He had big ears that she loved to kiss. One day she woke up, and he was gone. A note by her pillow that said “being with you was like speaking in secrets, and I never was good at deciphering your whispers.”
Hello, my name is Jason. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.
She was his first. Eyes that read your mind, and fingers that played endless piano keys wherever they rested. Her name was Angel, but he didn’t think she looked like one. The paint stains on her torn jeans, little stories she used to tell whoever would listen.
“This one was a painting of me cutting off my ex’s head.” She’d laugh, and then he wouldn’t know if it was true or not. He packed his bags that night.
Hello, my name is Jason. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.
He loves to kiss the cheeks marked by years of acne scars. One for each tear that has travelled through those valleys. In the mornings, she watches the sun rise through the soft hair on his arm, and smiles at the beauty her life has become.
Hello, my name is Jason. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.
He smoked a pipe because he thought cigarettes were cheap. Twice her age, he had more experience than the other boys she had dated. He was cleaner too, than the college students she’d called her friends. One night she came home late. Smelling of the scotch he swore he wasn’t addicted to, he had thrown her against the wall. Later, once she had regained consciousness, he threw her onto the bed she had slowly grown to hate. She woke late the next morning and realised there was no one she could tell. She was about to pack her bags, but he came home with flowers, spouting beautiful words from his ugly lips, and she was once again stuck.
Hello, my name is Jason. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.
She likes girls. Likes the curve of their hips and the melody of their lips. She imagines they would taste like cherries in summer. That the warmth of their bodies pressed against hers would seep into the depths of her soul and replace the things that he had snatched away that night. Sometimes she smokes a cigarette and watches all the girls that pass. Wonders what it would be like to love them.
Hello, my name is Jason. I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.
He goes to the same place every night. Uses the same lines on different faces. Hopes that maybe one day, that smile across the room will be for him.
She’s been watching him for weeks now. Always a vodka and coke in hand. She likes the way his smile plays with his eyes. She would like to go home with him, fill the empty places in his life with parts of hers. She imagines they would love the same books. She would laugh at his jokes. She smiles at him from across the room, but it’s not her number that he is after.
Hello, my name is Jason, I don’t think I’ve seen you...
She rides the bus home and pictures the way he fills spaces. Wonders what she will make for dinner tonight. Maybe his favourite, complicated recipe, the one she saves for special occasions. He will come in the door, she will smile and offer up her lips to him. They will drink expensive wine and laugh long into the night. In the morning she will wake to the lingering scent of his aftershave on the pillow, his side of the bed cold, like his body in the grave where she said goodbye six months ago.
Hello, my name is Jason. I don’t think...
She smiles at him and his heart swells a little. What is it with him and blue eyes? He can’t seem to avoid glancing in her direction. Sometimes, when they’re in the library together, he positions himself so that he can watch her reflection in the window. Her transparent twin chews her nails, and sings to herself when she thinks no one is watching, the wrinkle in her forehead furrowing when she concentrates. He wonders if she’ll ever stop looking through him like he’s his own window reflection twin.
Hello, my name is...
They meet at the city fair. Their eyes lock over the squeals of children being spun into the air on the anti-gravity ride. Both of them feel, for a moment, like they are floating in space. They almost fall into each other, giggling and heads spinning as they clamber out. She smiles. He smiles. They spend the night eating fairy floss and reliving childhood memories. It’s been years since either was in love. One day they will wake up next to each other, faces lined with years of smiles, and neither will remember what they felt like before this moment.
Hello....
