We stumbled up the steps that led to the hiking trails in the mountains behind the dorm buildings. The landing had a bench, a picnic table and a dim light post that accompanied the few stars in the night sky. Ricky sauntered his way to the table and sat on the tabletop. I followed him, glad he’d decided to stop running away and sat next to him. We leaned the sides of our bodies into each other, my head resting on his shoulder.
“Who are you going to miss the most when we’re all gone?” he asked.
I almost blurted out Lola’s name. Its letters kept tickling my lips the same way my fingernails played with his earlobes. I held onto her name under my tongue, knowing he would eventually let the question go and keep talking or kiss me.
He did. He laid my back on the wood planks as he searched for the answer he wanted under my dress.
Laura Andrea (she/her) is a bi, boricua fiction writer and poet originally from Carolina, Puerto Rico. She’s currently pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @lauranlora