I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

Nurses are so used to us running past that they don’t even yell at us
anymore.
We’ve become background noise gone unquestioned.
We read Hamlet together, singing and dancing as she likes.
We steal moments by people-watching. She has horrible peoplewatching
skills. Her impatience is dreadful, like a reader who can’t
wait to get to the good part. It’s always worth it, though–her little
reactions when a couple reunites in an embrace or a parent kisses
their child just released.
Today, she draws while I read in the library, but we become restless
fast.
She hides from me, smirking when I catch glimpses of her between
the aisles.
She entices me, makes me give in to the chase.
“What’s this?” she whispers once I corner her against an armchair.
“A gift.” Redbanded leather and motionless arrows. I lay the watch in
her hand, careful not to let my fingers graze her palm. Hikari blinks at
it in the easy light, a wave of silence humming between us. “I
would’ve gotten you a fake skull, but I would’ve felt replaced.”
“It’s perfect,” she says, clutching the watch against her heart. A
bashful line tints her cheeks, as she stares up at me through her
lashes. “You want to know something?”
“Mhm.”
“This is my favorite gift I’ve ever gotten.” She bites her lip, thumb
gliding over the crystal. Then, she points at my lips with the watch
still in her hand.
“Second to that smile.”