//not like that//

why don't you love me?

the night is darker now, more intense.

he wanders through the circle of trees across the street from her house.

"ready or not, here i come." he says.

somewhere in the trees, she giggles.

when he finds her sitting up against a trunk with the reflections of stars in her eyes, he just sits down next to her.

there's a patch of dandelions near her feet, and she plucks thirteen.

her delicate fingers make the knots of a crown, yellow flowers and green stems that look less like weeds and more like prophecies in her hands.

she puts the crown on his head.

and with her face so close and their noses almost touching, he whispers,

"why don't you love me?"

and she just smiles and says,

"i do, but... not like that.