August 23rd 2010.
When he landed at Logan International Airport, it was 2:30pm which threw his sense of time off a little. He got his luggage and called for an Uber – thank god that had been invented – before riding it home.
***
He arrived at 138 Country Way, Needham 30 minutes later and was immediately stunned speechless at the humongous building with a long and smooth asphalt pathway that directly led to not one, not two, but three garage doors.
This was... his house? He felt like he was seriously going to enjoy his life here.
The Uber driver left and Jay took his luggage before walking towards the door.
He rung the bell but no one answered. He rung it a second time and waited a little longer but still nothing. He frowned and then smiled bitterly.
He had wanted to surprise his family but hadn't expected they wouldn't even be home... He took out his phone and was about to call his mother when he heard noises coming from the back. He debated for a second but still decided to leave his luggage behind and check it out.
The property was gigantic and it took him a good 2 minutes to circle around the back of the house, but he immediately understood why no one had answered the door.
The amount of people present made him freeze for a second. This was... a BBQ?
Jay's gaze wandered over the guests, there were only a few adults which included his parents, five or so little kids and... Jay did a double take at the throng of teenage girls either lounging by or swimming in the pool.
If it weren't for his parents' presence, he would have thought he'd intruded the wrong house.
His thoughts were interrupted by the loveliest voice he'd heard since waking up at the hospital.
"JAY!!" Lou was playing with a little girl to the side of an old oak tree, so Jay hadn't noticed her from that angle but she had. The moment she spotted him, her big blue eyes widened in disbelief; why was he here? How? No, it didn't matter at all.
She yelled his name and sprinted towards him while Jay hurried to meet her halfway, afraid she would trip and hurt herself.
He smiled brightly and swooped the little angel up, twirling her around a few times to her delighted giggles.
"Hey baby, I missed you so much." he said, smooching her little cheeks.
"Jay!! I missed you too! So much!" she said, encircling his neck with her little arms and burying her head in his neck.
The two were completely oblivious to their surroundings and so hadn't noticed how the majority of the guests had frozen at the little girl's first shout.
***
Em and Leah were lounging by the pool. Em had organized a get together for the cheerleading team in order to welcome the new members and had dragged Leah in it. When they had unintentionally mentioned it in front Aunt Helen, she had insisted they do it in her house since the pool was twice Leah's size.
Honestly Em's was even bigger, but the home environment there was so teenage friendly that Aunt Helen had made it her duty to supervise it since Em's only remaining relative, her father, was almost never there.
They were minding their business when they heard exclamations coming from some of the girls.
"Oh. My. God. Who is that?"
"Hunk alert."
"Look at his shirt, it's so tight on him it looks like it'll rip!"
Just when the two friends wanted to turn around and take look, they saw Lou sprinting madly past them and as Em was about to warn her not to go so fast, she and everyone else all heard the little girl's shout.
That one shout quieted down their surroundings, except some of the girls still excitedly watching the man interacting with Lou.
"I wish he'd hug me too. Aww."
"Amy you're such a slut, what about your boyfriend?"
"What boyfriend? I dumped him a week ago. I'm warning you all hussies, I've got dibs!" having said that, Amy got out of the pool and walked towards the young man.
The more she looked at him, the more she liked what she saw. Damn this was a man! She thought while grinning, those high school boys could never compare.
He seemed to sense her approaching because he turned to her and took off his sunglasses.
"Hello." said her future husband.
Amy didn't answer, she kept staring at his face. His golden eyes were sucking her in and she used up all her willpower trying not to falter.
"H-hi. I'm Amy, nice to meet you."
"Jay." he said and nodded before turning to the woman who was approaching them.
She saw her Adonis broke into a dazzling smile and embrace the woman tightly while she was left off on the side until some of the girls came to drag her away.
***
Jay kept still as his mother did her inspection.
Helen just couldn't believe her eyes, her son seemed to have... transformed felt like an understatement. He had grown at least 5 inches taller, and was very buffed. Also his hair...
"You dyed your hair? Why white? Never mind, how come you're here?" Helen fired off like a machine-gun, she just couldn't understand.
Jay chuckled at her excitement, "I changed my plane ticket. Figured I'd surprise you."
"Well, you did... Let's talk about this later, come here, there are a lot of people who cant wait to see you!" she took his hand and started dragging him but thought of something and turned around. "By the way, where's your luggage? How did you come here?"
"On the front porch, I took an Uber."
Helen nodded and kept walking to the BBQ area.
"Ah, the prodigal son returns!" Lee grinned and gave him a one-handed hug, his other hand busy with the grill.
A woman with brown hair and brown eyes came up to him next, "It's so good to have you back Jay." she said warmly. She was about to say something else but stopped herself.
Jay looked at her for a second before pieces of his memories came flooding back. "Aunt... Lisa?" he said.
"You... remember me?" she asked, her voice breaking.
"I do now." he smiled broadly and hugged her.
Lisa Parson hugged him back and started silently crying. "It's great... great that you're back. Thank God."
Their reunion was rudely interrupted by a raucous voice and a slap on Jay's back.
"Attaboy what did they feed you in Switzerland?! I'll be damned, kid, look at you!"
Jay turned around to a 6"2 beer-bellied middle aged man with dirty blond hair and grey eyes grinning at him, jogging another piece of his memory.
"Uncle John?" looked at him in wonder.
"Hahahahaha! That's right, it's good you remember. I might not look as fit as I used to," he said noticing Jay eying his belly "But I can still kick your ass!"
Aunt Lisa dried her tears with her hands before slapping her husband's shoulder, "You hush you big bear, you leave him alone."
She took Jay's hand in hers and added "There are two others who you need to meet. They... Huh? Where did they go?..."
***
When she heard Lou's shout, she reacted instinctively; she bolted.
People's actions are usually divided into fight or flight responses, and Emily was no fighter. Leah of course followed in her wake, worried about her friend.
"Em? Em stop, where are you going?!" Leah said after cornering the girl in the kitchen.
"I'm leaving. I can't do this Leah. I thought I could, but I can't. I just can't." Em blurted, the panic settling in.
"What? Why? Jay is here, don't you want to meet him?"
"And say what? What do you tell to the person who saved your life six years ago and might not even remember you?!" she hysterically shouted, effectively shutting Leah up.
Emily squatted down, her voice hoarse, "I... Not a single day has gone by where I haven't felt guilty. I thought about him all the time. When I ate I was thankful, when I laughed I was thankful. And when I breathed... I was thankful."
Leah sat down and hugged her friend, "I know, I'm the same, remember? But are you going to avoid him your entire life?"
Emily trembled at that, "I... I don't know... but Leah if I go out there right now, I'm going to breakdown. I'm going to breakdown in front of the entire damn cheerleading team."
Leah was about to answer when she was interrupted by a warm and gentle voice.
"Would a hug help?"
Both girls froze before slowly turning back, their eyes red.
Jay had been tasked by Aunt Lisa to search for them, and he had heard everything. The moment he'd seen them, all the memories had come crashing down like a torrent. He remembered, everything. No, it was to the point that it would be hard to dissociate both lives anymore. He was Jay Aslan.
His past was his, his family was his, his friends were his, and his emotions... were now his too.
He looked at the best friends he hadn't seen in a long time.
"Kitty, Bucky, it's been a while." he managed to croak before Em broke down into sobs, followed by Leah.
He squatted to their levels and hugged them, gently patting their backs, not saying anything for a long time.
When the girls started composing themselves, he detached himself from them and smiled.
"Woah, Bucky you actually have teeth now!" he playfully grinned.
Emily responded by punching his chest, "Don't call me that, so embarrassing."
Jay extended his hands to both girls and lifted them up the floor. An awkward silence ensued during which they started sizing each other up.
"Well, I always knew Kitty was beautiful, but Bucky now that's a surprise! Who would've thought there was an actual girl hiding under your tomboy shell." Jay teased.
"Ouch, harsh much? I was 10! It's perfectly fine for a 10 year old to climb trees and get muddy alright." she rolled her eyes at him and said.
Leah laughed, watching them interact made her feel warm.
Leah elusively smiled, "Huh huh Jay, Em's now the queen of the succubi, she has a reputation to uphold so you can't embarrass her."
"Leah!" Em shrieked, horrified.
Jay raised his eyebrows, "Queen of the succubi?"
Em blocked Leah's mouth with her hands, glaring at her friend.
"It's nothing, she's just joking. Right, Leah?" she threatened through gritted teeth.
Leah chuckled but didn't say anything else.
Jay looked at them then noticed something out of the corner of his eyes and spoke, "Let's catch up later, it's not convenient with so many people around."
The girls turned to take a look and saw Amy and the rest of the girls approaching.
"Speak of the devils." Leah mumbled.
"Hey," Amy said, "Are you guys gonna introduce us?"
"Nope." Leah and Em said in unison before dragging Jay away, leaving the other girls speechless.
When they were out of earshot, Leah started, "Listen Jay, don't get too close to those girls, they're not... Uhm... they're bad people. Remember when we were 8 and a guy tried to hand us sweets? They're the same kind." she said gently but firmly while Em vigorously nodded.
"That's right, they're bad girls. Bad, bad girls. They'll taint you." she repeated while Leah rose an eyebrow at her and mouthed 'queen'.
Emily glared at her while Jay... was left at a loss.
Why were they talking to him like he was an idiot?... Ah... no, they were talking to him like he was 9.
Which he technically was, huh. This... was going to be a pain, Jay thought while observing the girls' silent bickering.