The first girl I crushed on looked 
like a 90s Winona Ryder, all angles 
and a pixie haircut. We were the 
intersection of a Venn diagram, 
the only overlap in our circle 
of friends. We didn't hang out 
on Fridays together, didn't look 
for one another in the crowded 
lunchroom – a square of greasy pizza 
and an oversized chocolate chip cookie 
on our lunch trays. We had few things
in common—me in French club and she
in choir—yet still we gravitated toward
one another, touching hands softly 
in the crowded hallway in between 
classes, those seconds sometimes 
the best in my day. Once we walked 
to her car after class, a cigarette passed 
between us like a secret. I didn't 
smoke but it was the closest our mouths 
would ever get to touching.
Courtney LeBlanc is the author of Beautiful & Full of Monsters (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press), chapbooks All in the Family (Bottlecap Press) and The Violence Within (Flutter Press). She is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Riot in Your Throat, an independent poetry press. She loves nail polish, tattoos, and a soy latte each morning. Read her publications on her blog: www.wordperv.com. Follow her on twitter: @wordperv and IG: @wordperv79. 
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