“She went to Kilgore.”

That was unexpected. “What?”

“When Damien started to pressure her to dance, she went to Kilgore, in Texas. It’s a small town. I got a card from Arizona a few weeks back, so I don’t think she’s still in Texas.”

“Shit,” I said under my breath.

Jersey stood up and faced me. “Sorry, I think it was a card from on the road.”

I’d have to go to Kilgore anyway. But at least I knew, that if I didn’t find anything there I’d have somewhere to try next. The whole state of Arizona, but somewhere anyway. My luck, it seemed, was holding.

“You hurt her again and you deserve to die,” she said to me. I let myself look her in the face. I let myself look at one of the other people on this planet who loved Ashley Davies.

“Yes.” I agreed. “I do.”

The multiple meanings were not lost on either of us. I should have asked why she told me, but I didn’t. I left that to her heart, it was probably all she had left.

And so I continue running towards; towards my beloved confused Ashley. Just like I always have done eventually. Sometimes it just takes me some time to turn around from the running away.

*********************

I was not used to this. I was fifteen and I was supposed to be kissing boys. I was not supposed to be kissing my best friend and then running like the ‘fraidy cat that I was. I wasn’t supposed to be hiding in my room for the rest of the weekend half day dreaming about dragging her back to bed and kissing her for the rest of my life, or having day nightmare visions of my mother finding out and being chained in the basement for the rest of my life.

Ashley knocked on the door on Sunday afternoon but I told my mother I had a migraine. She gave me a funny look, she was very fond of Ashley, but sent her away anyway.

My response to the whole weekend, bury it. Bury it deep and refuse to ever acknowledge it happened. That was my plan for school Monday morning and I proudly carried it through to, oh… about Monday ten o’clock. Because that was when Ashley dragged me into the school toilets and turned to furiously confront me.