Shark Out of Water (Grab Your Pole, #3) (3 page)

“Camie, I’m so sorry…really, I just don’t know what to say. I can’t believe he broke up with you for that.”

“Neither can I,” Jillian said out of the blue. Seriously, the chick scares the shit out of me. She’s like the rabbit in a magician’s hat. First she’s not there and then abracadabra…POOF! She is. It’s fuckin’ freaky.

“Well I can,” I blurted. All three girls turned to stare at me but not before I caught the glare Camie threw at her sister. I don’t know what that’s about, but it’s time I clue them in to what a prick Tristan is. “Tristan told me last week he was running out of patience with waiting for you and stuff, and he thought about breaking up with you when you guys were having that fight. I blew it off, but now…I’m sorry, Camie, I should’ve taken him more seriously. I could’ve talked to him about it or something before he went off the deep end, and I know you’re not asking, but
I
can’t let him get away with this shit! Tristan Daniels is a dead man.”

“Babe, are you seriously talking about beating up your best friend?” Katy asked me with her big and beautiful, green eyes brimming with tears. And I know she’s probably more concerned for me and another fuckin’ devastating loss, but this isn’t like losing our baby. I’ve known Tristan my whole goddamned life…almost eighteen fuckin’ years…

“He’s not my best friend anymore, Katy…I don’t even know who the fuck he is. And when I find him, he’s in for a world of hurt with the shitstorm I’m gonna bring down on him. Fuckin’ coward.”

No. Not like losing our little peanut at all. More like losing myself.

The clock is ticking ~ Pete

To the untrained eye—that is, if the untrained eye could even see her in the first place—she floated into the library and sat down across from me looking like she had not a care in the world. But I know different. She’s
very
upset.

“Have you heard from him yet?” Jillian asked me during the break. When I just shook my head “No,” her voice turned imploring. “You have to find him.”

She’s right, but that’s easier said than done.

I sighed, “I know.”

“Jeff’s on the rampage and Kate’s backing him.”

“Aw shit, you’re kidding…how’d that happen?” I asked, wondering if maybe she and I talked to Jeff and Kate then maybe this wouldn’t become the clusterfuck it’s headed to be.

“No. I’m not,” she replied and with a frown, she told me of the conversation she’d overheard and briefly took part in. Whereby explaining that Jeff is one hundred percent holding firm to the belief that Tristan broke up with Camie and he did it over sex, and that that belief is based on hearing Camie’s version of events and one small, misinterpreted conversation in the doorway of a classroom. “You have to find him,” she repeated.

“I know.”

This is
not
good news. If he’d only stuck around, everything might’ve been okay. Not great, but okay. I think I understand why he did it though. Even knowing something of the reason behind his disappearance, well, let’s just say him not being here looks bad and complicates things.

“The battle lines are being drawn, Pete, and when Tristan comes back, he’s gonna be walking into the middle of a war that he’s not even aware he started let alone prepared to defend himself in, so you
have
to
find
him.”

“I know!”
Jesus, I know…but how do I find him and tell him his best friend is against him now too?

“Alright. I’m sorry…I’m just stressed and I hate this gnawing feeling of impotency.”

If that isn’t an understatement, I don’t know what is. Jillian is a take-charge kind of girl and right now there are things happening in her life that she has no control over and there’s really nothing she can do about any of it at the moment. It’s wearing on her. Not being able to do anything isn’t my idea of a good time either.

“Jillian, you don’t have to apologize to me. I know.”

That earned me a smile, which she meant to convey to me the gratitude she feels with not having to go through what she’s going through all on her own. Then taking a calming breath and transforming her features back into obscurity, she came back to the business at hand. “So, where do you think he might be?”

“Hell if I know…it’s Tuesday, he could be anywhere in the world by now.” It’s the God’s honest truth too. Have money and passport, will travel. Throw in his parents being pilots for an international airline and presto! Tristan’s watching the sunset from the feet of the Sphinx or floating down the Ganges River…

“Well then, without your sport-induced psychic network fully up and running, it looks like you have your work cut out for you…”

I sighed again.

“I know.”

Back at square one.

Sunday when he left and wouldn’t respond to any of the numerous attempts I’d made to reach him, I made a habit of driving by his house on my way to and from home, just to see if maybe on the off-chance he’d be there. When Tuesday rolled around and it became clear he’d literally vanished without a trace, I began looking for him in earnest. I ditched the rest of school with the hope that I’d get the jump on Jeff and have the edge, but coming up empty handed at Tristan’s house yet again, I’m not counting on it.

Tristan’s parents weren’t home but his bus was still gone so that told me he’s on the road,
not
in the air. Just to be safe, I scoured the airport parking lots. It took me hours. I also thought maybe he’d been surfing each and every day since he bailed, but driving up and down the streets of Tristan’s favorite beaches got me zilch as well. Trekking out to the lake was my next step. Again, nada. So here I am, back at his house.

I’d already checked his computer for clues as to where he might’ve taken off to, but there was nothing in the history that helped. The screen saver kicked back on, showing me countless pictures. One of the ten of us at the desert faded and was replaced by one of him and Jeff on a camping trip when they were kids. Jeff is gonna wanna kick his own ass when he realizes he’s throwing a lifelong friendship away over what is essentially, a misunderstanding.

Unimaginably frustrated, I stood up and went to stare at his whiteboard again. There really wasn’t anything there either aside from a note from his dad dating back to Saturday. It looks like his mom and dad took an unscheduled flight and don’t even know their son is missing. My gaze shifted to the bulletin board and all the crap Tristan’s collected over the years. My eyes flitted over pictures, mostly of him and Jeff, many of Camie, cards, notes, certificates of achievement, Camie’s bra among them, and the occasional odd receipt or wrapper for something that only he knows the sentimental value of. I read again the conversation about his and Camie’s tattoos, thinking to myself, if I were Tristan, where would I hole-up to lick my wounds?

Tristan’s Mom:
What’s this?

Tristan:
A sketch of my new mobile art.

Tristan’s mom:
Do I want to know what you mean by mobile?

Tristan:
Probably not. But look, there are waves and you know how I feel about the ocean!

Tristan’s Mom:
I know you love the water dear, but a tattoo? Didn’t it hurt? Oh never mind, I don’t want to know. It’s your body.

Camie:
If it makes you feel any better, I have one too and it didn’t hurt a bit!

Tristan:
It’s true, she does…it’s pretty hot.

Camie:
Back at ya. Oh, Mr. and Mrs. D? I’m not going to ask you to outright lie, but if you wouldn’t mind not mentioning this to my parents, I’d appreciate it. Thanks, you’re the best.

God, I’m so pissed!

I ground my teeth and threw my keys but when they took a nice-sized gouge out of the drywall of the vacant corner his surf boards are usually propped up in, I looked back at the detailed sketch he’d drawn of their contract tattoo and the conversation that pertains to it. There was a subliminal connection between all these things and even though I couldn’t pin down what it specifically was, it gave me an idea. I went back to the computer, but this time instead of looking for clues, I had a general destination in mind. Only it’s a very extensive area and for my search to be all-inclusive, I needed a crash course on the beaches of California. I ran my finger over the touchpad and the picture of Camie that Tristan took of her at the beach over the summer melted away.

I don’t know what exactly happened the other night, but whatever it was, it was enough for Tristan to feel so immensely guilty that he’d rather let Camie believe he broke up with her and then leave home because of it. Which in turn means that it was really bad because Tristan wouldn’t, I mean absolutely would
not
let her go just over a game of Leap Frog gone bad and I
know
, without a doubt in my mind, that she jumped to the wrong conclusion.

I deleted the history of what I’d looked up and printed out just in case Jeff had it in mind to look there too. He might not have to, and I’m not being paranoid, but I’ve learned a little something about covering your tracks and if I’m gonna hope to find Tristan first, well…I’m just saying, Tristan will appreciate my thoroughness here. And at the very least, Jillian will get a kick out of it when I tell her.

Choosing sides ~ Brandon

“Hey Sexy, what’s wrong?” Melissa bounces and when she doesn’t, that’s my first clue something’s up.

“Have you talked to Tristan?”

“Not since the party…Jesus, he and Camie were shitfaced… Why?”

“Well, he broke up with Cam—”

“What?!”
I thought maybe she was gonna tell me that Tristan and Jeff decided they didn’t want the band to play their birthday bash after all or something like that, so what she said was the
last
thing I expected to hear her say.

“Yeah. Because she wouldn’t have sex with him.”

“No shit! Well, good for him…it’s about time he took his balls out of her purse.” I like Camie, I really do. She’s a cool chick, but I think Tristan put up with a lot of shit most guys would’ve put a stop to a long time ago.

“Brandon!”

Then again, I put up with a lot of shit too. Melissa’s high-maintenance.

Dude, get a grip…pacify your girl. “Okay, sorry, that was harsh…I know she’s your friend. When’d this happen?”

“I guess on Sunday…on her birthday.”

“Ouch, that’s kinda fucked up.”

“I know. But I just…I don’t know, Brandon, it just doesn’t feel right.”

“What doesn’t feel right?” I asked her while trying to appear like I give a fuck and tune my guitar at the same time. Yeah okay, that came out bad…I do care that Melissa’s upset, I just have a hard time getting too worked up about other people’s bullshit.

“That Tristan would break up with Camie over not having sex. I mean, that’s what Camie said and both Jeff and Kate believe her…”

“But you don’t.”

“I don’t think she’s lying or anything, it’s just that’s not something I think he would do, you know?”

“What, break up with her?” I rubbed the wings on my neck thinking, shit, the cold reality is people who like each other a lot and even love each other break up and leave each other all the time. Melissa needs a reality check if she thinks they don’t.

“Not like that anyway. I know how he is with girls because I’ve been one of them…you know he and I went out, right?”

I nodded and kept my mouth shut. I try really fuckin’ hard to not let that little bit of history between them get in the way of what she and I have. It’s not fuckin’ easy either. Tristan is every guy’s worst goddamned nightmare when it comes to a lot of shit, but mostly chicks. I swear to God, the dude could snap his fingers and they’d all bow down to him. And sometimes, I honestly have to remind myself that I’m the only guy Melissa has ever knelt before.

“Well, he never put pressure on me to sleep with him or do
anything
else. I mean not
once
, Brandon, and when he called it quits with me, he was honest but he was kind about it and it had absolutely nothing to do with sex. I can believe he’d break up with her and
maybe
even about sex, but I’m just having a really hard time believing he would break up with her the way she said it happened…he’s not that cruel…”

She told me the story and after hearing how it went down, I would have to agree. From everything I know of him anyway, which isn’t a lot really, but what I learned about him in the desert and over the last couple months tells me that Tristan’s a good guy. Plus, I can sense shit about people and other stuff and my gut is practically never wrong.

“Jeff wants to kill him, Kate is standing behind Jeff, and Camie is just pretending that she’s okay with everything and ready to move on. For Christ’s sake, Brandon, she’s already talking about trying to find a date to the dance…it’s just weird and I’m
pretty
sure Jillian is on Tristan’s side, which for the life of me I can’t understand when
he
dumped
her
sister…and what’s making this even more screwed up is that no one even knows
where
Tristan is! I just don’t feel right about taking sides an—”

“Sexy, be Switzerland.” This is the kind of bullshit I try to avoid. I like hearing all the dirt just as much as the next guy, but when it comes down to taking sides in something like this, it’s just better to stay the fuck out of it if at all possible.

“What?”

“Don’t take sides. Trust me, you’ll only wind up bein’ collateral damage.”

“But Tristan’s my friend and Camie and I have gotten really close…”

“How would you feel if you were in either of their shoes and they took sides?”

“Like shit. And I’d probably be mad at whoever sided against me…”

“Exactly. Look, do what you want, but I’m gonna be Swiss. I like ‘em both and it sucks that this shit is goin’ on, and I’d still like to hang out with both of ‘em too, but I’m not about to jump into the fray, especially without all the fuckin’ details and I don’t think you should either.”

What I didn’t tell her was that if someone put a gun to my head and forced me to choose, I’d side with Tristan. Not because he’s a guy, but because Melissa’s right. It feels off and if she’s right about Jillian backing Tristan, you gotta fuckin’ know there’s a reason for it. As shitty as it might be to do, I’d even jump ship and go to Camie’s side if Jillian did. But since no one’s got a gun to my head, I’m Swiss.