Free Crossing by Stacey Wallace Benefiel

witty comeback for that. It’s the nicest thing any guy has ever said to me.
    Okay, maybe I do have one. “I’m going to step outside and then come back in. You let me know if you think anyone in this drag bar wants me.”
    “I cou--”
    “And this one,” the server says, “is from the guy over by the stage.” She sets down a single Corona.
    WHAT was he going to say? I could? I could what? Want me? No. He could let me know. Duh.
    “Hey, Andrea,” Liam says to the waitress. “If anyone else wants to buy me a drink, tell them I respectfully decline. I’m here with my friend and they’re being rude. Oh, and while you’re at it, Dani needs a fresh beer and we’ll each have two more shots of tequila. Thanks.”
    I smile at him and decide to change the subject before things get any more awkward and I start getting weird ideas in my head about Liam liking me. “So, I guess you’ll start working on Townsend House next week, huh?”
    He downs his nearly finished beer and pushes the new one off to the side. “The read-through is Tuesday night, which I’ll miss ’cause I’ll be working here, but we’re not going to start pulling costumes until Thursday night.”
    “How often do you work?”
    “I bar back Monday and Tuesday and tutor high school kids in Spanish Thursday and Sunday afternoon.” He sets his elbows on the table and puts his face in his hands, rubbing his palms over his cheeks. “What about you? I haven’t heard you mention work.”
    I run my fingers up and down the condensation on my empty beer bottle. “I have a deal with my parents. They pay my tuition, and I don’t work during the school year. I lived in the dorms last year, which they paid for too. But I waitressed all through high school and last summer and saved every penny, so I had a good chunk of change sitting in my bank account waiting for me when Elizabeth and I decided to get a place.”
    “That’s one hell of a deal.” He taps his fingers along his jaw line. “I’m going to be paying off student loans until I’m fifty.”
    “I know. I’m totally lucky.” God, I wish this beer had a label to pull off! “I think my parents are just grateful I didn’t develop a meth habit after what I went through senior year.”
    “There you go again, using your friend’s death for your own personal gain.” He winks at me.
    I sigh. “I know.” For once, thinking about Chase brings a smile to my face. “He would’ve appreciated that comment. He was scathing in the best way.”
    Liam smiles back at me. “I can tell you miss him.” His eyebrows draw together. “So, was it like having a boyfriend, but without the sex, the whole hag thing you had going on? I always wondered what the dynamic was in those relationships.”
    I shrug. “I guess. We were best friends. We were supposed to go to college together and have dorm rooms across the hall from each other. Later we were going to get an apartment. I was going to write poetry and bake and he was going to compose symphonies and bring home hot bisexual boys for me to make out with.” Deep breaths, girl. “We had plans and stupid dreams, just like any other couple.”
    The furrow between Liam’s brows grows deeper. “I’m really sorry he left you behind.”
    My eyes threaten to tear up. I don’t know how Liam gets me to talk about things I don’t even talk about with Elizabeth.
    Andrea comes back with my beer and our shots, plonking them down on the table. “Put it on your tab, Liam?”
    He nods. “That’d be fine, thanks.”
    “I will definitely get the next round,” I say.
    “And I will let you buy me a drink.”
    We hold up our shot glasses.
    Liam bows his head to me. “To not being addicted to meth.”
    Lick, shoot, suck.
    “To…hey I think the DJ is going to start spinning.”
    Liam lifts his second glass and hands me mine. “To you dancing and me watching you dance because theeeres no way in hell you’re getting me to dance. So don’t even ask, or look at me that