One of his favorite songs.

His ears were met with the sound of a piano. Then the vocals washed over him. He could hardly believe it. Somebody else listens to this song?

“Is this... Time Goes By, by Re:Plus?”

Her eyes went wide and she finally looked interested in his existence. “You’ve heard this before?”

“Heard it? It’s my goto when I’m trying to relax!”

“And suddenly you’re cooler than I gave you credit for.” It sounded like light teasing, but she said it as a matter of fact.

“Thanks. This kind of off-hip-hop instrumental medley shit is all I listen to anymore,” he told her. The smile he gave her was relaxed and easy.

“Do you like downtempo chill-hop? Nujabes, Nomak, some of Fat Jon’s stuff?” She asked.

“Are you kidding? None of it would even exist without Nujabes.”

“The Godfather of it all,” she said appreciatively. “It’s the music I listen to when I’m falling.”

“Errr sorry... what does that mean exactly?” Just when they found common ground she lost him again.

“Falling? I do it all the time. I guess it’s more like sinking when I’m looking at the sea, but it gives me the same feeling as falling so I lump them together. I watch the water until I lose myself in the motion of it. Tune everything else out but the water and the music.” That much he could relate to. On quiet days, or especially at night, the sounds of waves breaking against the shoreline was nothing short of blissful.

“Then I imagine my body slipping under, and I sink. Sink down where no light could ever reach. In my head, the water is never cold. Just room temperature. The only thing around me is the consistency of it, leading me lower and lower. I close my eyes while I fall, and then when I feel like I’m lost in the deep darkness, I open them to see what kind of hidden world I’ve discovered.” Her face was wistful.

“And what do you find?” Leon couldn’t relate anymore, but the way she explained it put him in a nostalgic lull. He had no idea what he was nostalgic for, but it was a comfortably familiar emotion to be lost in.

“I find myself back here, in an uncaring world. This world will never be the one I’m searching for. So I close my eyes and fall again,” she said, and closed her eyes as if for dramatic effect. It was only when she didn’t open the again that he realized she must be “falling” right at that very moment. A hot gust of wind blew her billowy clothes around her like ripples on the very water was trying to get lost in. It smelled like rain.

“Another Florida shower must be coming our way,” he said to try to get her attention. Nothing. He brought the camera to his eye and zoomed in on her face. The description she gave him made it sound like a peaceful experience, but she looked despondent.

Fluttering eyelids opened again as Galaxy Class by Fat Jon played on in their ears.

“Still here,” he told her. She shrugged at him woefully.

He handed her earbud back to her and stood up.

“Is your curiosity sated?” She asked.

“I suppose so. I think it’s gonna storm.” The sunny day was starting to ever so slightly be eclipsed by ominous grey clouds in the short while since he’d joined her under the bridge. As if she called a stormy new world to her when she fell. It was definitely time to go. Now she had fanciful thoughts clogging up his head too.

“You should probably get inside before you get those expensive clothes of yours drenched.”

“I think I’ll watch the rain from right here. Being outside in a storm is like falling, all the time.”

The way she kept talking about falling and going to different worlds, he had half a mind to stay and make sure she didn’t try to drown herself or something. He didn’t really want to though. She gave off a vibe like the one he used to have when he sank into the worst of his depression. Self isolated, drowning out the world and hiding inside himself. The feeling grew comfortable as it became familiar, but that’s what made it dangerous. That’s what he’d felt nostalgia for earlier.

He would deal with her another time, when he’d gained some distance between that malicious feeling and himself. “Well, keep yourself safe at least.”

Her eyes were closed again, and she continued trying to fall off the face of the world as he walked away.