1

It is about 11:15pm and every inch of his skin is touching an inch of yours; nothing between you other than a thin layer of sweat. You lay in comfortable quiet — not quite silence, for he left the garden door ajar, so you are accompanied by cars honking at each other on this Brooklyn street that you can’t-quite-pronounce — And anyway you have just made love. You believe it is the first time you have ever actually done that. You slow your breathing to sync with his and decide this feeling is gonna last a lifetime. It annoys you how people threaten that life gets-in-the-way, sometimes. They say “young love” as if you’re not grown enough for all this but Oh, what’s-that-got-to-do-with-it.

2

‘The Chain’ just came on shuffle and you’re singing along with Stevie Nicks. He smiles up at your face even though he could look down at the rest; because he somehow does not know this song, but he does know you. You twist your hair with your right hand and sing into your left as if it is a microphone: Damn the dark, damn the light. And if you don’t love me now, you will never love me again… 

3

You feel this memory draw itself into the cracks of these hardwood floors and dusty brick walls. You feel it etch itself into your mind and you know in this split second, as your life sprawls out in front of you like vomit spilling down a fire escape that never ends, that you will never be able to extract it unless you get a lobotomy-or-something. You figure you should calm down. You have to. Don’t you? 

4

You’ve never been here before. Your eyeliner is smudged and you look more beautiful than you ever imagined you would; and by-the-way your mother told you this stop is dangerous. And you know she was talking about the subway but you’ve decided she was talking about love. Everyone is, nowadays. Aren’t they? Isn’t that all there is?

5

There is a group of drunk girls on the other side of the platform talking about how Taylor Swift’s tour has made an impact on the economy of America and for the first time in your life you don’t-give-a-fuck about Taylor Swift, or about America really. Or anything in this world that doesn’t have to-do-with-it, for that matter. 

6

You know he feels it too and that’s why you’re zoned out on the 2. He can’t stand himself but Oh, thank-the-God-above you do. And now you’re back in Manhattan and 

0

I can’t believe it’s true. I love you and even I can’t stop it, so what is everything-else-in-the-world gonna do? I step into the backseat of my mother’s car and she questions, the hell is up with you?