The other day she sat beside him for the first time in months

She watched his eyes brighten at the thought of his new life without her

But the way he sat on his hands told her he was fighting the urge to touch her cheek

He talked about how he had to do his taxes for the first time

He talked about his new friends and how he didn’t know how to make time for his old ones

He talked about his mom and the tattoo she wants but will never get

She couldn’t help but catch the inflexions in his voice and notice how he still sounded like the boy whose words She had been replaying in her head for months

She couldn’t help but close her eyes as She took in every sentence he spoke, like a shot of rum

Their eyes were both drawn to a sweet couple that couldn’t keep walking for more than a few steps without stopping for a kiss

They sat in silence and thought about the days when they would sneak out of class to feel each others lips because they couldn’t go another minute without

They sat in silence and thought about their whispered exchanges outside her classroom door and his grip on her waist when he couldn’t let go

They sat in silence and thought back to the days when he didn’t have so much facial hair and she didn’t feel so dismantled by the sounds of his voice

They sat with an uncomfortable distance between them

She sat feet away from him, the girl who used to only know how to sit on his lap

She noticed the crumbs in his beard and it took everything inside her to not brush them out

She sat on her hands now to keep resistance of something her body only recognized as involuntary

So there they both sat biting their tongues and sitting on their hands

There we sat two lovers who knew the love between them was still alive and well in their blood

There sat two star-crossed lovers who knew that their time had ended long before but was not yet over

The other day she sat beside him for the first time in months

She watched his eyes brighten at the thought of his new life without her