Faded

xxvi

Wild Cherry Park is beautiful,

Especially now that it's summer.

There's always benches available 

For us to 

Sit on and enjoy

Our ice cream.

In fact, during the days,

When the sun is plunged into

A sea of sky,

There are barely any benches that

Have not been splattered with 

Colour and 

Sprinkles.

A fascinating artwork

Of flavours and textures.

Will, Lauren and I were sitting in a tree at

Wild Cherry Park.

Then you appeared,

With some of your 'mates',

That are, as Lauren puts it,

'Part of the wrong crowd'

And grouped together under our tree.

I imagined Lauren or Will pushing me out

Of the branches and 

Landing on top of you then

You'd have to take notice.

We all peered through the branches and saw you

And there was a cigarette going round.

I am happy to

Point out you

Refused.

Then your friends

Started to talk about

People from our school.

Funny words were used

And surprisingly, you spoke their language. 

You laughed at the

Insults and

Agreed with everything

They said.

Then they brought Lauren

Up in conversation.

The things that were being said-

I wanted to put my

Hands over Lauren's ears

To prevent her from hearing

Their conversation.

Will put a comforting hand on hers

And they both looked

At their hands on the branch.

At that moment,

You looked up

And saw us watching you,

Our three pairs of eyes

Trying to slice you and

Your friends into little pieces.

You didn't respond

You just flickered over our faces and

Then went back to

Your friends.

None of them looked up.

But wasn't it weird that

We had been sitting in the tree

And then you had

Chosen that one

Among many in the park

Fate had twisted with my

Mind again

And I wondered

Whether that meeting

Was supposed to happen.

I wish it didn't though

As Lauren was 

Silent for

The rest of the day

And there was nothing Will

And I could do

Even though

We collaborated to

Buy her the most

Expensive ice-cream

From the van.

She didn't mean to

But she just stared at it

And watched it melt

In her hands.

Sometimes I do hate you,

Because you

Could've

Done something to stop

The words.

After all, Lauren must have meant something

To you

Once.

I hope you sit in 

Recently melted ice-cream.