puppy

we were on our way to a party, and it was snowing.

lightly, whitely...

we had been spending time together, mainly because of our advanced placement english class. we had taken the role of the monk in canterbury tales, acting it out and somehow ending it with my tap dancing moves.

one night laid head-to-head and talked. really talked.

i liked to bug him about liking a taken girl. he had followed her around like a puppy for a whole semester, seemingly oblivious to the whispers and her boyfriend's tolerance.

you love her, i would tease.

except one day when he changed.

he said he liked someone else.

oh?

...and on our way to the party, after we climbed out of his mother's blue honda civic hatchback, we paused and looked at each other. he saw me with a combination of the awe and innocence and youth that comes with first love. he didn't even touch me. he could hardly speak.

softly i heard: "you're glowing."

and every year when the snow comes, i remember that someone once told me that i glowed.