Away by B. A. Wolfe

Boulder,” I answered, giving him a look that told him I expected an answer in return.
    “I haven’t found a reason to leave yet. That’s my home and it’s the only place I’ve ever known,” he finally answered as he quietly took in a few more fries.
    “Thanks for answering. I kind of like this game,” I told him.
    He looked up and smiled at me, not answering, but he didn’t have to. I could tell, even though the game was probably made up, he wanted to know about me too.
    I started to finish what I could of my meal as I sat and absorbed his answers. I could feel deep down there was more to him than he was letting me see. Normally I would veer far away from guys that were hiding something, but what he was hiding seemed to go very deep, if he was in fact hiding something from me. I could have been totally off base for all I knew, but something inside me was screaming that he was.
    I put my napkin on the table when I finished and immediately regretted eating as much as I did, but also felt extremely satisfied.
    “Shall we?” he asked, standing up from the booth.
    “Yes, I’m now full and tired,” I replied, unsure if it was because of the pregnancy or eating way too much.
    “That makes two of us, again,” he said before slipping the waitress some cash and leading us back to his truck.

I PUT A HAND OVER MY STOMACH , feeling slightly ill from the grease pit I ingested last night. And the thought of it all was not settling well with my stomach. I needed to find some sort of a clear soda or some water to help ease my upset stomach. I put on a pair of cotton shorts and left my room.
    The house was eerily quiet and empty. I walked over to the front window to check and see if Jase’s truck was still there. He hadn’t mentioned last night when we got home that he had something going on this morning. I pulled back the drapes and could still see his red pickup in the gravel drive. I let out a sigh and walked toward the kitchen. Jason wasn’t in the kitchen, if he was in fact here, he was in his room. This was unusual for Jason, even in the couple of days that I’ve known him he seemed like a very early riser. I decided to go to his room to check on him and make sure everything was okay.
    I tiptoed to the back door where he said his room was and opened the door to the basement. The door creaked a little as I tried to quietly make my way down to his room.
    It was dark, making it hard to venture down all of the stairs without either falling or making too much noise, but I managed. I looked around to my left, which was full of boxes, and then to my right where there was a door a few steps away. I was hoping I found Jason’s room. I was now thinking how I wished I would have taken directions from him; I was worse than I thought. Thinking that to myself made me chuckle, and perhaps a little too loud. Jason’s voice radiated through the white wooden door I was standing in front of.
    “Cassie, is that you?” he asked, sounding amused.
    So much for being quiet. “Yeah,” I answered. “Can I come in?”
    “Of course. It’s unlocked,” he shouted.
    I slowly turned the round knob and gently pushed the door open to what was an equally dark room.
    “You can turn the light on; the switch is just on your right side,” he said quietly, his voice coming from somewhere in front of me.
    I blindly stretched my hand to the side of me, reaching around for the feel of a switch to hit my hand. Bingo.
    The room became illuminated, hurting both of our eyes as we screamed at the same time. I slowly lifted my lids, adjusting my eyes to the lights and saw Jason across from me in his large bed, doing the same.
    “You could have pre-warned me,” I muttered to him, finally opening my eyes fully.
    “You could have pre-warned me ,” he said back.
    I gave him a sarcastic glare before touring my eyes around his room. It was surprisingly large down here, and not at all what I had expected. His bed was in the center and a dresser was to the