windows up walls down in the backseat of her toyota staring at the green fluorescent car clock 9:37 he looks over his shoulder in the passenger seat, the boy who could breathe without inhaling a mere party trick. i had always wondered what it felt like to be a teen stupid as is seems i was sheltered once, hidden from night rides obscured from midnight hikes asleep instead of the early morning mcdonald trips my friends were more persistent on making me to eat with them than making me exhale dancing fumes with them. i only know the double chin grins on our snapchat stories the rude jokes, the black ripped jeans, and snapbacks the lime green socks that matched the stair railings and pink sliders never looked better. the “6:30” movies (5:30, shhh, my mom can’t know) and the crinkling of empty water bottles in the backseat i felt alive tonight, even through the tough, sushi stores and reclining movie theaters never felt more like home. and boba stores that stay open late with neon open signs welcome us 9:37 the “oH mY gOsH iTs a DoG” screams the photoshoots with random men wearing fake Coach hats the posing by wooden desks the lights that lounge effortlessly above encaptures our spirits and brighten them i don’t drink, but they smoke but tonight, beer can’t buzz us more than boba and childish giggles escape from my wide smile. so this is what the lullabies were about this is what katy perry sang about this is what i had been waiting for to experience moments of pure awe and affection for those around me to see them smile in slow motion when they understand a joke or react to something our collective experiences are understood no words need to be ushered to empathize as we dress like the night, we transform into it the stars flicker for us the moon gives us her blessing and the sleeping sun gives us our space 9:37 was meant for us the clock stops and time stretches its arms to infinity and beyond i could live in the frozen frame of this evening bomber jackets, jean jackets, and tattooed planets the inside jokes, the enjoyed hoax, our future hopes they live inside the car clock that reads, in green, 9:37