1.
you don't. at least,
not at first, not for you; you sit
in the back of the room and kind
of admire the way
their laugh shakes
their shoulders back and forth,
rhythmic mimicry found unrhyming, unrehearsed.
it's refreshing, you think.
and slowly maybe you realize that hey, they
aren't too bad looking and hey, you
kind of like the way their eyes
dart away if you catch them looking at you,
and hey.
you feel your heartbeat for the first
time in years.
2.
you think you might like them.
kind of. maybe. you really don't know, but you
like to think you do
(because if you wish hard enough
some fairy godmother you know
doesn't ex