One Night We Touched

I think we were
pretty shitty drunks.
I can't really remember
very clearly. I do remember
meeting Susanna at bars,
wide and varied, drinking
ourselves silly, and
making out as though we
actually meant it. Once,
after getting blitzed at
Max Fish, a hip new bar
in the even hipper,
then-blossoming, lower
east side, we got into
a playful tussle on
the sidewalk, pretending
to be arguing over something,
God knows what. A police car
pulled up; the window rolled
down. "You OK, miss?" an
officer asked. "I'm fine."
"You sure?" came the insistent
reply. "Yes, yes, we're just
playing," Susanna said.
As the car drove off we heard,
"Take it home." We'd heard that
before, in other circumstances. In our
adult lives we were never actually
lovers. But I remember one night
when we were younger, in the '80s,
we took ecstasy at a party. We
were holding hands without thinking
too much about it. After a few minutes,
we looked up at each other,
smiled knowingly, and realized
that we had in fact just made love
for the first time. Right there
in front of everyone.

(2008)