We steal glances across rooms
and it feels like we are embracing.
Back to school stolen glances;
usually reserved for nervous emerging lovers
but we have been doing it for years
because we cannot hold hands without fear.

I lied to you just now.
We want it to be an embrace
but it feels cold, bitter, angry
All we are allowed
is a handshake.
What good business partners we look like,
but my hands sweat with desperation
to be felt and seen;
how I long to be touched

So we walk, a foot between us,
in the thick throng of thinkers
and I keep my hands in my pockets.
In return, I get to keep breathing.
Good business deal.

---

Ashley Cameron is an English student at Arizona State University. She loves to write short stories in various genres, especially fantasy, sci-fi, and horror with touches of romance. She aspires to be a Young Adult novelist and video game writer, hoping to bring vivid worlds and relatable characters to life. Her work can be found in the online literary magazines Quirk, Normal Noise, Outrageous Fortune, as well as in Tempe Writes: An Anthology Volume 10 and forthcoming in Canyon Voices.