I was angry at him for leaving in the first place, for saying all the shit he did when he left, and I was so goddamn mad at him for going with Augustine. Istillwanted to know why he had made that choice when he could have easily come to live with us. Matty had told me once that if Levi were up to it, she would temporarily adopt him until he was an adult; there was plenty of room in the wing of the hotel where we had all grown up. But he hadn’t wanted that, had he? No, he had wanted to get his bloody revenge, and he had done it through his god-awful father, who had taken him away from the life he could have had…from me.
And I was hurt, as amazing as it was to find that the pain from when he’d left was still raw despite almost fifteen years. I know everyone with a best friend likes to say they would never believe their friend would leave, turn their back on them, or betray them, but that just... wasn’t realistic. You never truly knew another person. No matter how much time you spent with them or how much you shared of yourself, there were always going to be things you couldn’t know or expect. And I had never expected him to leave, I had never expected him to turn his back on me, and I had never expected him to leave me in that miserable silence that followed.
There were other things, like the relief to sit in front of him and see him again after almost fifteen years. To see that he had grown a little, and sure, he had changed in ways I couldn’t figure out yet, but it was Levi. I was angry, hurt, andrelieved. Here was the one person I had trusted more than anyone else, and despite everything, he was back, speaking to me. Oh sure, he was back to do his job, and the only reason I even had the opportunities to talk to him was probably more due to chance than anything else...but he had stayed.
I was feeling all those things and others I couldn’t even name, but instead I went with, “So...seeing anyone?”
He paused, putting down his mug, and raised a brow. “Really? Small talk?”
“When you don’t see your former best friend for almost fifteen years, there’s some things that have to be brought up, at least if you want to catch up.”
“And who said I wish to catch up?”
“Well...I do,” I said, trying to push away the sting of his possible refusal to keep talking to me. “I mean, most of the time people start asking about the same stuff, and I already know what you do for work...sort of, and I know you’re not going to talk about it, so that’s out. The weather is as shitty as it ever is, and who the fuck wants to talk about the weather when they’re supposed to be playing catch-up? I can’t imagine the years have changed your attitude on religion, and probably other than buying off politicians, I doubt you have too many opinions on politics, and even then, what the fuck am I supposed to say? I don’t know shit about what’s going on in the world.”
“So...you defaulted to whether or not I’m dating someone?” he asked wryly, and I thought, or maybe part of me hoped, I saw a flicker of intrigue.
“Well, you clearly don’t have any kids, and you’re not wearing a ring, so you don’t seem to be married. That doesn’t mean you’re not seriously seeing someone. Plus, all I have left for catch-up talk is asking about your family, and between you and me, I don’t really care what your dad has been up to unless rotting in the ground is an option.”
Levi gave me a strange look before shaking his head. “It has been a while since I thought about that.”
“What, Augustine dead? True, I haven’t thought about it for a while, but now that it’s back, I find it hard to let go of for some reason...weird.”
“Oscar Wilde once said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit.”
“Yeah, and he also said it was for really intelligent people too, so?—”
He blinked. “Really?”
“What?” I asked defensively. “I read.”
“I’m...aware, but when you read before, it was either trashy horror novels, trashy romance novels, or those god-awful western books you found at used book stores.”
“First of all, none of them were trashy.”
“Mmm, yes, they were, and still are, no matter how much time passes.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Look, I like that stuff, alright? The horror and the romance are...fun. I mean, I guess some of them were trashy, but so what? They’re fun trash.”
“Now that sounds like the Dom I used to know,” he said with a small smile that sent a dart of warmth to my chest. “Always ready to embrace his own cringy behavior.”
“I think the one who has that crown is Milo.”
Levi raised a brow. “Yes, I uh...saw his account on Instagram, actually.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. It actually took me a second to realize it was him. Last time I’d seen him or Eli, they were what, seven, eight? So yeah, took me a second to realize that was them, all grown and doing their own thing. It was strange to see them, but... it was kind of nice to see that not much about them had changed. Milo is the living Energizer Bunny he’s always been, and Eli seems content to go along for the ride.”
“Wanna know something even stranger about them?”
“Can they get any stranger? They were pretty odd as kids, though I do remember thinking it was quite sweet how close they got after Milo managed to get through to Eli.”
“Oh, they got through to each other alright.”
“Huh?”
“They’re an item now.”
