We met in the halls of high school-

just a passing hello,

a brief chapter we didn't yet know

was only the prologue.

Four years later, the world slowed down, and somehow, so did we.

A coffee shop became our meeting place-

a "study date", we called it,

but no notes were taken, no books were opened.

The only things we studied were the coffee-stained napkins, like watercolor rings left behind by untouched drinks, as if time itself paused

just to watch us fall in love.

We talked, we laughed and somewhere between your smile and my nervous rambling I knew-

this was the beginning of forever.