“Do you like it here?” Robin asks.
His sudden change of topics always makes my head spin. We were just talking about Christmas decorations, and now he asks me something completely unrelated. “You mean here, as in West Sunhaven?”
“Yes.” Robin sounds anxious. “I mean, I know you are more of a city boy, and this town is tiny.”
“Iwasa city boy,” I clarify.
“And now you are a small-town boy?” he giggles.
“Not really,” I say. “But I guess I am a I-like-the-slowed-down life boy right now. The city became too loud eventually.”
“I get that,” Robin says. “I used to live in a bigger city too.”
“No way, really?”
“Yep. Can’t imagine, huh? I had a corporate job.”
I stare at him, completely shocked. “You are joking!”
“I told you how I was completely lost, right? When I was eighteen, I moved away from here. The town just felt too small. I tried a couple of jobs in the city and then returned a year later. Pretty pathetic, huh?” There is a flash of insecurity in his eyes. I am always so focused on myself and my problems that I forget that other people might struggle with something too.
“Not at all,” I say. “You tried something new, and it wasn’t for you. There is no shame in that. I think sometimes we need to make a new experience to be able to decide for ourselves what we want.”
Robin’s head perks up before he squeals and hugs me. “You are amazing, thank you.”
“You are welcome,” I mutter, completely flustered. I just say what came to mind. Talking with Robin is so much easier than with anyone else. I don’t overthink when I am with him. However, something strikes me. “You said you met Aspen when he arrived in town, right?”
“Yes.”
“How does it add up? Aspen left home when he was eighteen.”
“Oh, I am two years older than he is.”
At that, I almost drop everything I‘m holding. Robin looks my age. Of course, I knew he had to be older, but I didn’t imagine him older than Aspen! “Just how old are you?”
“You are twenty-six, right?” he asks me.
When I nod, he grins. “So, Soren is eight years older. I am thirty-two, and Aspen is turning thirty soon, but you probably know that.”
I can’t wrap my head around what he just said. He looks so much younger! He could easily pass for a student.
“I have good skin, don’t I?” he grins.
I chuckle. “You do.”
“What about you?” he asks.
“I have good skin, too,” I say, although I know exactly what he truly means.
Robin giggles. “No, silly. I meant: Did you enjoy life in the big city?”
“At first, I did.”
Robin looks at me expectantly. When I stay quiet, he gnaws on his bottom lip. “Sorry,” he blurts out.
“What for?”
“I shouldn’t ask,” he says. “I… fuck… I always talk and talk and sometimes don’t realize what the fuck I am saying and asking. And I never mean to upset anyone or to be insensitive or to cross any boundaries, but I do.”
