Page 80 of Sunset Catchers

“Can your brain even slow down?” I stick my tongue out at him even if he’s not wrong. “But I get it,” he says. “It’s the same for me. When I’m in the city, there’s always something happening. But here, there’s so much less expectations or pressure to fill my schedule with events I don’t even want to go to and only remember when I’m already sitting at the table.”

He angles his head toward me, puzzled by the surprise seeping onto my expression. “What’s that face for?”

“I just had pegged you as a social butterfly, is all.”

He’s doing the thing again, where he stares at me for too long. I’m kind of doing it, too.

“I definitely reverted to being a caterpillar that’s comfortable staying in his cocoon.”

Levi notices how my nose crinkles following his statement.

“What again?”

“This is definitely something I would say,” I explain.

“You try and spend all your days with yourself and not end up speaking in metaphors.” I’m openly proud of my influence over Levi.

“Maybe you’re just turning into an old man.”

“Fuck off, Win.” He playfully bumps his shoulder into mine, casually setting the limb it is bound to, on fire. “Maybe I am getting old,” he concedes with a shrug, “I’d rather spend my time and give my energy to people I’m truly close to. Meaningful conversation over small talk.” He runs a hand in his hair, tousling it in a way that makes my fingers twitch. “Is that totally lame?”

“Very,” I deadpan. Levi scoffs. “I’m kidding. It’s not lame at all. I’ve always been one to prioritize quality over quantity when it comes to relationships. So, I’m with you on this.”

I’ve only ever had Junie as a friend. And Petra and Maurice, my bosses. I wouldn’t necessarily call them friends, but they have been a part of my life for a long time now. Then, since at work, it was just the three of us, there weren’t really any other opportunities to make more friends organically and with minimal effort on my part. So my circle of relationships was so small; it was barely a circle at all, more of a dot.

“What’s your life like, back in Montreal?”

There is such a keen eagerness coating Levi’s question; it makes me want to dive into the lake to disappear under its surface and never come up for air again.

I’m still not used to his flagrant interest in getting to know me, but I am trying to lean into it, as much as it is feasible for me. I’m a kid at the aquarium who really wants to pet the stingray but can’t quite forget that one wrong move could lead to a potential life-threatening disaster.

I just don’t want to get stung.

“My life is simple. I spend my days at work and my evenings at home. My free time is mostly occupied with reading or watching movies. On the weekends, I’ll usually run errands or go out with Junie.”

Not disclosed: sometimes, I spent days hauled up in our apartment, working from home and keeping to myself. Although, I’ve lived with Junie for the last eight years, it was still hard for me not to act as if I wasn’t still on my own. Especially since my best friend packed up her calendar to the brim with work opportunities and social outings. And sure, I technically lived with my mom until I turned eighteen years old, but even then, I’d been left to my own demise for so long, it was a hard habit to shake off. My life seems so pitiful suddenly, I wince at the bleakness of my existence.

“Well, we live the same life.” My head pivots toward Levi. “I pretty much spend all of my time at home since going freelance. I’ll go to the occasional birthday diner of one of my former colleagues with whom I kept in touch, but otherwise, I’m at home or at my parents’ house.”

“Do you live close to each other?”

“Yeah, we do. They are practically my neighbors.”

He radiates so much happiness; he competes with the sun. UV rays have nothing on this guy with the way he seems to seep into my pores.

I’m ready for the boomerang to come back my way, this time. Since I opened the door for Levi to be able to ask me questions.

“Do you live close to your family?”

I do, in fact. My dear mother, in her act of starting her life over, hadn’t even had the decency to move farther than a neighborhood away from my childhood home. It became even more apparent that it wasn’t the set of her life that was the problem for her; it was the other character involved.

She erased me from her Sims game and never looked back.

“My mom lives in the neighborhood next to mine.”

But we might’ve been living on different planets if the extent of the distance in our relationship is to be considered.

Levi does a good job, after that, to try to redirect the conversation into safer territory. Unfortunately for him, pretty much every part of my life is under construction right now and is a hazard to my fragile state of mind.