Mystify · me.

It's been a while, so you should be proud. It isn't surprising to break the lull at this point. It just never led up to anything, did it. Nights on the phone until dawn broke. Falling asleep on each other. Sharing our secrets. Making that connection. Fighting even, and arguing. Of course, there were times when we were just quieted by each other - spellbound in a momentary epiphany that perhaps we finally got somewhere we both wanted to be. I remember finally seeing a bit deeper into you. You didn't cave in at that moment. You just smiled, and let me hold you at your weakest. It was a brief and terrifying moment, but something about being that close to each other conjured up the idea that we were finally headed in the right direction.

But hey, we already knew that life had this criminal habit of cutting up people who stretched their imaginations. We continued to think that it was perfectly fine to wait another five minutes, another few days, and another week before we walked up to the other one's face, choked up and all, and then say something as desperately vulnerable as, "I love you," or, "I missed you." Nobody wants to be desperate, nobody wants to rush, but we were so scared at this point. We didn't go for broke. I surrendered to your musings. You settled for my brevity. We paused at length.

So we drifted apart.

You knew it too. Until now, I think. That's why our hands brush against each other from time to time, but we go on pretending that there's nothing to hold on to.