Chasing Second Chances

Re

pen mic still lingered somewhere in her chest, like a small flame that refused to go out. But it came with a new

alf-listening. She could feel Adonis two rows behind her, like gravity. She hadn'

, kept drifting toward the top corner of the desk, where she'd ab

is B

iltered out, she lingered near the door, pretending to scroll through her phone. She knew he'd

e said,

ked up, tried

e this a

enda-literary debate or sp

"Neither. So

ause. "Somethin

l like. Used books. First editions. Floor-t

te herself. "And

lightly. "Do yo

red. "I d

e that as

s called Cr

mismatched shelves, the smell of ink and paper and time. A black

ed among the fiction shelves. Her fingers brushed familiar titles, old friends. She picked up

ing. You just need

had left a little piece of themselves behind. That maybe so

ile, Adoni

ook. Letters t

ead this?

ybe three

n I was fifteen. Said it would teach

avy," she

he was l

aused.

s hes

ed. Two y

th caught.

ced it, like it still didn't

She always said if I couldn't say it

way. There didn't seem to b

d out and took the

d that you came here with

ace softened. "Yea

night, Lena

ad typed out fragments-lines and half-thoughts and messy, emotional stumbles. Her mind kept re

le, how much she wan

But the deep stuff. The lat

her door ma

ding two cups of coffee and a beat-up copy

obscure poetry," he said

d aside to

w how to woo a

. "You mak

e book open to page thirty-nine. He read a few lin

to the level

ed, by sun an

t that words from two centuri

e," he said. "Just the way

tween them again-com

If he'd had his heart broken. If there was

d was, "What do you writ

ometimes. Or I go somewhere quiet and s

lowly. "You'

"Takes one t

t cold and the words stopped being poe

wning and the soft rhythm of rain on the wi

s. The stolen glances. The way he looked at her like she wa

t morning to a me

rs still owe me coffee

e'd even fully opened her eyes. She

read you something

he back booth. Brin

thing about being around him that made her forget about appearances. He

. She spotted him instantly- hood up, laptop open, notebook beside it, coffee

minutes lat

ys early," s

"You brought

ere worn, the ink slightly smudged from being clutched too tightl

I like the messy s

he page and beg

he ache stopped fee

something that wasn't fear. But

things, but he make

tell him that his vo

r wanted

e on the last line. Not

e every wo

eally looked at her. His eyes were calm, but there was somethin

ut me," he

't a qu

heeks pink. "

's... terrifying.

ve like three more about you and one that com

s head. "You make me so

ind of

d the notebook slowly. "What about you?

side his laptop, then handed

verses. Different than what he'd read at the o

d them

he's afraid it'll

d only belong

hold her i

but to prove som

ld in her chest. Something

oni

wrote it after

we're writing abo

writing toward eac

shut

ack. Just heat in her cheeks and a

ghtly. "We don't have to call it anything yet. No la

d his, the contact ground

oise. Just two writers, ink-stained and unsu