Free Worth the Fall by Caitie Quinn

but…“Most of my friends are still back in Ohio. I’d been so busy when I moved here that I didn’t really go out and meet the kind of friends who you call when you move. I met Jason and got serious with him pretty quickly when I got here for grad school. Life just stayed really focused.”
    Or, narrow more likely.  
    They all just stared at me. I could tell the guys were embarrassed. Jenna just did that grinning thing. She had to be the happiest person I’d ever met.
    “I know exactly what you mean. I just fired one of my best friends. The other one is a writer who lives on the other side of town. And everyone else I’m close with is back home. I followed my boyfriend to college where he basically dumped me the day before our wedding.”
    “Wow. You’re making my story look lame.”
    “I’m here to help.” She said it in her standard pixie-cute way making me believe she actually was sharing to help.
    “But, I really would like to buy the thank you meal. We’ve all had a big week. I started a new company, Jenna has Ben moved in, and Ben has someone to sublet his place.”
    Max toasted all of us with his drink then asked, “What about me?”
    It was too easy. And I stilled owed him for scaring me about the accident. “Oh, you’ve had the biggest week of all.”
    “I have?”
    “You’re a hero. I saw you on the front page. Rescuer of Kittens!”
    Max set his drink down and glared at Jenna. “Jenna.”
    “What?” She turned her phone on where she had just made it the background, and flashed the group. “It’s adorable.”
    “If I’d been carrying a pregnant woman out of an exploding building, that’s the kind of pictures you show. Kittens. No, Jenna. Don’t show that to anyone else.”
    “But…” I could see this was going somewhere Max wasn’t going to like.
    “What did you do?”
    “Nothing too big.”
    “Jenna.” Max actually sounded a little threatening.
    Jenna glanced toward Ben as if he was going to take care of this.  
    “Don’t look at me, Sunshine. I’m guessing what you did and you know we have rules about that.”
    Max all but gasped. “You didn’t.”  
      “You never said I couldn’t. Ben told you about the rules and you called him a chicken. But, you know, a worse word.”
    I was trying to figure out what was going on between the gasping and allusions and self-censorship.
    “This is true.” Ben gave him one of those completely unapologetic shrugs friends do when they really have nothing else to say. “This is what you get for questioning my manhood.”
    “Your manhood is coming up a lot today,” I said, not really sure what we were talking about.
    “It’s true.” Ben took a swig of his beer and grinned. “Still comfortable. Also, ignoring the non-mixed company joke potential in that statement.”
    “Jenna?” Max prompted.
    “Yes. It’s on my website. It’s already become a meme. My teens have started captioning it and passing it on. I wouldn’t suggest checking out #OfficerMax today on Twitter.”
    Oh. My. Gosh.  
    Did Jenna have a death wish?
    If she did, she was working overtime on it. She pulled out her phone and called up Twitter. “Here’s a few of my favorites.”
    Max snatched the phone and paged through, horrified noises coming out of his mouth as he clicked one link after another.
    “Hug me, I’m a cop? I’d climb a tree for that too? Officer Max can—” Max’s eyes widened and he set the phone face down on the table. “I’m not sure your audience is strictly teens at this point. Jenna, how could you?”
    “But, Officer Max, you said nothing I could put on my website that was true would embarrass you. You said Ben was being a pansy for not letting me post pictures of him.”
    “I didn’t think you’d do this!”
    “It’s not like it isn’t already in the newspaper.”
    Max stabbed a finger toward the phone. “Officer Max, Seducer of Kittens? That’s just wrong, Jenna. Just plain wrong.”
    “I bet you’re wishing you were