[  ] We didn’t date,
[  ] Yet you tell people we did.
[  ] We hardly even talked,
[  ] yet you act like we spent our lives together
[  ] As if i left without a word
[  ] Except there were words
[  ] You just didn’t listen.

[  ] Now you ask them why I left,
[  ] like there was something to leave to begin with.
[  ] Like I held your hand, whispered promises,
[  ] let you in—
[  ] when all I did was exist near you.

[  ] You get your friends to interrogate me,
[  ] like I owe them answers.
[  ] Like I owe you anything at all.
[  ] They ask what happened,
[  ] why I “broke your heart,”
[  ] but I didn’t realize you had given it away to begin with.

[  ] You follow me through halls,
[  ] a shadow I never asked for.
[  ] Standing just close enough to remind me
[  ] that you don’t know how to let go.
[  ] That you can’t take silence as an answer.

[  ] And when I talk to my friends,
[  ] there you are, lingering,
[  ] Like a shadow creeping into spaces where you were never meant to be.
[  ]  A ghost desperate to haunt something that was never yours.

[  ] It’s almost funny,
[  ] how someone I barely knew
[  ] can’t seem to untangle themselves from me.
[  ] How someone I never loved
[  ] Plays the victim in a story that was never finished to begin with.

[  ] I have loved you all since the day we first met
[  ] And no matter what I say, I will always love you
[  ] I love and admire you all in a way that no one understands
[  ] In a way even I don't fully understand

[  ] It's a tie that's woven from laughter and tears
[  ] From late-night conversations and all of our unspoken fears
[  ] But it's a bond that's strong and true
[  ] And I am so grateful to know all of you

[  ] Though this bond is still unfolding, its depth I can already see
[  ] A sibling-like love, forged in a short time, yet was clearly always meant to be
[  ] We bicker and argue, I annoy you, you annoy me
[  ] But hidden within our chaos, our friendship shines bright and carefree

[  ] In the stillness of the night, we'd talk for hours on end
[  ] Late-night FaceTime calls, our connection won't ever bend

[  ] We'd laugh, we'd joke, and share our hearts
[  ] And in those moments, I know that our friendship will never fall apart
[  ] Through every twist and turn, our friendship will remain
[  ] A constant in the chaos, a love that's always the same

[  ] We'll navigate life's journey, side by side,
[  ] You'll be the aunties and uncles who spoil my kids, who tell them stories of our past
[  ] Our travels , the drama, the inside jokes and all of  the happy parts
[  ] A constant presence in our lives, a love that carries on through all of our hearts

[  ] As we start our own futures and begin to build our own families, a lifelong bond we'll for all time share
[  ] no matter what happens i will always be there
[  ] In each other's love and support, we'll forever have a place to call our own
[  ] Forever connected, forever family, forever at home.
[  ] We are in this world together and as long as we have each other, I know we will never be alone.

the words "i love you" rolled off my tongue
we had only been together for 2 months when i said it
he was shocked and so was i

as the months had passed we got closer and closer
we said "i love you" so many times and still do
but instead of him or i saying "i love you too"
we just say "i love you"

the word "too" means in addition or also
i don't love him in addition to him loving me
he doesn't love me in addition to me loving him

we love each other for who we are
not because of our bodies or money
not because he's attractive or he thinks i'm attractive too
we love each other for who we are

we are teen lovers
we want to get married to each other
have our own children together
grow old together
die together

that is our love.

Growing up...
Thinking life's gonna be easy
Fun, friendships're forever,
So what's they said

We got problems of our own
Trapped in our little bubbles
Stopped looking left or right
For help, realising we are all alone in the end

Nothin's wrong,
No need to be down own your knees
Some days when you're out of my orbit,
Meaning the funny white rabbit's chasing you to eternity
I got that, and that's okay
Just return to my side when everything's back alright
You're me friend, and my book won't let me change that

In the dressing room

I have seen smooth-shaven girls --


I've seen what you want.

what else are you supposed to do in the suburbs?
find everything abandoned and go there at night?
thrift shop?
idle around the same mall and buy candles, journals, CDs (for your lack of cd player, except in your mom's car)?
see the same movie twice (the fire alarm goes off both times)?
throw wine bottles at pavement and watch the glass splinter?
run around empty ovals?
break into baseball fields?
go to the same public pool and open your eyes underwater?
burn lacy lingerie that you stole from the mall and watch as your femininity sticks, shrivelled, to the pavement?
go to school and get the bus home?
go to work and come home covered in pizza sauce?
hate it till you leave?
what else even is there?

Girls are looking so

enigmatic, smiling, and --


in expectation.