Last Seen Leaving by Caleb Roehrig Page A

was and how he was always making cases against me in absentia, cases by which my seemingly ever-credulous girlfriend was perpetually thisclose to being convinced. Now he was trying to reach out to me, and I knew the mature thing to do would be to reciprocate, and I knew I should want to do the mature thing—but I didn’t. And the truth of that was frustrating. Irritated by the whole situation, I jammed my hands into my jacket pockets. “Why are you telling me all this stuff?”
    â€œLike I said, I was thinking. I guess I realized that if January told you things about me that, you know, misrepresented what really happened, then maybe the things she’s told me about you weren’t totally accurate, either.” He shrugged uncomfortably. “I figured at the very least I owed you a chance to tell me your side of the story.”
    â€œWhy?” I retorted. “Because I’m so concerned with what you think of me?”
    â€œFair enough.” Kaz sighed. “I guess what I owe you is an apology. January made you sound like this enormous ass who didn’t care about her at all, but”—he gestured around the courtyard—“you’re the only other one of her friends who showed up today. And you’re the only one who stopped by the toy store to ask about her, other than the police. That’s the other thing—I found out from the owners that the cops came by last week, and apparently January didn’t tell her parents she’d quit, either.” He gave me that crooked smile again, and his sheepish expression made him look about fifty percent less douchey. “I don’t know why she said the things she said, but I wanted to set the record straight. I’m sorry, man.”
    It was a weird moment. Kaz had no reason to lie to me, and no reason to want peace with me unless he was telling the truth, but I was still annoyed at having to let go of my anger. I’d spent a lot of time convincing myself of my righteousness in hating Kaz, and I sure as hell wasn’t ready to trust him, but I couldn’t justify rejecting his olive branch, either. Reluctantly, I gave a curt nod. “Sure. Whatever.”
    Pointedly, I turned to walk away, only to discover that we’d been all but abandoned in the courtyard. Mrs. Hughes was nowhere to be seen, and the only adults left were the quarrelsome older people with the map, still arguing over who should hold it and which way was north, anyway. I let out a tired sigh, realizing my own fate a moment before I heard Kaz pipe up, “So, what do you say? Search buddies?”
    We were silent for a long time, our booted feet swishing through grass that was silvered with a touch of frost left over from the morning. It was an overcast day, the sky a solid blanket of dove-white clouds, and cold, blunt light fell on the fields that rolled away from the back of the Walker mansion. We’d left the house far behind, and in the distance we could see groups of other searchers moving inexorably toward the thick woods that sprouted up to the southeast of the property. Without explanation, I veered southwest, and Kaz followed.
    â€œYou know, January told me that her parents were rich and annoyingly Waspy, but I hadn’t really been expecting the whole Ken-and-Barbie-in-the-Hamptons routine,” he remarked with forced amiability as he pulled up next to me, his long legs easily matching mine stride for stride. He was giving me that cute, crooked smile again, standing close enough for me to catch a mingled scent of herbal soap and sandalwood cologne, and it made funny things happen to my stomach. I gritted my teeth and tried to pick up the pace. I wasn’t even sure I wanted to like Kaz as a person, let alone feel … things for him. Oblivious to my discomfort, he continued, “I mean, she makes her stepdad sound like some kind of animatronic, flag-waving caricature, but I always pictured her mom as a little