Page 44 of The Other Side of Apart

CHAPTER 22

Sitting on a bus that smells like fake coconut next to an anxious, shut-down Marcus is not how I imagined my Monday night going. When Marcus called me at work, I imagined something like us going home, eating takeout from the Chinese restaurant around the corner, then getting cozy and watching something on cable since we never have a night together.

But no. We’re going to Indiana. I’ve never wanted to go there. I’m not even sure where it is.

The driver announces our next stop—Salt Lake City—and the bus growls to life and rolls out of the terminal. I turn to Marcus, who’s staring out the window, eyes jumpy.

“Are you going to tell me what’s going on now?” I say, tapping his knee.

He hesitates, and my anger surges. He can’t uproot us like this without an explanation. I open my mouth to say as much when he turns toward me in the seat.

“An immigration officer came to my work.” His voice is quiet and hollow.

I let his words settle in my head, but they don’t make sense. “What do you mean…?”

Marcus’s eyes go to the ceiling. “Some guy walked up to the valet kiosk this afternoon and flashed a badge. Immigration. Said he tracked us down. Tracked us down with our licenses when we applied for work and told me we needed to be in his office tomorrow by 9:00AM or he’ll send the authorities to collect you.”

Blood drains from my face, my hand going to my neck as I stare at Marcus. “We should have used our fake passports,” I whisper. “When we applied for jobs. I can’t believe they found us here. Everything seemed fine. No one asked questions. Why now?” I ask, squeezing my eyes shut. “We were finally getting comfortable somewhere.” I swallow, and my pulse beats in my neck against my palm. “First Nick, now immigration officers?”

“I know,” he whispers. “I’m sorry, Mei.”

“Maybe I should turn myself in. How many more times are we going to have to run?” Marcus grabs my hand. “No. It’s okay. We’ll just…start over again. We’ve done it before, we can do it again.” He talks to our hands now. “I hate this, too, Mei, but it’s the only way. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t.”

“I’ve ruined everything again.”

“Stop, Mei. Please, just…” Marcus swears to the floor. “Let’s just forget it and move on. Somewhere no one will think to look for us. We’ll change our identities and our life. Again. But this time we’ll do it right. We’ll be safe. We’ll use the stuff Guo gave us.” He scoots down, knees against the seat in front of him as he looks out the window, his thoughts whisking him away from me.

I don’t know if I can do this again. But there’s only one way to stop it, and that’s too far from Marcus.

I put my hand on his knee. “I’m sorry. So, so sorry, Marcus.”

He nods to the window. “I know. And I’m not mad. I just…need time to think. And some sleep.”

I watch him, then stare out the window at the desert sliding past us. I want to reach out and dig my fingernails into the harddirt, slow this bus down, because I’m not sure what’s next. I’m selfishly glad Marcus hasn’t left me. I couldn’t do this without him.

After a few minutes, Marcus’s breathing deepens, and I close my eyes so I’m not forced to watch another life we thought we’d be living fall behind us once again.

CHAPTER 23

My 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 spotthat 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 theNeverI 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…”

---