Chapter 23
CHAPTER 23
M y stiff legs rejoice in an achy kind of way when I step off the bus and stretch, rolling my neck to loosen the last twenty-four hours of bus riding lodged in it. I take a deep breath of humid Missouri air and let it out, ridding my lungs of the sausage-and-pepper smell that’s wafted from the guy in front of us for the last twelve hours.
I walk down the length of the bus to the storage compartments, pull out our bags, and throw them over my shoulder. Mei heads straight for the rest stop bathrooms, and I follow, not wanting her out of my sight even though we still haven’t talked much since I made up the story about why we left Vegas. I can see in her eyes she doesn’t believe me, but I’m gonna take what happened in Vegas to my grave.
She disappears into the women’s bathroom, and I fish my toothbrush from my backpack and go into the guys’ bathroom. I drop my bags on the counter and wash my hands and face. Layers of remaining Vegas grime and bus grit slide down the drain, leaving nothing but the same old me beneath them. The same old me that’s in the middle of nowhere headed to nowhere—again—because of Nick, who showed up out of nowhere to complete the theme.
I toss my toothbrush back in my bag and click into my email to reply to the Stanford academic advisor. My response got delayed by a sudden relocation, and I hope a late response is better than nothing. “ I haven’t had service for a couple days, so sorry for the late response, but yes, I can talk on Thursday at 3 PM,” I mouth the words as I type. Not sure where I’ll be on Thursday, or what time zone this is, or how I’ll talk to her without Mei knowing, but I’ll find a way to make this happen. Step two of four. Send.
I lean on the counter and close my eyes to steady the world that’s been rocking with rolling bus tires for the last twenty-four hours. The miles we’ve covered rewind in my mind, pushing me farther from where I want to be. I think about what I’d be doing today if we weren’t here. I’d be parking cars for the filthy rich and going home to unwind by winding myself around Mei.
Now, I don’t have a job, I’m definitely not in the company of the filthy rich, and I doubt I’ll unwind anytime soon. Not until I hear that Nick’s been locked up, and we can go back to Stanford. Not to mention that Vegas Marcus stole a car and might have a criminal record. Good thing he no longer exists, and Darius Bromley has taken his place in the world. Thanks for the awesome name, Guo. Nothing close to what I would’ve picked, but none of this is what I would have picked. Except I did. I chose Mei.
I let out a long, weary breath, shoving away from the counter, and pick up the bags. Outside the bathroom, Mei’s sitting on a bench facing the parking lot. I walk up to her and drop our bags, then hold out my hand. Her deep brown eyes meet mine, and she hesitates before taking my hand. I pull her to her feet and into my arms, wrapping them around her and burying my face in her neck. “I’m sorry I’ve been so distant.”
Her hands slowly make their way up my back, and I kiss her temple. I lead her around the building to a shady, quiet spot that blocks the view of the bus and drone of its idling engine, and I back her against the wall. Cupping her face with one hand, the other on the small of her back. “I’ve been a total jerk, and I don’t wanna be one anymore. I don’t wanna run anymore. Don’t wanna leave behind everything we start that sort of looks like a real life. So…when we make it to Indianapolis, that’s it. We’re staying there.” Until Nick falls off the face of the earth and I work out the details with Stanford. I shove the thoughts aside so they don’t accidentally slide across my eyes. “The only reason we’ll move again is because we’ve figured out where we wanna be. For now, we’re gonna get an apartment, and act like normal people.” Except for my obsession with my email and checking San Francisco police reports. “As normal as we can be, being eighteen and married and living under aliases. We’ll be newlyweds Darius and Peggy Bromley and it will be as normal as it gets. Except for the names. I think Guo hates us.”
“Are you going to tell me what really happened yesterday?”
I swallow hard and look away now so she can’t see the Never I know is in my eyes. “We might not have enough time to talk about it since we only have fifteen hours left on the bus…”
She relaxes into me, her shoulders dropping, her hand clutching the front of my shirt, pulling me to her.
I cradle her head to my chest, and her fingers slide into the belt loops on the back of my jeans. “I’ve missed you,” she whispers, her voice swollen with all the words she’s stored since Vegas.
“You mean that douche you’ve been sitting next to for twenty-four hours didn’t do it for you?” I smile and rest my chin on top of her head, closing my eyes when her lips go to my neck.
She whispers, “I love you,” and I take her chin between my fingers and lean down until my lips are telling hers how much I love her, too. She winds her arms around my neck and stands on her tiptoes, molding her body to mine.
My hips pin her to the brick wall and my body responds to her closeness. “I want you so bad right now.”
“That’s perfect because I’ve always …” she breathes, “wanted to be … ravished at a rest stop.”
“You’re about to get your wish,” I rasp, one of my hands roaming beneath her shirt, and she’s so into it, and my hands are taking the next steps when air brakes hiss as they’re released and the clatter of a bus accelerating has me dashing around the corner in time to watch it pull out of the parking lot and away from the rest stop. Headed toward the interstate onramp. Where Mei and I should be right now.
“Oh, no way,” I say to myself, then yell it as panic settles in. “No way, no way, no, no, no!” My hands are on my head. “Are you?—?”
I whirl around and almost knock Mei down where she stands behind me, hand to her mouth. “Please tell me that’s not our bus leaving.”
I yell a string of curse words to the sky as the bus trundles out of view toward Indiana without us.
Squatting, I hang my head, raking my hands through my hair.
“How did we not hear the announcement to board the bus?” Mei asks desperately. “I didn’t even hear?—”
I throw a sharp laugh at the sidewalk and smack the cement with my palm. “Because all you could hear was me getting all hot!” I curse at the sky again. “I can’t believe this.” I swear at the asphalt again, close my eyes, then huff my way into a laugh that could easily turn into a sob.
“Is everything okay?”
My head snaps up to see an old lady looking at me from where she stands, dropping garbage into a trash can.
“It was getting to ‘okay’ before we missed our bus.” How are we gonna get out of here without resorting to hitchhiking? With our luck, the first car to stop would be a freaking black Mercedes driven by Nick.
“Oh no!” The woman motions to her husband, who’s near their open car door, doing a few rusty toe touches. She brushes off her hands and comes toward us. “Where are you two headed?”
“We were headed to Evansville, Indiana, but at this point … we’re headed right here, to this bench within walking distance of these fine facilities.” I huff and rub my forehead.
The woman tilts her head in sympathy and grabs her husband’s arm when he shuffles next to her. “Gerald, their bus just left them.” She pats his arm and waits for his response. He looks from me to Mei to the bags near the corner of the building.
“Ah. Believe it or not, the same thing happened to me back in the day. Made a cross-country trek to meet some buddies of mine and…well…spent a long night on a bench somewhere in Arkansas.” He sucks his teeth and chuckles. “Didn’t have a lady to worry about, though, so I don’t believe I’ll make the two of you have that experience.” He throws a thumb over his shoulder. “Lucky for you, we have an empty backseat, and we’re headed to Kentucky. We can drop you off in Evansville as we pass through. I normally wouldn’t do this, but you seem like decent kids. Where you two from?”
“San Francisco,” I offer, wondering if I should’ve said that much.
“Hmm. What takes you to Indiana?”
“Seems like a nice place to settle down,” I say, smiling and scratching my head.
“Doesn’t seem either of you are old enough to do any settling!” the woman laughs, adjusting her purse on her forearm.
“We actually got married a couple months ago,” Mei says, shrugging.
“Married? Never would have guessed you’re a day over sixteen, but I guess as I get older, everyone looks younger!”
The man laughs and nudges the woman. “Thought we were the only two crazy enough to get married as teenagers.” He waves us toward the car. “Well, congratulations to both of you. If you’ll accept the ride, we need to get on the road so we can make it to our grandson’s tournament. We’ve got a bit of a ride left, so there’s plenty of time for us to give you all our best marital advice.”