Damn Good Reasons **DISCONTINUED - SEE NEW VER!**

Chapter 29 - Freeing the Bird

Two weeks passed. Vince was still nowhere to be seen. It was like he'd stepped off the face of the earth. Vanished. None of the guys had seen him. We tried visiting his mother to see if she knew anything, but she wouldn't open the door.

And then... I found a note in my mailbox.

It wasn't a letter and it wasn't a postcard. It was a simple handwritten scribble on a piece of scrap paper, and I had no idea how it got there or how long it had been in there.

You see, I hadn't been to my house in nearly a fortnight. I kept meaning to check on the place, but we'd been far too busy. Not only did Ace and I have to pick up Vince's slack, but some of Eyeball's as well. He only came in when he felt like it. Eyeball and Vince used to be solid and reliable help for Ace on the mechanics side of things, but now Ace only had one part-timer. And me to some degree. Sometimes I had to help him with lifting stuff and holding things in place, and I cleaned the cars out for him. But other than that, I wasn't much use.

The note had a phone number on it and was signed 'V'. At first, I was going to give the number to Ace to ring, but then I wondered why Vince had put it in my mailbox instead of his.

I had to call it several times before I got an answer, and that wasn't until early evening.

"Vince?" I said, exasperated. "Where the hell are you? Ace needs you!"

"I'm not comin' back, Cass."

Five little words, and I felt like the world had just tipped upside down.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because where I am now, I got it too good. I got a new job, place to stay, and the girl next door is real, real sweet. And I think she likes me. Best thing of all is, Eyeball ain't here to fuck things up for me this time."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes with my fingers. "I wanna be happy for you, but Ace has been finding it real hard without you here. Eyeball drifts in and out again, and we're ticking along but, I think Ace feels like you've let him down. I don't know how else to say it."

Vince went quiet for a minute, and I had to check if he was still on the other end. "Vince?"

"Is Ace there?"

"No."

"Look, don't give him this number, OK? Just tell him I'm out."

"I'll tell him, but if he wants your number, I'll give it to him."

"Why?"

"Because there's no secrets between us. We tell each other everything."

"Fuck..." Vince sighed. "OK – whatever."

"I suppose you won't tell me where you are."

"Might as well now – Ace'll know anyway once he sees the number. I'm right on the beach, north of the state. Got a cousin who lives out here and he offered me to stay. This place is fucking great. And Ace might be pissed off and all, but what Eyeball did... I can't be around him no more. This ain't the first time he's done it – you get that, right?"

"I get it, but... I get it."

"And it didn't help when Ace backed him up. Look, don't worry, Cass - Ace'll work things out. He always does. I gotta go. My cousin's going out for a surf and he's teaching me."

"Vince... the surfer?" I couldn't help a chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Are you kidding? I just got a vision of you ditching the black jeans for a pair of plaid surf trunks that show off your skinny white legs."