Aisles Turning Into the Hallway of High School

Aisles Turning Into the Hallway of High School

I was in the grocery store after work, the one by my apartment, except the aisles kept turning into the hallway of my old high school. I saw my first serious boyfriend standing by the frozen food, the one who moved away and we never really talked after. He looked like himself at 18 and also like he does now in photos, both at once. We started walking together like we used to, holding hands, and I felt this huge longing mixed with embarrassment because my current coworker was in the next aisle pretending not to watch. He said something ordinary about dinner and I wanted to kiss him but the lights flickered and the store felt too long. I kept checking my phone for the time because I was supposed to meet friends, and every time I looked up he was a little more faded. I woke up with that leftover ache like I’d missed a train.