Amanda Ashby - You Had Me at Halo

So why on earth didn’t she remember it? Boy, look how adorable she had been back then: all brown ringlets and slim legs.

She flicked through the rest of the photographs until she discovered one that looked familiar. It was the same party and there was a chubby clown holding up a white bunny rabbit.

She remembered.

There had been tiny little cupcakes with bright red cherries on top and Holly had a nasty feeling she’d gone around the plate and eaten all the cherries before discarding the cakes. There had been more as well: music, laughter and lots of running around.

And Vince . There he was, suddenly coming into focus in her memory. And not just for that day, there had been other days too.

“I remember,” she said finally and for a moment she thought she could feel Vince smile.

“I’m pleased,” he said before standing up. “Now I guess I should take you to work so you can say goodbye to Gemma and then perhaps we could…you know…find out how those pills got into your system.”

“The only thing we’re doing this morning is groveling until we know your job is safe.”

“Holly, I don’t care about my job.”

“Well, I do. You have your mortgage and your tablets to afford.”

Vince folded his arms in a ‘we will talk about this later’ sort of way. However he merely said, “So are you ready?”

No , Holly wanted to yell.

She wasn’t remotely ready.

She hadn’t been ready to die and she certainly wasn’t ready to lose her memory. But apparently what she wanted didn’t really matter too much these days and so she took a deep breath.

“As I’ll ever be.”

“Nice going, Murphy,” someone called out as they walked into the Baker Colwell foyer.

“Yeah. Well done. That prick had it coming to him.” Holly looked up and saw it was a couple of guys she’d worked with before she’d got her promotion.

“Er, thanks,” she said, not quite sure what they were talking about. As she walked on a couple more guys nodded in her direction but it wasn’t until someone started to cheer and said, “Nice shot,” that Holly realized they must be referring to Todd. And that she had punched him.

Hey, you’ve made me famous, Vince teased.

Yes, but why? Holly frowned. Todd was one of the most popular guys in the company. He was young, dynamic and had corner office written all over him, so why were people so pleased Vince Murphy had decked him?

More importantly, how had they all found out? Holly felt ill. Despite how pleased everyone seemed to be at Todd getting punched, she had the sinking feeling it would be he who had the last laugh. Before she could delve any more into it Gemma came running up, panting.

“Thank God I’ve found you. I’ve been trying to call you all night. Why did you turn off your phone?”

“I didn’t,” Holly said. “I think the battery’s gone dead and I forgot to charge it.”

“So, are you okay?” Gemma demanded. “I’ve been sick with worry. You just ran out of there last night without saying anything.”

“I’m sorry.” Holly winced. “I just had to get some fresh air.”

There was no way she could tell Gemma the truth about what was going to happen to her now she’d failed her manual purge, but if she’d stayed around last night, that’s exactly what she would have done.

Look at how she’d spilled her guts to Vince. While Holly had been discovering that a lot of things in her life weren’t as she’d thought, Gemma wasn’t one of those things. She was the best friend a girl could have, and there was no way she wanted her to be worrying about Holly’s eternal damnation.

“It’s understandable.” Gemma gave a vigorous nod of her head. “I still can’t believe that Todd and Rochelle were…well you know. I mean I knew Rochelle was chasing him like crazy…but Todd? I never would’ve expected that in a million years.”

“Yeah,” Vince said in a typical Vince-like drawl. “Totally never saw that one coming. Todd’s always been such a great guy.”

“Vince, you’re back.” Gemma’s face broke out into a smile. “I didn’t realize. Did you…er…have a nice time?”

“As far as being knocked out goes, it wasn’t too bad. Though it seems I missed all the action. What with Holly decking Todd like that.”

“It was unbelievable. She was…I mean you were…well you both were amazing.” Gemma gave an expansive wave of her arms.

“He had it coming,” Holly said with a sniff. “Though actually I was more upset about the fact he didn’t believe in me, than that he was with Rochelle.”

“I know. What a bastard. I’m glad you punched him because otherwise I would’ve,” Gemma said.

“I don’t think Simon would’ve appreciated that,” Holly reminded her.

“Actually Simon didn’t appreciate much of what I said after you left. Can you believe him? And to think I wasted four months of my life with a crush on that stupid egghead.”

“Madness,” Vince interrupted before Holly managed to take over. “I’m pleased you don’t like him anymore, because neither do I. It’s much better to be single than to be with such an idiot.”

Gemma blushed and started to fiddle with her clipboard. “The thing is that after you ran out and I argued with Simon and the rest of them, Vince’s friend, Andrew came in. I guess he was looking for you, Vince. But when he heard what happened, he came over to see if I was okay.”

“Really?” For a moment Holly was distracted from her own problems. As far as she was aware, Andrew had been planning to go home after he dropped the laptops off. Sly dog.

“Yes, he seemed to know we’d been best friends and that Todd had been insulting you. He said Todd had it coming anyway and he was pleased Vince was the one to do it,” Gemma said with a watery smile. “So I sat with him for a while which was great because you weren’t answering your phone and I swear I’d been thinking about going around to see if you were okay.”

“Not a good idea,” Vince said. “It’s not exactly safe my end of town. Especially at night, when you’re alone.”

“He’s right,” Holly agreed. “And Vince has man-strength.”

“Yes, he does.” Gemma giggled. “I still can’t believe you punched Todd. Does your hand hurt?”

“A bit,” Holly admitted. “But it was worth it.”

“Yeah,” Gemma chuckled. “I bet you won’t forget the look on his face in a hurry.”

“No, I won’t,” Holly lied as she recalled just how much that punch had cost her. Besides, even if she could only remember it for a few more hours, it was still a comfort.

“So this morning I wrote down the names of a couple more people who might’ve given you the pills. I’m also going to go around and take down all of those posters. I don’t care what my boss says.”

Holly studied her boots and didn’t say anything.

“What?” Gemma demanded. “Oh, you’re worried that I won’t be able to get away like yesterday, but I’ve—”

“She has to go back to heaven at one o’clock, Gemma,” Vince said the words that Holly couldn’t quite get out.

Gemma’s face went pale as she dropped her bag to the ground with a thump. “But surely they won’t take you back until tonight. Midnight or something. That’s what they would do in the movies. One o’clock is a stupid time. And besides, you haven’t resolved your issues yet. You can’t go back until that’s done.”

“I don’t think it works like that.” Holly gulped.

“No, don’t say that.” Gemma started to sob. “W-what’s going to happen if you don’t sort everything out before you go?”

Holly bit down on her lip and forced herself not to cry. “Oh, you know,” she said in a bright voice. “I guess they’ll stick me into a heavenly self-help group or something. Probably incredibly boring and I’ll get told off for talking.”