Claire

I looked in the mirror

And today

Instead of focusing on my flaws

On picking out everything I hate about my face

Instead of being my own worst enemy and self-critic

I looked

Really looked

At this girl

One message 

An Instagram notification in my inbox from an unfollowed account 

I never get DMed

Opening was the worst possible choice I could've made

We are such a cliché,

boy meets girl,

fall hard and fast.

Our heads are a mess,

would you wait for me?

Obviously.

Too young to think anything through,

I remember that warm summer night,

we argued about who could jump farther off the swings,

we were only 14.

It down poured,

they didn't set the fireworks off,

you didn't care,

neither did I.

Don’t kill my birds.

Tommy pays taxes.

April runs a side hustle selling cursed bath bombs on Etsy.

They have dreams.

They have a 401k.

They just bought a tiny house in a haunted forest

Here, for the first time in years

With family I haven’t known

But still, family.

And I like it here.

The first vacation

I’ve actually enjoyed

So far away from my own home

Which usually I hate