I Like You, I Love Her

Severin

It feels like I've been in love with Bryan Winthrop my entire life.

Before he kissed me in front of the entire school.

As he danced with her the night of our senior prom.

After his younger brother, Ben, made me smile through my tears.

"It'll never work with him. He will never leave her…"

It's been more than ten years since I let myself fall

for the boy whose heart wasn't mine.

And the Prom King's lips are finally mine to kiss.

"When I came back here I wasn't expecting to see you,

and when I did, I felt this tumble…"

But he's still keeping me in the shadows.

As his younger brother breaks me open in the day.

Ben

You shouldn't covet whom your brother desires.

Our pastor father would say he taught me better than that.

But I knew over ten years ago my brother didn't deserve her.

And nothing's changed since she came back into both our lives.

"You think what you felt for my brother back then was love,

but what I felt can't be the same?"

I'm still the one who makes her laugh—

the one who challenges her.

And he's still the one treating her like a dirty little secret.

"You really are a watercolor, Severin Thompson. I can read you…"

You shouldn't covet whom your brother desires.

This summer, I'll remind him of that.