The Beginning
It is seven days since we first
met in person. We are overdressed for this bar’s karaoke night so we sit in the back corner. I focus on the way the pool table light illuminates your lips when discussing our song choices. As I drink my beer
my thirst for you only grows.
There’s hardly anyone else present, but I
wouldn’t notice even if there were hundreds. The multicolored spotlights dance across your skin distracting me from our surroundings. Your rendition of In The End is my new favorite song. It sounds like
the soundtrack to the rest of my life.
They close out the bar but we
loiter outside for hours more basking in the streetlights. You tell me about tufted titmice and your childhood so I tell you about scutoids and my kinks. We don’t kiss but I want us to. For the first time I dream of
your body on top of mine.
Standing in front of our cars I
realize what you will mean to me. This isn’t the beginning of our story but I’m certain it’s the beginning of our future. We say our goodbyes but I want to stay with you forever. My heated blanket can’t compare to
the comfort and warmth of your embrace.
It’s been one hundred and seven days
since I fell in love with you.
—Grayson Arnold
illustration by Happy Burbeck
