In 2015, a battle began, two factions and two points of view. On one side they said, those are white and gold stripes. The other said, no, black and blue.

The dress” war died down but the fact still remains, your choices create a reflection. Your hair, what you wear, what you put on your pizza. Magic, or just misdirection.

I once saw a dress that was trimmed in red roses, a gold and black satin shimmer. In a dressing room stall I tried the dress on; I looked like a Triple Crown winner.

But there by the side of my stretch pants and pride, not to mention my sensible shoes, I saw a note on the dressing room floor; its author seemed somewhat confused.

 

PROS:

·          Hot

·          Stopped selling

·          He can drive (17)

·          Goes to CCHS

·          Funny

·          I don’t get attached so we can just mess

·          Good kisser

·          He’s smooth

·          Has a spider

·          Broke up with gf

·          He works

 

CONS:

·          Probation

·          Lied about gf

·          Bug bites (8)

·          We have to sneak

·          His mom doesn’t like me

·          He bit my lip

·          He’s kinda wealthy

 

I don’t know how you define “kinda wealthy”. Or why that’s on the “Cons” side.

I don’t know if “probation” is why he stopped selling, or if those eight bug bites came from the spider, or why his mom doesn’t like her.

I don’t know why I want to tell Lori—she seems like a “Lori”, to me—

you say that he’s smooth and you know that he lied, he’s on probation and spiders and bug bites and all that aside—if his mom doesn’t like you, forget how he kisses, forget that he drives.

Girlfriend please.

"Girlfriend please"?

I’m talking to Lori as if she’s slow-witted, like the way through her maze is implicit. And I’m standing there in a dress I can’t wear, rose-clad, and looking like Seabiscuit.

You can look to the stars, you can look in the bars, you can look at the car a man drives; you can look at his tie or his shoes and take cues, you can look even while you decide.

Thick crust or thin, white and gold, black and blue, deep dish or small, gluten-free; where chaos abounds we look for control, and our choices come out of that need.

She wrote it all down, then she left it behind. That says a lot about Lori.

I read it and kept it, and brought the note home.

That says a lot more about me.