I met my younger self for coffee
Ten minutes early I walked in wearing my blue converse with blue ribbons instead of shoelaces.
She was already sitting at a table, waiting patiently, and doodling on her black converse with painted on spider-webs.
She ordered a large iced coffee with heaps of caramel to drown out the actual taste of coffee,
I purchased a strawberry lemonade with extra ice.
We both wore friendship bracelets,
Though mine were matching with my best friends and hers were for her cheer team.
I was fidgeting with my rings,
And her eyeliner could cut through like a knife
While being weighed down by the soda tabs around her neck.
We sat in comfortable silence
Though I could tell she wanted to say something but was holding herself back,
She always held herself back.
“I don’t know where my place is.”
“You’ll find it”
“How do you know?”
“You have to give it time, you have to meet your people.”
We both kept one airpod in but her music bled through because she had to have the volume all the way up because the right one was dying down.
I was listening to Gracie Abrams,
She was listening to Arctic Monkeys.
When she spoke, she had a subtle lisp because of her retainers
“I just joined the school paper, I hope one day to be like the seniors I look up to.”
The doubt in her voice could be heard from a mile away.
A huge wave of pride washed over me, “I’m the editor-in-chief.”
“Freshman year is so hard. I don’t understand how I’m in high school.”
“Senior year is so fun. I have a hard time understanding how I’m moving out in six months.”
Her eyes were always a bit glossed over and dark but the sparkle never left.
“You made it through?”
“We did.”
