I didn’t realize I was keeping every moment.
Tucked into a compartment of my brain that wanted to preserve every memory.
Every time I made you laugh.
Every moment we were silly.
Every moment I thought you were something I could never achieve.
That moment in the backseat as we crossed the bay back into the city lights.
Accidentally revealing how uncool I was.
Swearing you to secrecy in embarrassment.
I didn’t realize how much I had admired you.
How much I wanted to make you laugh always.
How envious I was that other women had your attention.
That smile that I wish I could make that wide.
I had no idea I was holding onto these tucked away.
Just a crush that would amount to nothing.
Every time you suddenly appeared at another event.
Hearing my name and turning to see you there.
Smiling and flirting.
Feeling confident wearing my provocative garment that left little to the imagination.
Turning around and seeing how I was precisely in your eyeline.
A stoned grin dancing for your gaze.
I didn’t realize how I kept these moments so uncontaminated and honest.
I had forgotten I could ever feel this way.
About a boy.
That I wished were mine.
Tucked in a box labeled wishful thinking.
I didn’t know I was avoiding this feeling.
I didn’t know I had given up on such things, such desires,
such wistful longing.
I had given up on the male gaze.
Then you reappeared again.
Suddenly your presence so much sharper in clarity.
I understand a little bit more.
Why you heeded caution.
Why I was being taken with a grain of salt.
How I must be familiar.
But now I can’t lie to myself anymore.
I can see and feel the longing in my heart.
The wish that it could be love,
Returned and not one sided unrequited affection.
In spite of knowing,
it would take another three years,
you’re a slow burn if at all,
so many things could happen before you believed I was safe,
so many things could happen before you ever saw me,
so many things before you could grow love for me.
So here I sit how with the unearthed box of feelings I can no longer ignore,
For a person that does not feel the same.
How do I close it and continue to wait?
How do I close it and hope for the best?
How do I manage this longing I hadn’t felt in a lifetime?
They’re my feelings and no one’s responsibility but mine own.
So I’ll keep it myself.
Hold it close and do my best to not waste away in the dreams of what could be.
Be grateful that I can feel this at all anymore.
But don’t indulge in delusion,
lest I go insane.
Reign in this Pisces heart that so desperately wants to be loved,
One last time.
To love another,
One last time.
To nurture, to care, to give to another.
Who fucking knew I could ever feel this way for anyone again?
Certainly not me.
So I’ll tuck this box away
Do my best to stay positive.
What the future holds none can say. Perhaps he’ll see me, perhaps he won’t.
Perhaps these memories will forever remain tiny keepsake treasures in a box near my heart.
From the house down the road from real love.