come get the stuff you left

Nostalgia drips from the broken soda fountain

Of the rundown 7/11

Your bare knees brush against the countertop as we spin around on red stools

My NASA beanie clings to wet curls

You didn’t have to steal it and wear it in the cold rain, but I don’t mind

Cherry red syrup rubs off on my cold palms

Not sure how it got there, I prefer Coca-Cola slurpees anyday

Your computer rests haphazardly on my stomach on the park bench stained in memories and ice cream

We could theorize about peaches and Italian raves for hours

You understand my references and don’t care that my social awkwardness contracts my prepared syllables into a conglomerate of um and anxious pauses

I’m glad you dropped foreign language in ninth grade

Because you don’t understand I just called you beautiful and wonderful and striking in French

You think I said bless you

I’m glad your mom makes you watch 90′s soap operas so that you have an excuse to come to my house

If only for Netflix, an escape, and my world renowned chocolate milkshakes

And if they made movie about us

It’d end with us in a 7/11 parking lot

Pencil lead promises and daisy chain daydreams all leave one day

The sun would set on our summer, freckles smattering the lavendar sky

Experimentation gone wrong, Chernobyl

And short skirts, cherry red, asterisks for hearts

The day I kissed you once, sprawled on my quilt

And yes, I suppose that is when you ran back to Cristal Carrington,

My affection dripping like a broken soda machine from your lips

I never did get my beanie back

But was it really ever mine?

I'm not talking about headwear, I'm talking about my love for you and

You’re not supposed to hold your friends like this

But I wonder if you’ll make an exception for me