Ocean's Secret |on hold|

8 | Wondering

Finally got a chance to do some writing on the weekend :) Enjoy this chapter! It's from Kallum's pov ;) 

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"Hey, Kallum! You headed to Gavin's tonight for the break-up?"

"Planning to. Just got a bit of work to finish up before I get outta here," Kallum waved to his work buddy, who was also a good friend, as he headed out the main entrance of the hardware store where they both worked part-time. The rest of the time they were either working at church, surfing the waves, or jamming together in Kallum's garage. The soundproofing Kallum and his dad had installed a few years back made it the best place for the church band to get together and rock it out.

"Cool. Cya there."

Kallum nodded absentmindedly and kept looking at the inventory he held in his hands, the pencil tapping a beat on the paper as he re-read the numbers for the third time. He couldn't seem to concentrate and check the stock against the list, and the growing frustration was getting exhausting – and it was only Tuesday! He normally made it through the week better than this. But after some more pondering and pencil-tapping, he pulled his phone from his pocket for the nth time that day and checked for messages, missed calls, emails...anything from Meredee. That's what was bothering him. He hadn't seen nor heard from her since church on Sunday, when they had been packing up the music gear together. His mom said she invited her to their celebration lunch, but had been abruptly turned down as Meredee hurried from the building. When she hadn't shown for church that night, he messaged her but figured she must've been worn out from the week. Now today, after no replies for two days, he was starting to get worried. She'd even missed their regular Monday afternoon run along the boardwalk. This was not like Meredee, and Kallum's heart thudded out of time with the beat racing through his head, a rare occurrence for the seasoned drummer. Stuffing the paperwork in the cluttered office, he decided to call it a day and mumbled a goodbye to his supervisor. It was knockoff time anyway, and he could always come in early the next day to finish the stock checking.

Kallum hurried to his car and jumped in, winding down the windows and turning up the fan to full blast to displace the stuffy air as quickly as possible. Closing his eyes for a few seconds, he prayed for some insight as to how he should go about finding Meredee. Well, who was to say she was lost anyway? Perhaps she'd just misplaced her phone and hadn't bothered to contact him about it. She had been a bit distant the last couple weeks so he didn't want to push in on her personal space and overstep their friendship if she didn't want to let him in. Maybe he could just drive by her place on the way to Gavin's and see if her car was there. Revving the engine, Kallum pulled out of the carpark and entered the usual afternoon school traffic. He even remembered to slow down as he passed the local primary school, as a ticket was the last thing he wanted now that he was saving up for new cymbals.

Then his phone vibrated in his pocket. Resisting the urge to check it while driving, he waited until the shoulder widened and he could pull over. It was a text from his mom.

-Hey, have you heard from Meredee? Is she coming tonight?-

Great. So if his mom hadn't heard from her, then something must really be up. Ever since his older brother had met Meredee at school all those years ago and invited her to church, their family had kind of taken her under their wing, seeing as she had no parents or close relatives nearby. His mom almost felt a responsibility towards Meredee, and had especially grown close and helped her through hard times. So it was strange for Meredee to have not contacted her either.

Kallum pounded out a beat on the steering wheel as he sat at a red light, sighing in frustration and wondering if Meredee even wanted him to be concerned about her. Over the years they'd become good friends, but every time he dared to show her, in some small way, that he cared, she would back away and close up. When he gave her an extra special gift for her recent birthday, she had frowned, recovered quickly with a polite smile, and then went radio silent for a week.