we sat in that bookstore for, what felt like, simply minutes. but when i checked my beaten up royal purple watch, i realized we had been at the window of that used bookstore for hours.
the antique red chair you sat on, also beaten up but in all the perfect ways, besides the window with a crystal clear view of the main street in the neighborhood i had grown up in - the neighborhood that was so familiar to me - seemed like it was made for you. and suddenly the view in that window felt like a new one to me; one which i desired to explore and discover all over again but this time with you by my side.
it seemed like it was waiting for us to come in the comfortable silence of the empty bookstore with the company of yellowed books that were left there yet to be truly loved.
i sat on a battered red stool that could have easily been in a retro diner but somehow found its place in this exact shoppe. and again, i thought these were all pieces of a puzzle coming together to help form one of many memories we'd have together.
and sometime in those sea of hours we spent in each other's presence, we talked about your house in the beach city with cantaloupe sunrises every morning and dragon fruit sunsets so vibrant and surreal you had to remind yourself it was real and not some kind of dreamscape, the clouds looking so soft you had to fight the urge not to reach up and touch them.
i saw how your face lit up at what must of been the countless of sunsets flooding through your memory and how you desperately missed the smell of the ocean. in that moment, a sudden but powerful yearning washed over me. i wished to one day be able to witness a sunset on the beach with you. even then, i would still be mesmerized by your undeniable magical aura.
a day later i am in my room listening to my usual surfer rock but this time, i have paired it with faint ocean sounds filling me with nostalgia but also a quiet excitement for our future - and what it might bring.
