Free Break My Fall (No Limits) by J.T. Cameron

have guessed he would disappear for two days after that night. Especially after that kiss. As persistent as he’d been to get close to me, it struck me as more than a little odd that all of a sudden he was nowhere to be seen.
    Late in the evening, Rebecca noticed my mood. “ Missing Drew?”
    Kyle was down at the end of the bar, talking to some guys, so Rebecca and I were sitting alone.
    “Yeah. This is kind of unlike him.”
    Rebecca turned in her seat to face me. “Where do you think he is?”
    I shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s not like it’s any of my business, but…”
    She jumped in where my sentence trailed off. “I know the feeling.”
    I nodded, even though I didn’t like the thought of equating Drew with Kyle. It actually made me cringe a little, but Rebecca didn’t notice.
    I’d been drinking a Coke because this place was pretty strict on checking IDs, and I no longer had mine.
    “You don’t know where he lives?” she asked.
    I shook my head.
    “And he hasn’t told you where he works?”
    “ No. I’ve brought it up at least twice, at least, but he’s always found a way to change the subject.”
    “Maybe he’s a drug dealer.”
    I laughed. “That’s what I said one time.”
    “Did he deny it?”
    I looked at her out of the corner of my eye. “He’s not a dealer, Rebecca.”
    “Okay, let’s go through this and try to figure it out.”
    We spent the next several minutes talking about what we knew about Drew, and the only conclusion we could come up with was that he worked somewhere he didn’t want me to know about, which had been obvious from the start, so we’d accomplished nothing.
    At one point I said, “Maybe he doesn’t work at all, and he’s stalling while he tries to figure out a way to tell me he’s a merman.”
    “A what?”
    “Merman. The male version of a mermaid. Maybe he has to spend a certain amount of time in the water, and that’s why he’s not around this weekend. Or maybe I’m just getting tired and delirious.”
    She snapped her fingers. “I got it. Maybe he’s intimidated that you’re studying to be a scientist and he’s, like, a…I don’t know. Maybe a stock boy at a grocery store.”
    “Drew’s not like that.” I noticed a defensive tone to my response and found it surprising.
    Rebecca didn’t pick up on it. “He’s not like what? A stock boy?”
    I laughed. “No. He’s just not the type to be ashamed of any kind of job. At least, I don’t think so.”
    She thought about that for a moment. “Then what’s he hiding?”
    I frowned and cocked my head to the side, wondering the same thing.
    I could have asked Mrs. Russell, but she might think it was odd that Drew hadn’t told me, and if she mentioned it to Drew he would know that I’d been snooping around.
    Plus, figuring Drew out was proving to be an intriguing diversion, something I really needed.
     
    .  .  .  .  .
     
    Late Sunday morning, I got a call from Liz. We kept in touch maybe once a week or once every two weeks at worst. She was a great friend and roommate, and I hated the fact that we didn’t talk much anymore, but separating myself from Florida meant sacrificing some of the things I dearly loved.
    She always wanted to know first what I had been up to since the last time we talked. I never had very much to share. My life was mostly just working at the shop and surfing. Not that I was compla ining. I liked it that way.
    This time, though, there was obviously more to share . But I wasn’t ready to tell her about my recent encounters with Drew. So when I told her about being arrested for surfing, I completely left out the part about how the fine got paid, and instead focused on what it was like to be in the slammer.
    “Of course you’d get arrested surfing,” she joked. “If I had to pick one person that would happen to, it would be you.”
    Liz wasn’t a surfer. She had no interest in it, other than having watched me do it a few times and telling me it looked like fun.