Inspiration: “Roses” by the Chainsmokers feat. ROZES

“Taking it slow, but it’s not typical.”

He hands me the single-stemmed rose: lavender, sweet, still wrapped in a blanket of brown paper from the Safeway florist.

My fingers crunch around wrapping, distantly feeling the dulled thorns. The petals of the flower are so perfect, so gently curled into a bloom. I am transfixed, surprised, puzzled.

“I guess this is my way of telling you that you’re really pretty,” he says.

Outwardly I am clumsy, but on the inside I dance with the grace of a thousand swans in flight.

“He already knows that my love is fire.”

Halloween. I hate the trouble of putting on makeup, but today I am wearing the most surgical of winged cat-eye liner. I complain that I can never get the two wings perfectly symmetrical—one side is always higher or longer than the other, despite my best efforts to make them match.

“Can I see?” He sounds so earnest, and I close my eyes to prove my point—“Look, the lines aren’t straight.”

“Ah,” he says. Why is he taking so long just to look at my makeup?

Soft lips on mine.

Oh. Oh. OH. I see now.

There is a brief moment of comprehension, and just as quickly, my mind goes blank.

“Deep in my bones, I can feel you.”

High school grad night. My hair is teased, curled, sprayed into something unfamiliar. I am wearing a dress, a bracelet, and high heels—a far cry from my usual jeans and Converse sneakers. The lights flash on the dance floor.

I take his hand as the music engulfs us.

“Say you’ll never let me go.”

The stars shine bright tonight.

“Say you’ll never let me go.”
“Say you’ll never let me go.”
“Say you’ll never let me go.”
“Say you’ll never let me go.”
“Say you’ll never let me go.”

—By Victoria C., 18, Canada