Unfaithful

Chapter One:

“Past Tense”

“Nice car, Big Pat.”

Patrick rolled his eyes as he pulled the car to a stop in front of an old diner, allowing his grinning, nineteen year old best friend to climb into the passenger’s seat. Dakota Ramirez let out a deep breath, throwing her head back against the seat as she pulled her jacket tighter over her blue waitress uniform.

The remark had been sarcastic, as Patrick and Dakota both knew the twenty year old Mustang was a piece of shit. The blue paint was faded and scratched, the engine roared loudly, it jumped at every imperfection on the road, and it smelled like whiskey and tobacco. However, it was the only vehicle Patrick had, and therefore was Dakota’s only means of transportation, as she had a tendency to spend money instead of saving it.

“Oh, and your girlfriend is my new favorite person,” Dakota said, sitting up straight and pulling out her lipstick and a small mirror, applying it the best she could with the car jumping every five seconds.

Patrick flushed, the image of Taylor Foster appeared in his head. She wasn’t necessarily his girlfriend…Hell, she barely knew he existed. But he had had a crush on her since junior high and was very happy to be attending the same college as the tall, green eyed blonde future supermodel. Dakota and Patrick’s other friends often referred to Taylor as “his girlfriend”, often teasing him relentlessly about his unrequited love for the cheerleader, especially since Patrick had always been so convinced she would eventually become his girlfriend (and wife, though he had never mentioned that to them).

Clearing his throat, Patrick forced himself to ask, “Why? What happened?”

“Well, she’s an idiot, to be sure,” Dakota said, smirking as she noticed Patrick’s lips become a straight line, saying nothing about how irritated the insult against Taylor made him. “She’s also a bitch…But girl leaves a very nice tip. I might actually finish this semester of college…Just don’t make pit stops anywhere…If I see anything I’ll be broke in five seconds.”

Patrick chuckled at this, knowing it was more than likely true, and took the short cut back to Dakota’s apartment, which did avoid most businesses (as Dakota made it very clear she had no desire to purchase a motorcycle or a mobile home).

“So, work was okay then?” asked Patrick.

“I guess,” replied Dakota shrugging. “Serving burgers and fries all day…Stealing burgers and fries all day…Johnny actually makes pretty good fries now…It’s salt and grease paradise, and I love it!”

Patrick shook his head, looking ahead. He frowned, panic setting in as he realized, far too late, the large pick up truck parked in the middle of the road. He didn’t remember much after that…

When he woke up, he immediately wished for unconsciousness to come over him once again. The pain was incredible…the worst pain he could ever remember experiencing…His entire body felt heavy and his limbs all burned as if they were on fire. He couldn’t open his eyes to figure out if he was on fire. Even his eyelids felt heavy, and so they remained closed.

Without sight, however, he still knew where he was…The sounds and the scent of…a hospital. He was probably laying on one of those uncomfortable beds, but wasn’t entirely sure, as the only thing he could feel was pain. He groaned quietly, shifting slightly and stopping as soon as he did, the new pain worse than the pain he had woken to.

“Patrick?”

It was a whispered voice. Female. An exhausted voice, hopeful sounding and half concerned. It was a familiar voice, he knew. One of his friends, but he couldn’t quite place who it was.

So, for sake of assuring his friend he was okay, he forced himself to open his eyes with what strength he possessed. He didn’t see anyone at first and blinked a few times, eyes adjusting to the brightness of the room before roaming around, seeking his friend. He found her on a yellow couch by the window, sitting up and smiling at him.

She was short and petite, he could tell. She had tangled chestnut hair in a pony tail and bloodshot, pale blue eyes. He knew her…She was…one of the twins, though he couldn’t quite remember either of their names…But he knew her!

Why couldn’t he remember her name?

Kelly…Kerry…Kaitlyn…Wasn’t it a K name? Katherine…Kaley…Kacey…Kacey! Her name was Kacey!

“Kace,” whispered Patrick, wincing at the soreness of his throat. “Hey, Kace.”

“Patrick!”

Kacey jumped up immediately, rushing to his side.

“Thank God! You’ve been out for a week!” Kacey said. “How are you feeling? Terrible, I’d guess, it was a horrible accident! Andrew! Pam! He’s awake!”

“Yeah, I feel pretty awful…Aren’t they supposed to hand out pain meds, or something?” Patrick mumbled as he watched two of his other friends stumble through the door, rushing to his side as Kacey had.

“Hey, man! It’s about time you woke up!” Andrew said, chuckling as Pam punched his arm, smiling warmly at Patrick.

“What he means is, how are you doing?” Pam said, glaring at Andrew. “We weren’t going to start calling you a pussy until you were out of the hospital, but he never learned manners as a child…”

“I’m alive, but in pain…Seriously, have they given me any pain meds?” Patrick asked, forcing himself to sit up a bit, enjoying the company immensely, though he did feel more sleep would have been nice. “Oh…Where’s…How’s…Is Dakota okay?”

He’d nearly forgotten he’d had Dakota in the car with him! He felt suddenly terrified of what could have happened to Dakota, if he’d been out for a week, waking up to feel this awful! How could he have been so irresponsible? He should have been more careful, especially with his best friend in the car with him!

“Oh, she’s fine!” Kacey quickly assured him, laughing softly at the panic clear in his face. “That poor Mercedes was destroyed, but Dakota and the baby are okay…”

The Mercedes? He’d been certain it was a pick up truck…? Maybe his memory was messed up a bit…His head was feeling pretty awful, and he HAD forgotten Kacey’s name, momentarily.

Wait…

“Dakota’s pregnant?” Patrick asked, surprised.

Andrew and Pam glanced at each other, eyebrows raised. Kacey looked as shocked as Patrick felt, eyes growing very wide and her mouth opening slightly.

“Oh…I…I thought she’d told you…” said Kacey, shaking her head. “She’s gonna murder me…”

Dakota pregnant? Patrick shook his head. That made no sense…Dakota was the only person Patrick could ever remember at their high school preaching about how she didn’t believe in premarital sex and whatnot (as their high school was made up mostly of slutty teenagers), and here she was…Pregnant? Dakota was one stubborn girl when it came to her beliefs, so this was some shocking news.

“Holy shit,” Patrick muttered. “Who got Miss No-Premarital Sex pregnant?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kacey and Pam turned to him, dumbfounded, while Andrew burst into laughter. Kacey was silently studying his face as Pam shook her head, eyebrows furrowed. Andrew just continued chuckling.

“That’s premarital sex, not extramarital sex,” Andrew said. “But I’m not entirely sure Dakota’s up for that, either…”

“Andrew,” said Kacey. “Go get Dr. Shanes…And then go find Dakota.”

Andrew instantly sobered up, looking stunned as he stood and left the room. Pam glanced at Kacey, worried, as Kacey continued looking Patrick over, looking for something…Anything.

“Patrick, what’s the last thing you remember?” Kacey asked slowly.

Now worried himself, confused as to why everyone was acting this way, Patrick replied, “Before the accident! I picked Dakota up from work at the diner and was driving her down to your apartment…”

“The diner!” exclaimed Pam, laughing. “You can’t be serious! Dakota hasn’t worked at that diner in AGES!”

Dakota hasn’t worked at that diner in AGES!

“Kacey?” asked Patrick, panicking again. Dakota wasn’t working at the diner…Hadn’t in ages…Was pregnant…Obviously married by the way Andrew had sounded…Had he been out more than a week? Maybe he’d heard Kacey wrong. Maybe it had been a year or something…Or more? That, of course, didn’t make him feel any better…

“That accident?” Kacey whispered, standing up and shaking her head. “THAT accident! He remembers THAT accident!”

“Wha-Oh!” said Pam, suddenly remembering whatever it was. “The one that happened sophomore year of college…Well…Wasn’t that, like, ten years ago?”

“Ten years!” Patrick exclaimed. “I’ve been in a coma for ten years?”

“You haven’t been in a coma!” Kacey said. “Holy shit…Shit! Oh God…!”

Slowly, she sank back down into the yellow couch by the window, pulling her knees up to her chest. Pam moved to sit next to her, and the two began a whispered conversation Patrick wasn’t overly interested in.

Ten years…Ten fucking years…But he wasn’t in a coma…And Kacey had mentioned something about a Mercedes and…

Fuck!

Feeling a migraine add to the pain he was already feeling, Patrick laid his head back on the pillow, closing his eyes once again…He just needed more sleep…He needed to relax and…Everything would be normal when he woke up…He was just…Confused…

“Mr. Riley? Are you awake, Mr. Riley?”

Groaning, Patrick opened his eyes again to see that Andrew had returned with who he assumed had to be Dr. Shanes (an elderly man holding a clipboard) and Dakota on his other side.

Patrick definitely had to be missing something…Her hair was longer than he remembered, and was her natural dark brown color instead of that unnatural red she had dyed it. She had the same bright blue eyes, of course, but instead of a waitress uniform, she was wearing a dress that looked too expensive for that kind of a salary. She was chewing on her thumbnail in nervousness, a habit she had not dropped yet, and was staring at him in concern, shifting from foot to foot, unsure of what to do with herself.

“Ten years, Dr. Shanes,” Kacey said before anyone could say anything else. “The last thing he says he remembers is a car accident he and Dakota were in ten years ago!”

“Well, amnesia is not overly uncommon in accidents such as this, though the missing memories usually don’t cover that large of a period…We’ll have to run some tests on you, Mr. Riley, to see if there is anything wrong, if it’s permanent or if there is any serious brain damage…I’ll go schedule something now…Try to see if you can remember anything else, Mr. Riley.”

And with that Dr. Shanes quickly strode out of the room, calling over his shoulder:

“And I’d bring some things from home, Mrs. Riley, to see if anything jogs his memory.”

And as Dakota slowly nodded, toying with the ring on her finger, Patrick truly began to panic.

TBC

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