Sometimes she imagined a boy on the road

He’d stand below the window

Just out of sight, in the shadows

While she dressed or undressed

Crying or dancing

Or navigating the bed

It was exciting

They come from the night

Only at night, only the dark

Springs the events

The culture of pretend

The heroism of being alone

On a Friday night

When you’re fifteen

And you’re okay with your body

The magic was alive

And the darkness outside was dull

But the mind of a girl was on

And the time endured

The time spent upstairs

Was an awakening.

Childhood doesn’t disappear

It transforms

It shapes itself to fit the needs

Of an uneven body

Unequal standards

Inconsistent grades

Along with eyes that wander

Dating a stoned asshole

Dating the repeated books

Delving into the computer

And away from awkward phone calls

He wasn’t enough

And they weren’t enough

And fifteen years is a long time

To be waiting for life

When she knew what to expect

But could act her way through it

Until the next stop

This bus never stopped

This train couldn’t derail

But the patience was intolerable

The movies she watched ate up hours

But the nights at up days

And so she envisioned the waterfalls

The tasteful backup of a polite smile

Or the twist of fate

In a step too close

To the window

To the driveway

Just below the mind

Just out of view

While he stepped ever closer

To the girl who never knew

until she knew

until the sun strangled the boy

and the neighbors swept away the webs

where the voices caught their soothing messages

and the day began again