was going to pay for her meal anyway because it was the polite thing to do but seeing the attempt she made at a smile was too funny not to grin at. “Sure…I’ll buy…” he told her a few seconds after she took his arm. “There is a good place around the corner…sells the best crab legs and lobster…” he told her thinking about how good the place was going to smell. “but if you’re not feeling like sea food they do make hamburgers too…” all of this he was saying as he turned the corner and you could see the place he was talking about down the street. Already he could imagine how good it smelled inside, and if she thought that last placed smelled good this one might be a little bit better.

[STEPHANIE ELLIOT SCHMIDT]

Sea food did sound incredibly good. The smells of the small town were rushing into her till it was almost sensory overload. This caused her to lean on him in a manner she normally wouldn't have. This whole thing was making her dizzy, which briefly reminded her of the feeling she got when the plane took off and landed. Not a good thing. The last thing she wanted was to throw up on her new would be friend. Hell even if he wasn't a friend he was the only in town she somewhat knew. Alienating him even further than her knee had earlier would be unwise as an understatement. True the town wasn't large but she had no idea where to go if he were to decide to drop her somewhere and leave.

Perhaps food wasn't the best idea right now. However being as she'd already told him she would, it seemed rude not to go. She could slightly hear the sound of stomachs rumbling. Though if asked she couldn't tell whos it was. As they walked she attempted to get her stomach to stop flipping, so she would be ready to eat.

She stopped firm just outside the building they would be eating in. Her left hand came to rest on the rough surface as if touch would bring back fully what her eyes were sending to her brain. For about half a second she was considering tasting the filthy rough brick, then decided against it. She wasn't really that desperate. A bug crawling near her had nearly did her in on the vomit front and she was sure she'd turned pale.

Great. More pallor to her already white skin. At this rate people would be confusing her with a vampire. At any moment she would be bursting into flames and this humiliation would be over. Okay maybe not but one could hope. And then she was vomiting on the side of the building. Spewing stomach acid and bad airplane food into an orange pile by her feet.

When she finished and wiped her mouth she turned to him with a half grin. "Okay so we gonna eat?"

[ANDREW JUSTIN MILLER]

It was always a good day in Wells Beach when you were able to walk around like right now. That was why Andrew chose to move here when he was twenty one, and the small town atmosphere just sealed the deal. It was small enough for you to be able to actually converse with people you didn’t see on a daily basis walking down the street, but big enough as to where you wouldn’t see everyone every single day. If you could make sense out of that you’d understand why he chose this place and even though she chose it because she was told she grew up here there were probably other reasons as to why she came back.

So far he was certain of three things, she had amnesia, she seemed to hate bugs by the look she had when she saw one on the wall and she could give you a quick knee like no one else. He had to admit, even though she was interesting he could have done without the knee but he’ll learn not to touch her again without her permission. None of that stuff mattered right now though because he got the feeling, if he played his cards right he’d be able to get more out of here during the meal here. “Definitely gonna eat, I’m starving…” he answered her holding the door open for her to enter, and once she did he followed right behind her.

The instant they were inside you could smell the food in the air; he must have had sea food at least 5 times in the past five days and was he going to make it six in a row? He was feeling like having a good old fashioned cheeseburger but it all depending on the special today. “There is a good table there…” he pointed it out to her over by the corner and the great thing about this place is when it wasn’t full like right now you could walk right in and seat yourselves, not having to wait for the employee working the front to get to you…Once they were both at the booth he sat down picked up his menu and looked over at her. “What do you plan on getting? The most expensive thing here?...” the second part was just friendly teasing because she mentioned she was an expensive date earlier. “The special looks good…” this was more to himself then to her because the special was crab legs with fries and a side drink…

[STEPHANIE ELLIOT SCHMIDT]

Steph stared blankly at Andrew for a moment. Again she was trying to get into his head, to discover if maybe in the past she had known him. He didn't flare the familiarity that a lot of the things she'd come into contact with since stepping foot into Wells Beach for the first time in several years. Yet there was something there that she couldn't put her finger on. She felt like she had seen him before somewhere. It was tingling in the back of her mind, nagging like a mosquito buzzing in her ear. She wanted to swat it and explore at the same time. The feeling quite frankly pissed her off putting her in a sour mood. She crossed her arms thoughtful for a moment or two before her stomach settled again and began to growl. He had offered food so she put out a simple smile as he ushered her into the building.

The atmosphere of the place was casual with a somewhat sophisticated undertone. Not at all what she expected. From the television most small town hubs looked like haunts for red necks or hippies so she was pleasantly surprised. The table they'd chosen was illuminated by a single light in what looked like a make shift singular chandelier. It spoke volumes of romance and her face tinged red slightly. Was this why he brought her here? Or was it really the food as he'd originally claimed? Only time would tell on that one so she put it out of her mind. She listened to him somewhat hanging on his words when he asked her what she would be ordering. "I don't know I haven't seen the menu yet have I?" She put a slightly seductive tone to her voice with out realizing it as she plucked the menu from the table.

Her eyes immediately went to the special. Crab legs. They did sound good but she wanted to look a little bit more. Her tongue peeked from her mouth and her eyes squinted in concentration. Decisions were made more difficult from her amnesia, it was as if she was trying everything for the first time again. Which in essence she was. After looking through for nearly ten minutes she finally centered on the most expensive item. Lobster. And she weighed her options, before settling instead on an old town southern favorite. Crab cakes. With a baked potato since she hadn't really been feeling the fries. All in all her food was at about the same value as his and she had to smile. "I guess I might be a cheap date after all."

As they waited for their food her hand went methodically to her hair twisting a few strands around her finger. A habit she supposed. But really couldn't be sure. Another frustration that kept nagging on her consciousness. "So Andrew how did you end up my tour guide for today, did you draw straws, flip a coin or was it something else?" She asked coyly. She really wanted to get a better feel for this man in front of her. To maybe decipher the mystery behind the familiar face.

When the food finally was settled on her plate she enjoyed the aroma. It made her mouth water enough where a napkin was necessary. She dabbed before grabbing her fork and knife. Normally she might have gone in with her hands but that wouldn't be lady like now would it. And she hadn't ordered something that required fingers or hands so much as utensils. "Good food?" She asked between bites. Just casually making conversation like he had earlier.

As they ate she began to feel the need to talk about something less mundane and boring than the food. Something personal. Her mind was conflicted, her mouth not so much as she took a breath. "This is much better food than the hospital in Las Vegas, the stuff they served there could be considered capitol punishment." The words left her mouth and she was laughing lightly. "The company is better too... I swear I've seen you somewhere before, I just don't know where."