YOU

Dear You,

I didn't even realise you were on my mind until my phone buzzed with your name. I smiled, and said to my empty office, "Oh, hello you!"

I like that your hair always smells clean but looks dirty and that your beard makes you look much meaner than you are. I like that I can say ridiculous things to you and not get embarrassed. I like that I can make you laugh. Sometimes, I like that I can make you jealous.

I like how I don't have to worry what you think about me. You tell me, no one else does that. You like my hair up and think I look better in green. You like it when I sing in the shower and you like it when I draw on your back. You hate my nose ring and my brown shoes but tell me I’m beautiful anyway. You prefer me without makeup. You think I’m cute when I cry and beautiful when I laugh.

I like that you make me so sure.

I like that whenever we watch a movie you insist upon silence and physical separation but that just after the opening credits you pull me close and whisper in my ear. I like that you talk about the future without any self-consciousness.

I like that sometimes, we get drunk and act with reckless abandon, like school children and that you don’t care what anyone else thinks of me, you just hand me another drink. I like that you’re proud of me and introduce me to anyone who will listen. I like how you dance and how you look my friends and brothers in the eye. I like how I fit in your arms. I like that we look like we belong together.

I like how when I am excited about something you get excited too. I like how your eyebrows move when you tell me a story. I like how you try and scare my by going round corners too fast.

I like that you’re a really bad liar.

I like that we still alternate periods of blissful happiness and intense physical complicity with short bursts of conflict, just like we always have.

I like that we hold hands but I wish you wouldn’t kiss me in front of your mum. You keep me on my toes. I like that we’ve changed since we met and now we’re really good at being friends. I think that’s what I like the most.

Lots of like,

Me.