XLIV | Something Vague

❦

Tammie is holding

a bag of fried
carrot cake sticks

and we eat them

on the bench
by the rowan trees.

It's a bad idea

because the carrot cake
turns cold and stale

from the cold air.

(I don't tell her that though,
she looks so pleased with herself.)

I gesture

for her
to take one more

but she
shakes her head
and says

She's "feeling nauseous".

I almost ask her
if that's how she

avoids eating.

Her reply would be

absolutely
predictable:

I'm really not hungry
—along with a shrug.

Then it'll

become awkward

and
I won't be able
to ask

what's more important.

In the silence,
broken only

by the whispering

of the rowan leaves,

Tammie swings her legs

and lets out a deep
sigh.

I think

I'm getting the hang of it.
You should try

dancing too.

I swallow
the oily carrot cake
in my mouth.

You kicked me out of the studio
and said I'm annoying.

[Read the full story at novelconbini.com!]