offer to do her homework, send her class notes when she's sick, live in a world of over-the-table coffee dates. get row among row of paper cuts from every sheet of homework you finish together. try to slip it in during one of her spiels about her future - fail miserably.

say it with your hands shaking, hair falling in your eyes so you don't have to look at her. speak it with cracks in your voice, with an ache in your chest. feel your throat close in the silence that follows.

declare it over ice and a twist of lime. announce it after you smear paint on her cheek. proclaim it with such confidence that she has to believe you.

hope that her face kaleidoscopes into a smile when she hears you say it. hope desperately and wildly that she turns to you and says "I love you too".

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