I. It was peppermint, snowflake blonde hair spilling into gold the foxlike amber of my skin against her phosphorescent white. She made me seasick with her bird-blue eyes and stuck like cotton candy to my fingers.
II. Her name was Phoenix, and she scared me with her firecracker will. It made my lungs into waterfalls my thoughts and fingers, butterflies. My carbon-copy hair carnelian red a solar flare, an Icarus, an imitation star.
III. We were virgins, and volcanoes. Sharing milkbox wishes on rooftops and climbing trees like horses instead of tiger-mouthed boys. We swallowed the citrus-colored summer like gingerbread and lemonade.
For the girl who kissed me, my childhood friend, and my oldest sister.