The circles under your eyes are finally closing. I watched you choke on words all night, but you look really good in blue. It compliments your eyes- and they too move like the oceans that you’re too afraid to swim in. Every time you smile, I see your fangs- ready to bite back at the wrong lyric. You’re hunting and I’m waiting. It’s a guessing game and I’m not trying to play anymore. But everything you is so full of purpose. I watched you scoff at the insignificance around us. Everyone in the room tasted the salt in the air, but you ate it up like silence. I kind of love you for that. But I also know the part. Play the role. Put on the show like I do so fucking well- you never did. And when you screamed “fuck off” from the other side of the bar- I smiled at the roar from everyone around us. Held you back like something fierce and for the first time I wasn’t afraid. You told me that no one could possibly ever understand what we went through so sometimes we have to remind them. Stale cigarettes in an unlit parking lot and we laughed at the nerve of it all. Told the world to drown in its misery- that we want nothing more from it anymore. Call me everything you need me to be. Even brave. Circle back to the spot we finally made a home in as the sun stretches it’s arms out to meet the sky for morning light. Watch your eyes sink into it all like nighttime. Said to “sleep well” without a shaking voice. -AMT