Fred Aiken Writing

i once lied to a girl i liked when i was in seventh grade that i liked nsync

because that was her favorite band and i was hoping that if i told her they were my favorite band too

then she might kiss me behind the k-mart parking lot

where all the kids in my class hung out and smoked weed, after-school-special like,

but instead she shrugged her shoulders, as if it was the most uninteresting opinion in the world,

as if i was the most uninteresting boy in the world,

and she was probably right about that moment,

since i had a difficult time thinking for myself at that age, this age too