If Only I Had Told Her

by Laura Nowlin

We weren’t touching, but it felt like the atoms between us were warm with my love for her.

We found each other by instinct.

My love for her is the closest thing I have to religion.

Maybe you are the two stupidest people on earth who somehow don’t realize you’re in love with each other,

But he thought I had deluded myself into believing this hot girl was my friend.

But be ready for when she leaves again.

My devotion to Autumn is engraved on my very being. I am in awe of her.

I will always love her in the same way I know I’ll always need oxygen.

My Autumn.

“We have forever,”

“When The Mothers get home, you go to bed early, and when I get back, I’ll sneak in your back door and come to your room, and then I’ll hold you all night.”

I lean down and kiss her before I go, because I can, because it’s not the last time.

If only I’d told her that I loved her years ago, I wouldn’t be here now. Because she loved me. She loved me this whole time.

“Whatever our souls are made of, hers and mine are the same.”

Go home to Autumn.

What will I have left of Finn when the hurt is gone?

And neither of us is foolish enough to believe that lightning doesn’t strike twice.

Just being near him made me feel more alive.