Sneaking back into an empty room after a party
Beer cans lay sideways on sweet-smelling tabletops strewn with playing cards and tortilla crumbs. Deflated balloons bob on their ribbon tails through air that is visibly empty but with residual magic still left in it. Floorboards creak beneath me. I gather some nacho pieces and flop down onto the sofa that still smells like my friends.
It's happy to know that the party still lives even when I'm not partaking in it. Like all the times I've fallen asleep on the floor to the sounds of the voices that I love.
The CD player blinks impatiently, wondering what it should do after it's finished the third CD. I press play. It clicks and changes, and begins again for me.
A friend reappears on the couch beside me, slowly. Hi... My leg is patted in a comfortable way. Hello... Another, in the chair, grins and waves. Two more run through the door laughing. The balloons rise up again. The beer cans right themselves. The nachos find their broken counterparts and fly back into the bowl, reunited. The cards re-shuffle and I'm dealt a hand. Welcome back. It doesn't have to be perfect. Nobody expects it to be. Just be a part. Okay?
It's happy to know that the party still lives even when I'm not partaking in it. Like all the times I've fallen asleep on the floor to the sounds of the voices that I love.
The CD player blinks impatiently, wondering what it should do after it's finished the third CD. I press play. It clicks and changes, and begins again for me.
A friend reappears on the couch beside me, slowly. Hi... My leg is patted in a comfortable way. Hello... Another, in the chair, grins and waves. Two more run through the door laughing. The balloons rise up again. The beer cans right themselves. The nachos find their broken counterparts and fly back into the bowl, reunited. The cards re-shuffle and I'm dealt a hand. Welcome back. It doesn't have to be perfect. Nobody expects it to be. Just be a part. Okay?