Free Moonset by Scott Tracey Page A

this?”
    “Stray I picked up.” She leaned on the counter, whispering conspiratorially, “Would you believe he was selling his body for concert tickets.”
    Cal didn’t look fazed. “What kind of concert?”
    “Something boring. European clog dancers?” she replied. “I’m saving the boy from a life less tragic.”
    I snorted. Did I look like someone who needed to be saved?
    Finally Cal started to smile. “So you want the usual?” She nodded. “And him?”
    She turned to me. “What are you in the mood for? Lunch smoothie? Vitamin blaster? Post-Workout Indulgence?” She recited smoothies off the menu board faster than I could read the ingredients. “Or maybe the Just For Boys smoothie with a little extra gingko?”
    “Uhm,” I said, drawing it out and trying to read the board. Didn’t they just have like … strawberry smoothies? Or how about coffee? I would have settled for actual coffee.
    “He’ll have the Lunch smoothie with a shot of whey and a double of gingko,” she said, ending my hesitation. And then she stage whispered, “I think he needs the brain fuel.”
    Cal pulled two cups off the stack and grabbed a magic marker. “Name?”
    I looked to her first, but Cal sighed. “I already know her. What’s your name?”
    “Justin.” I waited, wondering if he wanted a last name too. But the first name seemed to cover it, and after he’d scrawled a totally illegible version of my name on the cup, he set them both down and started to press buttons on the register.
    “Eleven ninety.”
    I pulled out a twenty, which Cal nearly snatched out of my hand.
    “Don’t worry, it’s worth it,” she said.
    “Oh, thank god. For a minute I thought I was wasting all my money on a bunch of fruit and milk tossed in a blender.”
    She tilted her head to the side and looked up at me thoughtfully. “Yeah, no. Sarcasm’s not a good look on you. You’re definitely more of a winter. Smolder in silence.”
    “Are you always this bizarre?”
    She ruffled her hair and smiled slowly, offering no re-sponse.
    “So when do I get to know your name?”
    “Patience is a virtue, my little mango.”
    “Mango?”
    She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Couldn’t think of another animal,” she admitted. Her eyes strayed over the counter to the piles of fruit on display. They’d been selected for their coloring and possibility their alliteration: kumquats and kiwi were arranged together, along with sliced cantaloupes and carrots.
    “How about Pissed-off Panda Bear?”
    She didn’t laugh. In fact, that got no reaction at all. She looked me over. “You’d think the new boy would be a little more genial. Not quite so … ” she mused over it for a minute. “Cantankerous.” Her smile brightened. “SAT word.”
    “I’m not … ” I hesitated. “How’d you know I’m new?”
    “You think you’re living in the big city? Everyone knows everyone around here. Besides, Maddy said you were. And she knows all.”
    “Maddy?”
    “The brunette with the Mean Girl complex?”
    Cal finally came back with the drinks, setting the pair of medium-sized smoothies down in front of us and moving on to the next person in line. The girl called out a cheerful, “Thanks, Cal,” before walking off. I followed. I wasn’t sure what else to do. This girl clearly lacked sanity. But there was something fun about her, drama free and exciting. I was fascinated.
    We stepped out onto the street, and I strained to decipher the scrawl of her name on the cup. My concentration was broken by a very loud, very angry scream. “Where the fuck have you been?”
    Jenna. Of course. Her “Justin was having a good time without me” senses must have been tingling. I turned back, followed the sound of her voice and found her standing at the corner across the street with a hand on her hip. She didn’t move, just stood there and waited. Expected me to run right over. I almost wanted to turn around and walk away with my mystery girl, just