She is  

She is melted cups of iced coffee

The 4th grade performance when she forgot her lines 

1200 unread text messages - a “just saw this” 3 weeks late 

She is a clean room and a messy car 

Self-tan stained bed sheets,

A google-calendar color coded by the hour 

She is a shelf of self-help books, each brimming with post-it notes

Cliche Pinterest quotes saved in a photo album for inspiration, 

Early morning wake ups, optimistic for a good sunrise 

She is college-ruled pages torn out of notebooks when her handwriting wavers

A recovering perfectionist, she likes to say

Never stays sad for long

She is “I’m from just outside of New York City” - a traffic jam away from exaggeration 

Flushed cheeks and chattering teeth in 50 degree weather 

The trunk full of hand-me-down hoodies that sits at the end of her bed 

She is the provider of an impassioned monologue 

“My social clock is running out” 5 minutes after getting to the party 

The extra strength melatonin on her bedside table to help her sleep 

And somehow,

I’ve fallen in love with the unanswered text messages 

With the melted cups of iced coffee and their puddles of condensation 

And the haunting memory of the fourth grade performance 

I’ve fallen in love with the messy car

With the drugstore self tanner on too-expensive sheets 

And the seemingly neurotic google calendar 

I’ve fallen in love with the wisdom she draws from each book 

With the pinterest quotes she stumbles upon in her camera roll 

And the dunkin’ workers who ask what she’s doing up so early 

I’ve fallen in love with the penmanship she once dubbed inadequate 

With her journey to authenticity

And how she treats her heart so delicately 

I’ve fallen in love with her suburban New Jersey town, and the drive into the city 

With the way cold gives her a natural blush 

And the collection of hoodies she prizes 

I’ve fallen in love with her heartfelt soliloquies

With her shameless admission of introversion

And her commitment to her sleep schedule 

And just when I think that this is all she is, 

She becomes something more. 

And I fall more in love with her.