Ramona Blue

by Julie Murphy

I know he’s probably exaggerating, but the idea that I’m someone’s best friend fills my rib cage with summer.

Love isn’t all you need, but it’s a start,

He’s the first person, I think, who I’ve not been related to, who has found a way to fit into my world—my world that has always felt so much smaller and less important than everyone else’s.

I am only the Ramona who exists in this moment. I’m on a date. With a person who happens to be a boy. And we’re holding hands. I am Ramona and he is Freddie and that’s it.

I am Peter Pan and he is Wendy, and this moment will last forever. We are flying.

Life isn’t always written in the stars. Fate is mine to pen. I choose guys. I choose girls. I choose people. But most of all: I choose.

Love doesn’t disappear when you give it away, and new love doesn’t make old love any less legitimate.

“I called you both before I even called nine-one-one.” “You’re crazy,” I tell her. She looks up at me, and I’m reminded of how much smaller than me she is. Despite our ages, she will always be the little sister. “You’re my nine-one-one,” she tells me.

I will survive, because I have survived.