Fly With Me | ✓

02

"You better be calling because you're going to reimburse me on my tuition for the class I might fail because of you." Normally Everleigh would answer her phone with hello or hi or hey, like a normal person. But seeing her own number pop up on a phone that wasn't hers was a little jarring to say the least.

            "I'm assuming this isn't Jason Voorhees."

            "Not all of us have ourselves as our lock screen." Everleigh rolled her stinging eyes. Note to self: she felt a lot less intimidating when she'd been crying over a forty percent on an exam only twenty minutes prior. "Though my status as Jason Voorhees depends on whether you're still in Brisbane or not."

            "Not the thirteenth, mama's boy."

            Everleigh pulled the phone away from her mouth so she could curse under her breath. Pushing her bangs away from her forehead, she pressed the phone back to her ear. "You're being serious? You're not in Australia anymore? I'm not joking."

            "Sorry to disappoint," Maverick said. "Took a connecting to Tokyo. I have a concert tonight."

            "Who the fuck goes New York to Brisbane to Tokyo?" Everleigh asked. Her frustration outweighed her sadness at that moment—she was sure it would teeter-totter throughout the phone call. Her brain was already trying to do the math on whether she could get to Tokyo before she had to do her BNE to DPS the next day. It was doable, but she still needed to sleep. And that was if the flight hadn't already sold out. "You could go New York to Tokyo in one nonstop and it'd be shorter."

            "Someone who was stoned when he bought his tickets."

            "You buy your own tickets?"

            "When I have things to do in specific places, yeah. My equipment beat me here."

            "Naturally."

            "Sensing some harsh judgement there, Crystal Lake."

            Everleigh sighed, sniffled a little. "Everleigh."

            Maverick paused for a moment. "That sounds made up too."

            "Says it on my birth certificate."

            "What about your nametag?"

            "You knew it was me this entire time?"

            "I don't accidentally run into a lot of people, Everleigh."

            "Could've fooled me, Kingston."

            "Thought I said you could call me Maverick."

            "I don't plan on calling you anything once I get my phone back," Everleigh said. "How long are you in Tokyo?"

            "Tokyo specifically or Japan generally?"

            Everleigh fought the urge to throw Maverick's phone across the room. "Japan. General."

            "About a week. Tokyo to Saitama to Ibaraki, day in between, then Osaka to Kyoto to Kobe. Flying to Europe after that."

            "Where in Europe?"

            "Germany, Belgium, Norway—"

            "Okay, I don't need your itinerary." Everleigh ran a hand through her bangs. "I'll be in London next week. For a week. Technically with family but I have another exam to do, so I need my phone."