CHAPTER 4
I shove the Stanford envelope in my backpack and throw it and my soccer bag over my shoulder. Heading for the back exit, I scan the restaurant for Mei Li. This back and forth is harmless. I’m not gonna lose my motorcycle by looking. I’ve checked out plenty of girls. Kissed one at a party in ninth grade, before the bet. If a touch-and-go counts as a kiss. Plenty of girls have looked at me, and I’m still intact. Dad doesn’t need to know I pictured kissing Mei Li tonight.
She must be in the kitchen. Gotta find out the nights she works so I can see her again. Yanking my phone out, I text Johnny:
Marcus: Meet me at The Clubhouse.
If I can’t go round up the bad guys with Dad, Johnny might as well come to the apartment so we can start our final AP history project. Dad just loaded the fridge with Mountain Dew so that’ll get him there fast.
I duck out the door and turn down the alley toward home, stopping when a deep voice growls “I didn’t like it” and my head snaps around .
Mei Li’s outside the kitchen door, spotlighted by a yellow-orange floodlight, the high-maintenance Asian guy that grabbed her arm in the restaurant up in her face.
I crouch behind the dumpster as he says something in her ear. She hasn’t mentioned a boyfriend, but the way he grips her arm makes me squirm, and when he pins her against the wall with his hips, he looks more rapist than boyfriend.
His back’s to me, but his words ooze through the air like slime. “You’re just so beautiful. He was watching you all night. Tonight, I realized how jealous I can be.”
Dude strokes Mei Li’s cheek and leans closer. “I hope we don’t have to talk about this again.”
She searches his eyes but shakes her head and he kisses her. And she kisses him back. Like, full-on kisses him, and I want out of this alley because my stomach’s on the ground, writhing in alley grime. Something’s off with this dude. Like really off, but while he gets busy on her neck, she opens her eyes and they collide with mine, almost knocking me backward.
I shake my head and hold up my hands, apologizing with my eyes.
Hers widen, and she shakes her head once, barely visible. “ This isn’t what it looks like.”
Whoa. Apparently, our eyes speak the same language ‘cause I got that, loud and clear.
Her palms press against the brick wall behind her and she closes her eyes again, squeezing them tighter when the guy whispers in her ear. He straightens, then takes her chin between his thumb and fingers, forcing her to look at him.
Doesn’t matter who this guy is—he needs a cold shower. A kick to the groin from a pair of cleats. But she kissed him. Even though…kinda looks like she wants him off her. Should I throw something? I look around. I have a backpack full of binders, not an arsenal. The soccer ball in my bag to the back of his head could distract him, but —
He kisses her again, and all thinking grinds to a stop because he’s eating her face. I focus on her until her eyes snap to mine again, looking at me over his shoulder.
I’m no expert, but this guy’s moves border pornographic. “ Do you care about your lower lip, because I think he’s gnawing it off.”
I’m pretty sure her wide eyes are begging me to stay, but maybe I’m getting it all wrong. If I stick around, I can’t watch anymore of this. I’ll throw my soccer ball at him, so he bites off his tongue instead of shoving it down her throat, or—
I lean down and unzip my bag as quietly as I can, palming my soccer ball, but her eyes go wider when I pop back up over the dumpster.
“No!”
“He’s gonna rip out your esophagus and I—”
Two cop cars roll up outside the restaurant, blocking the alley, and the guy’s a blur—down the alley and through a door in the building behind the restaurant. Mei Li’s flat against the wall, hands gripping the brick behind her. She’s completely still for a few seconds—and so am I—but then she pushes from the wall and bolts through the kitchen door. I’m still palming the soccer ball at my side when the door scrapes shut.
Not sure what just went down. Not sure why Face Eater took off when the cops pulled up. Still wondering if I’m the guy he saw watching her. I definitely was, but why does he care? And how did we have a full-on, silent conversation with our eyes? I have n o idea why I feel like I should apologize to her if he’s not going to. Maybe that grimace on her face meant she liked whatever he was doing to her. I mean, I’d never wanna see that look on a girl’s face, but what would I know?
When a lamp turns on in a second-story window above the restaurant, my eyes are all over it and the outline of a girl yanking her curtains closed, a mini-Buddha statue perched on the windowsill. It’s the same window by the same fire escape where Mei Li and her friend were the night we met, and when a ponytail shadow sways behind the curtains, it’s confirmed: definitely her. Buddha has exceptional taste in women. That fat, happy statue knows everything that’s going on between her and Face Eater. And everything else in her life.
I keep my eyes on the window and diagram a mental pie chart: WHY I’M STANDING IN THE ALLEY STARING AT MEI LI’S WINDOW EVEN THOUGH I’M PRETTY SURE SHE HAS A BOYFRIEND:
47 percent adrenaline mixed with anger toward Face Eater; 43 percent eye convo; 11 percent something I haven’t felt since I saw Jake’s older sister in her bra a couple months ago. On accident—only on accident. Not like she left her door open on purpose, knowing I’d walk by.
I wanna talk to Mei Li again. Then again, why work to get to know her if she has a boyfriend? Even though I really wanna ask her what a girl like her is doing with a guy like Face Eater. Don’t know him, but have a pretty decent read on his MO from watching him in action. I don’t know her after passing a few notes, either, but like the smart, funny stuff she’s said in them. What I’ve seen of her, I like. A lot. If I stare at this window much longer, and it’s really hers, I might see more than I’m prepared for, though.
“Marcus Miller! I see you, boy!” Guo’s thick accent calls from her shop door and I snap my head toward it like I’ve been caught doing something I shouldn’t, but grateful for a distraction, though a wrinkled old woman probably won’t be enough.
“Guo!” I throw my bags over my shoulder and walk toward her, arms open. “Hello, beautiful.” I bend and pull her into a hug. She pats my back and when we pull apart, she reaches up and jabs her pointer finger in my face.
“Why didn’t you stop Ugly Chao from bothering Mei Li?”
I squint. “Ugly Chao? ”
“Why didn’t you punch him?” She points toward the door down the alley and motions for me to lean closer. “He’s a bad man.” She shakes her head. “Mei Li needs a nice boy. Like you. No matter what Mr. Ray says about girls or what Baba Zhang wants.” She flutters her eyes at me and I laugh, putting my arm around her and steering her toward her shop.
“Ah, Guo, you flatter me.”
“I’m serious.” She ducks from under my arm and steps in front of me. “She needs a nice boy. Like you.” She reaches up and pats my face then pushes her palms against my chest. “I see you stare at her like this.” Her mouth falls open, and she clasps her hands, swooning. But really, mocking. She grabs my arm and points. “Go back now. Give Mei Li a happy face.”
“Sorry. She’s inside—I have no way to talk to her. Plus, Dad wants me home for safety reasons.” I jerk my head toward the growing collection of cop cars. “You know—young, innocent boy, neighbor ladies bothering me in dark alleys.”
She slaps my arm and shakes a finger at me. “You have big muscles. You’ll be fine.”
I lay my hand on her shoulder. “I got a friend coming over. And Mei Li has a boyfriend, so I—”
“No. No. No.” Guo shakes her head and stomps her foot, waving the idea away. “Not her boyfriend. And we want to keep it that way. Is your friend more beautiful than Mei Li?” She throws her head back and laughs. “Not possible, Marcus Miller.”
I smile and shake my head. “Uh…definitely not. It’s Johnny.”
“Oh! Johnny will understand, then! He loves all the girls. You need girl and I’m a Love Hunter. Mei Li is the one for you, Marcus Miller.” She nods, confident in her theory. “She’s the one . ” She pokes my chest and I smile down at her.
“Pretty sure after watching that whole scene she’s into Chinese guys, not white guys twice her size. And he’s pretty into her. Don’t think I can compete with his possessiveness. But you keep hunting for love for me and let me know what you find after I graduate college.”
“You teasing me?” She squints up at me. “I’ll tell your fortune without a cookie.” She steps closer and grabs my arm. “You and Mei Li will be together someday. You will see. Guo Mama knows. Guo Mama definitely knows.”