Page 93 of Sunset Catchers

“You still seem stressed.”

He reiterates his previous statement. “Just tired.”

“We don’t have to listen to anything. We can just eat and have an early night.”

Even if I’m nowhere near ready to lay down horizontally in full silence a foot away from him.

“It’s fine. I want to watch a movie.”

“Okay. What do you want to watch?”

“Your pick.” A few minutes later, Just my luck is rolling its opening credits. Another one of my favorite 2000’s romcoms.

Once all there’s left of our dinner is a piece of crust, Levi puts the table back to its place, and we get more comfortable on the bed, nestling against the bunch of hotel pillows.

He opens the remaining containers between us, handing me a fork. I take in our dessert options with excitement.

“Birthday cake and chocolate cake,” he says while gesturing to the pieces. “Which one do you want? Or we can share if you want.”

“We’re already sharing a bed, so might as well share desserts too.”

I bring down my fork on the piece of chocolate cake first and take a big bite. I look at Levi; he’s not eating cake.

“Don’t you want some dessert?”

“Yeah. I do.” He just stares at my mouth. I watch with bathed breath as his hand reaches toward my face. He swipes his thumb over my bottom lip, removing the frosting left behind. The rim of blue around his pupils gets swallowed up; I glance down toward his own mouth while he follows the line of my neck, down my chest where two stiff peaks are straining grey fabric.

Time halts for a few long seconds while we gaze at each other. Then, it comes rushing back, jolting us into action.

“Fuck, sorry. I should not have done that,” he says as he runs a hasty hand in his hair, pulling it slightly at the roots.

“It’s fine,” I reply, voice pitched high. “Thank you for your kind service, sir.”

Sir? I tuck my hair behind my ear with a grimace.

Levi winces, looking pained.

We both face stiffly forward.

I chance a serendipitous peek at Levi. He’s finally eating cake. I’m captivated by the wave of his throat as he swallows, by the tines of his fork, resting on his bottom lips. By the flexing of his biceps as he folds one arm behind his head.

Shit! We’ve just made eye contact. I train my attention on the movie playing. I sense Levi’s gaze all over me. My thighs rub together. Levi’s hand flexes in my periphery.

“How about we sit beneath the cover? It’s kind of cold,” I lie.

“Yeah. Good idea.” Levi agrees, bobbing his head quickly.

We both roll off the bed at the same time, Levi grabbing the mostly untouched pieces of cake to bring them over to the small refrigerator in the room to keep them from getting spoiled.

“I’ll go brush my teeth,” I announce, before walking off to the bathroom. I do it quickly, splashing some cold water over my face, and step back into the bedroom.

“I’m done.”

When we pass each other to trade places, we exchange a swift glance; both afraid that holding eye contact for too long will propel us to rip our clothes off and go at it.

When Levi walks out of the bathroom, I’m already tucked under the blanket, my arms folded over the crisp white fabric to hold it over my chest. He pulls up the corner of the blanket on his side, sliding beneath it, rearranging his two pillows to stack them behind his shoulder blades.

I’m painfully aware of every one of Levi’s breaths while we watch the rest of the movie. I’m so exhausted I fall asleep before seeing the main characters end up together.