Chapter Five: Win her heart through her Stomach

Didn’t hear from the Texiera family in the following days. That was not uncommon for that line of work. The payment in uncirculated cash would last for a while. Usually, smaller gigs would keep me afloat until the next big delivery. Luckily, I had a new meal ticket. Special Yuki deliveries came in and were assigned to me every other day at this point, and not just from the airport. Seemed they had disposable income to spare, enough to order takeout to sets and studios all over the city.

In terms of expenses, I kept a minimal profile. Renting out an RV campground, even an urban one, was cheaper than renting an apartment. The cell phone was on the minimum-viable unlimited data plan (better for handling GPS navigation on the road), while the Vespa was paid off, and the RV was bought used. Most RV parks in the city limits were glorified parking lots. Still, they made up for it with ideal locations. Set up shop there for a month-long period, and I had an easy home base for deliveries in one of the busiest cities in the country. Texiera jobs usually covered anything I needed liquid cash for, after which it was merely a race to clear those paltry monthly bank account expenses. A very eventful month had cleared expenses for quite some time.

Usually, I slacked off once I secured a modest monthly profit. With constant, frequent Yuki jobs, however, I focused on running up the score.

Another notification popped up on my phone. An order from a Mexican food truck to be delivered to a nondescript location way up in the mountains. This time the delivery name was specifically ‘Yuki☆’.

Huh. We’re on a first-name delivery basis already. I mulled this over as I prepped to leave.

There were a few RV parks up there in the mountains. Much more scenic than this bare lot amidst urban sprawl. On occasion, I moved the RV up to a coastal or mountain park for a breath of fresh air. Quietly, I resolved to check out the local parks after the delivery. The taco truck had a roaming schedule that caused it to zip all over the city. At half past twelve, that scheduled would bring it… to a parking lot three blocks away. How convenient. Theoretically, I could walk there.

I grabbed my keys—the Vespa would still be necessary for the long drive out of town—and locked up the RV before heading off.

+++

I pulled up to the lot just as the taco truck arrived for the lunch shift. There was already a line. Everyone was on their phones. Drivers here for a delivery usually didn’t have to wait in the line per se—but I did have to mill about while the order was cooked.

As I would soon learn during the long wait, this taco truck had gone viral thanks to its fancy chocolate-colored sopapillas. Sure enough, that was on the list. A double order: one for Yuki, one for Janae. There were also quesadillas, no less than twenty tacos, and an extra-large party-size thing of nachos in piping-hot tin container.

Oh, is all this going to fit on my Vespa? I wondered.

This wasn’t just for Yuki and her bodyguard; that was obvious. They were probably buying food for the entire cast and crew.

I waited awkwardly to the side as the line passed me by. A second shift of cooks pulled up three-to-five people to an SUV to help handle the influx of orders. The food truck was crowded to capacity—I shudder to think what the fire department would think. Surely they were violating some rule.

As I waited awkwardly and mulled the logistical quandary of dealing with such a large order, something caught my eye. Midday sun beamed off a smooth plexiglass frame. A quadcopter drone unit, circle-strafing the lot from an extreme distance. The light off the whirring blades shone right in my eyes, forcing me to hold a hand up to block the glaring obstruction. It didn’t take much to assume this drone had cameras on it.

Before long, the drone whirred further away and therefore was no longer blinding me. I glanced around. Few others seemed to notice the prying eyes upon them.

Probably a news caster or YouTuber getting shots of the latest viral sensation. It would’ve had to have caught some wide shots from that angle. Funny, that wide arc would have had it hovering right around my RV park.

No matter. I quickly put all thoughts of this overhead drone aside as the extra-large order was wheeled out to my Vespa. I glanced at my phone, and there was over an hour before the delivery was expected to arrive.

Glad to know that my benefactor had accounted for cook and travel times, I helped the staff wrangle the extra-large order onto my ride.

+++

The FECC could never dare hold the entire order safe in its confines. Instead, the lid hung open out the back, providing a bare basic brace for the towering delivery.

Everything was bound in tin foil as some basic attempt at insulation. Hopefully, it would keep everything warm outside of my pack’s protective casing. The entire order towered roughly my height, with the nachos on top. The taco truck workers assured me that the leaning tower would remain stable. Still, I pulled out a pair of bungee cords and wrapped it around the tower on a north-south and east-west axis. Reasonably certain this collection of fine Mexican street food would not be dashed across the highway at the slightest breeze, I set off.

Continue along Interstate 710 for… twenty-six miles. The robotic voice of my phone’s GPS blared into my earpiece.

Twenty-six miles translated into L.A. distances was a regular odyssey. Still, I had a system in place. A way of ducking and weaving through town in a way that allowed me to go against the usual flow of traffic. My benefactor seemed to have the same idea, as the route north and into the hills was positively abandoned this time of day.

The road turned convoluted and winding as the urban landscape gave way to a sparse shrubland of hills. The target was a scenic overlook near an observatory overlooking the town. Road cones and big ‘Filming in Progress’ signage indicating that there was a movie shoot going on.

I pulled up on set and was immediately accosted by shoot security. Any attempt to explain that this massive hulking bulk order of tortillas and cheese in various combinations was meant for them proved futile. I was about to be escorted off-site with the full delivery in tow, growing ever more lukewarm, until…

“That’s for us!” A familiar face came running up to the Vespa.

It was Miyu. This time in much more fashionable, faux-rural flannel attire. It dawned upon me that I had no idea what this movie was actually meant to be about. They had a northeastern-style brownstone, they had a farm-looking set out here. I tried not to waste time dwelling on this and instead focused on the delivery at hand.

“Hello again!” Yuki☆ said.

“Hello.” I pretended to check my phone. “Yuki, was it?”

“That’s me,” the starlet said. “I got this for the whole crew.”

I undid the bungee cords and began to disassemble the tower of food. The security personnel who were harassing me mere moments before wasted no time in sniping a container of tacos for their own personal use. They pulled it out like some kind of Jenga puzzle. A quick maneuver to scoop up the crowning nachos courtesy of me saved the whole thing from toppling down.

“Put it all on the table, please,” Yuki said.

The leading lady helped take the significant haul over to a handy set of pop-up tables.

“It’s still warm,” she said with a smile.

“Got it here as soon as I could.” I carried the nachos and one other box over to the table.

We (and a handful of helpful film crew) disassembled the tower. Security notably did not help and instead took all the good stuff for themselves until Yuki came up and gave one of the security guards a dainty, unforceful slap on the hand.

“I used my own account for this order,” Yuki explained as she laid out the quesadillas. “I’ll be sure to give you a big tip for all the time it took to get up here.”

“Oh, um, thank you. It’s no biggie,” I said.

The tin foil had kept everything warm, even on the long trip into the mountains. It was really only an hour and a half away from the taco truck at most. I certainly wouldn’t say no to extra gratuity.

“We’ll have another shoot up here tomorrow,” Yuki said. “The whole shoot will be here, with all the actors and everything. There’s going to be a big order coming through the airport a little before lunch.”

I mulled it over, fully understanding what Yuki☆ was getting at.

“An airport delivery? I’ll be there,” I promised.

Advance knowledge would allow me to be at the airport ahead of time. And if it were a much larger order, well, I had time to plan for that, too.

My birthday was in two days. And if I got even half the tip on this order as I did on the previous two, to say nothing of what awaited tomorrow, well, I was going to be drowning in tips right in time for my birthday. A birthday-eve present, if you would.

That director—same from the set where it was ‘raining’—called Yuki over. Once more, our paths went separate ways.

“Help yourself to a taco!” Yuki said, already heading off to the barnyard set.

I grabbed a taco per request, then returned to my Vespa. The FECC sat open, the distinct smell of Mexican food hanging around my ride like a shroud.

As I was walking up to the Vespa, I sensed the vaguest shadow sneaking up on me. It was stealthy, tall, but not necessarily malicious.

I turned, and a woman with dark skin and blonde hair loomed over me. Janae was quite tall, all things considered. Her fancy suit had a habit of accentuating her muscles. I wasn’t about to panic or anything, but I couldn’t help but notice that Janae wore a curt, almost backwards-v shaped frown.

“What are your intentions with Miss Yuki?” she asked immediately.