I only got to be strangers with you for a
fraction of a second.
A half of a blink
and when I opened my eyes next
you were the you that you are to me now
and stranger-you was gone forever
but I remember him in perfect detail.

He is younger than you,
a little dumber than you.
He has longer hair
and a more rehearsed smile.
He makes puns and dad jokes
tells stories and laughs at mine.
Speaks of things, not feelings
and I can never quite tell what he’s thinking.

But unlike just-you and just-me
there is space in between,
a gap I tried to fill with
facts about his favorites
points about his past.
But still, he is a stranger to me, as I am to him
So there are many more things I can’t quite pin…

Like I don’t know how his hand fits into mine,
how our fingers feel tightly intertwined.
The way he smiles when he says ‘I love you’
and the shine in his eyes after ‘I love you too’.
What it’s like to lie on his shoulder
his arm around me, so I am closer.
The blanket over us to make it dark
or under us for a picnic in the park,
know what he’s thinking from just a glance
remember what it’s like to share a dance,
how he looks waiting under a tree
or how his kisses are so sweet,
to look deep into his smiling eyes
and know without doubt he is mine.

I did not know these things about stranger-you
because before I could ask he disappeared into just-you
and then I didn’t need to ask.

I hope we are never strangers again.