Free The Delivery by Mara White Page A

time.
    I swivel back again and squint my eyes at him. I took my contacts out on the plane. My glasses are in my luggage. But I can sense this guy better than I can see.
    “ That . Is. Fucking. Impossible!”
    “Even when they arrive alone, they’re still happy to get off the bus,” Lexi says, glossing over my reaction.
    “No. I know that guy!” I say, slapping his arm. Not to mention I’m attracted to him.
    “Wow, really? That is so cool! Go act like you’re excited to see him, it looks like he arrived alone.”
    I swivel back around and gobble the Danish, self-conscious of my own existence. Why the hell are we in the same place? I’m here for housing court. It’s not like we’re both traveling home for Christmas! Act normal. Act normal! Stop devouring day old baked goods. Do I acknowledge him? No, I pretend I didn’t see him. I explicitly told him he could not come! He obviously didn’t listen to me.
    But I don’t have to worry about what to do next because my asshole brother stands and gestures frantically to him.
    “Get down!” I say, yanking on his arm and trying to pull him into his seat.
    Ohmygodohmygodohmyf-u-c-k-inggod! This may very well indeed be my worst moment.
    Mozey strides over toward Lexi, looking confused but then breaks into a smile when he sees me. He waves, and I salute him, feeling suddenly nauseous.
    “Finch! I thought that was you. Shit, I’m so glad I found you! I thought I’d have to do a lot more looking than this. I didn’t expect you to pick me up at the station. Especially without knowing I was coming!”
    He’s confident and flippant. How else would I expect him to be? He’s a chronic rule breaker—that happens to be how I know him. Delinquent to social worker. We are not friends.
    I sip more coffee and wipe the sticky Danish from my lips while I nod at him like I’m crazy.
    “How do you know each other?” Lexi asks, his head rotating back and forth between us.
    “Work,” I say, looking at Mozey. “This is my brother, Lex.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Mozey says, moving his backpack to the other shoulder while he pumps Lexi’s hand.
    Lexi is dumbfounded, and I’m speechless. Not to mention I also feel like I might pee my pants from excitement.
    “What are you doing in Michigan?” I ask him, suspicious of his presence. Like he’s following me because he’s a secret agent or a government spy sent to evaluate me and my program. We’ve already touched on the undercover thing, and he swore that he wasn’t. But what spy says he’s a spy? Aren’t they supposed to deny it forever?
    Maybe he’s supernatural, he’s some kind of an alien wearing human skin, and when he kissed me, he implanted a homing device. I pass him my coffee, with my head cocked, thoroughly examining him. He takes it from me, looking confused.
    “Drink it!” I say.
    And he takes a tentative sip while Lexi and I stare at him. I don’t know what I’m expecting to accomplish with this. Maybe he’ll melt away at the contact of the hot liquid or change color or turn to stone—somehow reveal himself to me. He’s an enigma this man—I can’t believe he’s standing right in front of me. But he just licks his beautiful lips and smiles…
    “God, Lana, that tastes really, really awful.”
    I take the cup from him and chug the rest still waiting for some kind of revelation to help this surreal encounter make sense. His English is perfect. He’s so smart and articulate. He’s a phenomenal artist and has a wrestlers body. I’ve never met anyone like him in the real world before, let alone the line-up of messed up kids paraded through my office. NEVER anyone like him. Never anyone like Mozey—not even remotely.
    “Did you set this up?” I ask, turning to Lexi and narrowing my eyes at him. Is this a prank show? Is someone fucking with me?
    “Answer me, Cruz. Why are you in Michigan?”
    “Remember when we talked the day before yesterday and you said I couldn’t come?”
    “Yes,” I