122 Rules by Deek Rhew

forwarding address, no nothing. But it’s less like she moved on and more like she dropped off the face of the Earth.” He sounded perplexed. “I can’t find her anywhere, and, well, she told me you were her best friend, and I was wondering if you could help me.”
    The hopeful, optimistic timbre in his words seemed genuine, but Angel would never just turn her friend over like that. Not to a stranger; not on the phone; not to anyone. “Look, it’s Tom, right? I don’t know where she is. I haven’t seen her in a long time. So, I really can’t help you.”
    “Oh,” he said, the hope deflating from his voice like air escaping from a ruptured tire. “So you have no idea what happened?”
    “No.”
    “Maybe if we put our heads together we can figure this out? Somebody must be in contact with her, right?” He paused for a few heartbeats. “I’m...I’m just worried something happened.”
    “Why are you looking for her?” Tom hesitated, and it dawned on Angel why he’d called. “Oh. My. God. You’re a freaking stalker! Damn, I told her she’d meet crazies in New York. Look psycho boy”—her voice had gone icy—“you’d better back the hell off.”
    “No. No. No, nothing like that. I guess I can see your point. But it isn’t like that at all.”
    He hadn’t convinced her, but when she spoke again, she let her voice thaw, only a little. She wanted the chilly undertone to convey her skepticism. “Start talking, NYU boy, you have two minutes before I call the cops.”
    She needed to sound in charge of the situation, but if Tom knew anything about the town, he could call her bluff. Stoner Sheriff Austin wouldn’t do shit about a phone call.
    “Look, I can be accused of being a lot of things, a dumb-ass weakling, a moron, whatever, but not a stalker. We had some classes together, and like I said, she lived with me. We, you know, hung out, and I wanted to ask her out, but the girl was seriously heads down. I was pretty sure she would tell me no. She wasn’t interested in going to parties, or having fun, or any of the things you’re supposed to do in college. So I took the long approach, you know, being friends and getting to know her, hoping for my chance. She would spend time with me because I’m straight A’s too, and, well, like I said, we occasionally hung out if you catch my drift. At first, I think she only tolerated my company because she needed someplace to stay. After some late nights though, her defenses came down, and we started talking. Really talking. She told me about her childhood and what happened with her folks. She was warming up to me, and we were getting close. You know what I mean?”
    Angel did. In fact, she had talked to her friend at great length about how hard Monica had been working at keeping people away. Angel had tried, in vain, to get her to cool it a bit and have a little fun. But she might as well have been speaking Martian for all the good it did.
    She didn’t answer, but she also didn’t hang up. Tom must have taken that as a sign of encouragement. “So anyway, I could tell her anything, and she didn’t pass judgment. I have come from, oh, let’s just say, a rough childhood too, and she totally got me. Some of the stories she told me about her life...” He trailed off. “Seriously, taking down that slime in L.A. with the Louisville Slugger? I had one of those growing up, but…damn.”
    A tear welled up in Angel’s eye. “Yeah,” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper, “she had a rough go of it for a while.”
    “I know, and somewhere in all that time I was spilling my guts, I fell for her. It’s way more than just sex. We were making love, you know? Don’t know when exactly I developed feelings for her, but it kinda surprised me. Maybe I’m just a sucker for hard-luck cases? After she was gone, there was this hole in my life, and I knew that I would regret it if I didn’t take the chance and tell her.”
    “I don’t think she’s ready to