Sixteen

By Gwen Kaliszewski

I am almost twenty now, I have four tattoos, I am living in an apartment.
I don’t feel any older than sixteen, I wonder if I ever will. 
I am dating a girl who makes me feel alive.
I think she is the most beautiful person in the whole world. 

I am almost twenty now, I stand in the ice cream shop, mask fogging up my glasses, talking with the boy I loved at sixteen. 

It all feels so surreal, to drive over the red, wet leaves, to see the grey skies every morning. 

I am almost twenty now.
Where does all that time go?
I still feel sixteen, speeding home to make it back before my curfew, Taylor Swift crooning in the background.

I am almost twenty now, I will blow out my candles in my kitchen, wish for the world I once knew, and for the girl I love to always be mine.