chats

warm nights
picking the best 10 texts to stay in my phone
the trials of van occupanther
on repeat:
we say we'll go to see it performed live
not together
not yet
but maybe we'll see each other there
we'll talk on msn messenger,
up late,
for hours,
my status says 'away' but not for you;
laptop wobbling on my legs
on my bed,
the wire connecting the phone line to my computer
pulled taut,
connecting me to you
via dial-up
that stalls when my mum needs to use the phone,
that beeps and buzzes when it automatically
reconnects
every 2 hours
it must happen three or four times
in one single chat session with you,
where we divulge our lives
to one another
asking questions,
taking dual breaks to go to the bathroom,
brb,
we go downstairs and raid our dads' beer stashes,
race
back to hot, airless bedrooms
where we talk some more
and drink alone but somehow together
until it's almost morning:
dry-eyed and limb-weary,
laptop lines embedded on our legs
we say our goodnights,
and close our computers down,
and text each other until we fall asleep,
new texts to save in my phone tomorrow,
how young we were,
how patient we seemed compared to now
but how impatient it was in hindsight
that we waited for so long.