miles and miles

them

they met in the fifth grade,

sharing english and math

but not accepting each others

company until middle school.

it all started when he met her at her locker,

blushing and blubbering so badly

he could hardly ask her to the movies.

she laughed and blushed a little herself,

before saying yes and scurrying away.

they met at the cinema,

getting a bucket of popcorn and

sitting in the theater.

they were twenty minutes early

and in that time shared two words.

"popcorn?"

"sure."

when the movie finally started,

they both exhaled a sigh of relief,

and then chuckled

and then blushed.

about halfway through the movie

he tried to kiss her

and she ended up pushing him away

and moving one seat over

to put distance between them.

she kept the popcorn.

the rest of their time in middle school

they were teased relentlessly,

the other students making kissing noices

whenever they passed and putting

ollie and sue together

and calling them sollie, or sully,

like the blue monster from

a children's movie.  

and when high school came,

she hadn't moved on,

and neither had he.

so finally, with some sort

of miracle,

he took her to the movies again.

and this time,

she let him kiss her.