a friendship that died many moons past
is now water under the bridge of the small town we grew up in
rode our bikes there the summer before we started highschool
and boy, nothing smelled sweeter than the sulfur of that creek
if only we knew that was the last time we would cut our toes on those jagged rocks
and the last time we would scream secrets into the air
as cars drove above, roaring
before she would know the taste of my mouth
and my mouth would know the sweet burn of stolen liquor
maybe we would have stayed to watch the sunset
maybe we wouldnt have been so eager to rush back home
new years eve of 9th grade
i screamed songs out the window of her second story bedroom
we had left the bridge behind when she moved across town
so now we watched shitty rom coms together
sitting apart on opposite ends of a blow up mattress
i spoke every thought in my head to fill the air
but her silence ate every word
and left the whole room still
and when my dad picked me up in the morning
i wondered how i had ever seen her as a mirror
how i had ever shared a bed with this stranger
who now slept in the next room over
while i shook, silent in the dark
back against slurs spray painted permanent into that dark cement
water whipping past as the cold bites my cheeks
i sharpie our names into the wall
maybe she’ll come back and read them and wonder
was it all just water under the bridge?