When the Date Was Almost Over by Ramya Valipe (17, Texas)

We were nineteen throwing pennies into pools thinking that youth could deliver wishes to reality
Dinner dates seemed like a classic, but two strangers can hardly pass it
Park benches and plastic cups filled with ice cream is where we landed in the floral air
And I knew the date was over, felt the static taking over
Till my waning eyes were captured by yours, and lassitude left my shoulders
Because the spark in your eye told me that this night would end in magic

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The parking lot was out of practice, its time as a stage had long departed, but the moon graced us with enough stage light for two
Though our barren décor was forgotten as you laced the air with Aphrodite's favorite tunes
And then I was drawn in closer, your heart beating a pattern that could have only echoed my own
As you possessed my breath while you lead us through movements that cut the moonlight itself into two
And right then I couldn't tell you what we replaced, maybe gravity or time or space, but I knew that we were moving along to a treasured song that had been building soul bridges for eons

We were twenty-one piling on our receipts and debts for the frightened and tortured heads
The spring of love bloomed on just to turn and sour in our heat
You were not ready to come over, and my head was pounding over
So your jacket encircled my shoulders as the skies cried to cover my woeful stride
And your living room light warred with relief's highlight on your face
Time and pain made their amends deciding that our hearts were deserving of a resolution

Right then our pushing and pulling no longer had conflict's scent, as we pushed and pulled each other to see what kind of backdrop the raindrops lent
Droplets swathed us in crystals so clean and pure, as we descended to a scene that was only ever captured on a silver screen
And once again you encircled me, an acknowledgement of what this meant was felt through your thin, blue shirt
The mannerisms of our old habits then manifested itself again as what started at a sway ran towards the tempo of the shower
And right then I couldn't tell you what we replaced, maybe gravity or time or space, but I knew that we were moving along to a treasured song that had been building soul bridges for eons

We were twenty-three betting like crazy in what we believed because we are the writers of our story
Smiles of candor and fiction were strewn across the treacherous path that we traveled on
That created the bond linking you and I in what would be us
And like the best things in life, it taste like sweet honey laced with bitter ash
So with the winds of Autumn twirling for the fourth time around two
The man I threw pennies for and shared my receipts to, asked the final question that would prove our bets true

On our celestial stage, we had mountains who framed us as we took our place beneath a sky full of stars
We no longer had to act as jokers or kings, because comfort was found after the scene
And I grasped onto you like I would always do because you led me to light with your heart beat song that I could play on and on and on
Now I could mimic your motions with mine, a call and answer so ancient that not even the mountains around us could know
And right then I couldn't tell you what we replaced, maybe gravity or time or space, but I knew that we were moving along to a treasured song that had been building soul bridges for eons

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