Drew dodged a woman as he strode across the shopping centre's tiled floor. He caught sight of a familiar face through the window of a hair dressing salon and stopped abruptly as the image moved out of his line of vision. He stepped back and smiled as he peered through the glass.

Lifting her head from where she was sweeping up hair, Trin squealed and slammed her hand over her mouth. She shot a quick glance over her shoulder, set the broom against the counter and jetted out the door of the salon. "Drew Morgan!"

He caught her around the waist as she threw herself at him. "Hey, Trin."

"Oh my God. It's been ages since I've seen anyone." Trin looked back into the store to see her boss giving her the eye. "I'm on lunch in ten," she gushed. "Do you have time for a catch up?"

"Yeah." It was Saturday. Drew had plenty of time. He put her on her feet. "I'll meet you in the food court."

Trin made to move back into the salon and called after him, "Grab me some sushi! Tuna salad!"

*****

Drew pushed the tray of sushi toward Trin as she sat. "How can you eat that shit?" He laughed. "Especially tuna."

"I love it." Trin studied what he had. "Better than Subway. All that bread is gonna make you fat." She swept her eyes over him. Drew was lean, suntanned, and the muscles on his arms were more defined than she'd ever noticed. She spied blonde hair growth on his face. "What have you been doing with yourself since we left school?" She grinned and took him in with her gaze once more. "You look like a surfer."

"Carpentry." Drew smirked over at her as he lifted his foot long sub. "I got an apprenticeship with Trogan Constructions. What about you? Are you just casual in that salon?" he said, and then took a bite.

"Fulltime hairdressing," Trin said. "I'm an apprentice too. It's okay except I have to work every Saturday." She shrugged and tweaked up her lips. "I do get Mondays off to make up for it. The boss is nice but being a first year I have to do all the shit stuff, like sweeping and washing coffee cups."

Drew chuckled as he swallowed and nodded. "Same. The shit work I mean. I'm the go fetch guy most of the time but I don't mind." He smiled over at her. "You're looking good, Trin. Are you and Scott still together?"

"No..." Trin gave him an, are you kidding look, and shook her head. "We broke up when he found out he was going to Uni." She shrugged again in an off handed way. "I broke it off to be honest. That long distance shit is way too hard and besides he's studying to be a dentist."

"Wow... they make good money." Drew laughed. "You should have hung in there until he bought you a Porsche."

"Drew!" Trin rolled her eyes. "He's going to be a fucking dentist. Seriously. Who wakes up one morning and says I am going to devote my life to saving teeth."

"Ah..." Drew gagged and almost choked on his sandwich. He spat his mouthful into a serviette and burst into laughter. "He might say the same about hairdressing or building."

"Come on." Trin gave him a disbelieving look. "At least we get to be creative. I'll be able to use my imagination cutting and colouring or dressing a cancer patient's wig. You'll build homes and all sorts of things that people will cherish for years and years." She tilted her head and beamed. "Scott. Hmm... what will Scott say to his wife when he comes home after a hard day?" Trin laughed and put on a posh voice, "Honey! I pulled a rotten tooth today. You should have seen the googy, stinking abscess underneath. By the way, what's for dinner?"

"Man... you crack me up." Drew roared with laughter, and then said, "What about giving people beautiful smiles? Surely that counts for something and he's gonna make a shit load of money."

"Okay, there is that and they do wonderful stuff with accident victims and facial reconstruction." Trin rested her forearms on the edge of the table and twinkled her eyebrows. "What about you and Lizzy?"

"Hiss..." Drew yanked his head back, and held his fingers up in the symbol of a cross, as if he was warding off a vampire. "Don't go there," he chortled as he shook his head.

"Why?" Trin laughed at his antics. "I thought she was your one."

"Oh... man... where do I start?" He shook his head and blew out his breath. "That girl has an over active libido." Drew chuckled and said, "I couldn't keep up. And then there's her parents. What the fuck? Seriously weird. They wanted me to join some kind of cult. At least I reckon that's what it was." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder as he added, "I high tailed it out of there. Last I heard Lizzy was part of the rent-a-crowd crew stealing baby calves from farmers because vegans don't think we should be putting milk in our coffee."

Trin snorted as she laughed because she couldn't suck in air fast enough. Once she'd controlled herself she said, "I always knew she wasn't a Miss Goody Two Shoes." She added, "You know Shauna and Greg went overseas on working visas."

"Yeah. Last I heard they were in London." Drew nodded as he spoke. "Shorty got on at the mines as an apprentice diesel fitter and Dorsey has gone to Canberra." He chuckled. "Can you believe it? Out of all of us guys he's the one who got selected by the institute for hockey." His face lit up. "He is a great goalkeeper so, good on him. He really deserves it."

"Tess is doing nursing up in Mackay," Trin said. "I see her sometimes when she comes home." She paused and added, "Have you heard from Rob and Becky? I've talked to Becky a few times. She seems sad."

"Nah... not directly. I'm back training hockey. The old junior team so I see Linc." Drew looked over at her and said, "I've moved into their house."

"You mean their dad's house or in with Rob's parents?"

"Their dad's."

Trin pulled back her head in shock. "It's a piece of shit. Especially after their father smashed it up."

"Yeah." Drew lifted his shoulders in a shrug. "He left it to Becky and Linc." Drew peered across the table at Trin. He wasn't sure how much she knew about his own life. He'd never talked openly about it but he'd never lied either.

He said, "Things weren't going so well for me at home with my old man the way he is." Drew paused to see what she'd say but she just nodded so he continued, "Rob's dad took over the responsibility of the house on Becky and Linc's behalf. He didn't want them to sell it as he thought it'd be an investment for them in years to come. It's been sitting vacant."

Drew tilted his head as he added, "Because Michael's a copper he knows how things are for me at home, so he offered me the house to live in. He said he felt the house needed a tenant otherwise it'd end up an even bigger piece of shit than it is so he talked to Becky. I'm getting really cheap rent. The deal is that I do some work on it."

"Wow." Trin smiled over at him and reached for his hands. "That's so wonderful. Your own place." She gripped his fingers as she spoke. "And you being a carpenter can tidy things up. It'll be great."

Drew held her gaze. A flood of warmth washed over him. Why had he never gone there with Trin? She was pretty, smart and a really nice person. Not pushing him to talk more about his home life told him she knew when to hold back. He squeezed her hands in return. "Yeah. You should come over some time. Rob's dad let me do up the bathroom. He was so happy with it that he paid me back for the materials. Maybe you'd like to see it."

"I'd love to see it, Drew."

Do you think this could be the beginning of something special for Drew and Trin? ♥♥♥

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