I promised myself I’d get clean,
and for good this time.
I sat as a defendant.
I straightened my collar
and fixed my thick, blond hair.
A judge assessed the evidence
that I committed a crime
and issued a warrant
for my arrest.
In a dreary courtroom,
I stood accused
of one count of stolen love.
I drummed my fingers
along the desk’s oak edge
during witness testimony.
What they said mattered little
more than what the verdict read.
I didn’t mean to offend
Natalia, my attorney,
as she stood in front
of a jury defending me,
for something I didn’t do,
I might add.
Natalia pinned her long, dark hair behind her ears.
She wore a beige skirt with a khaki jacket.
Natalia told me to sit
expressionless, or teary-eye
which I could choose,
but until she resolved this,
happiness would have
to take a back seat.
The foreman winked at me
before she read the verdict.
Guilty over a silly winter crush,
but the prosecution didn’t prove
that I fell on purpose.
But they’re wrong.
I withheld this eyesore
after boarding the last red eye.
Natalia shifted her gaze to mine.
I cupped her cheeks
and kissed her until
the judge asked us
to get a room,
so we did.
I kissed her neck
as she moaned
and shifted lanes
and laid on the horn
until we arrived at her home.
The judge released me
from the consequence of falling
for a drug dealer, making me crave her intellect
that overshadowed her hourglass frame.
I tossed the sobriety of love into the bin
of useless regrets, craving Natalia’s kiss instead.
We defended each other forevermore.