Juliana

16

"Before you left for college"

the months melted together
like popsicles left outside in the sunlight.
our hands went the same way.
we spent days apologizing to each other
for the lack of time,
hours pooled beneath apologetic fingers,
while we cupped and grasped at the minutes
like they were ripe grapes,
like if we squeezed hard enough
we could find more seconds to spend together. the future—well, we held our breaths and tiptoed around her.

it's easy to forget how to go from here, when you’re halfway across the world, and our secrets
of flashlight nights and dark roads are nothing more than fingerprint reminders brushed over the inside of a jacket
you haven’t worn since you left.

but please know that I don’t regret you.
you were ephemeral, startling—like pressing my cheek
against a glass
of cold lemonade