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Pictures of Our First Year

October 2019

Homemade Minnie Mouse ears with black and orange pumpkins, a sparkly black tulle bow with a smiling jack o’ lantern button hot glued to the middle, and a plastic spider dangling from one ear by black thread. They sit on top of dark brown hair and a laughing face. I’m laughing because you picked me up and kissed my cheek. Behind us is the glowing Sleeping Beauty Castle in the overcast twilight surrounded by a manmade lake with fat ducks that have constant access to dropped churros and pretzels. 

November 2019 

A Christmas tree so big that within the limits of the picture, it is just a wall lit up by thousands of blue lights and hundreds of shiny red and gold ornaments on top of plastic green foliage. Black pleather jackets, mine with fake fur over a velvet crop top, yours over a black polo. With my hand on your chest, and your arms around my shoulders, we made a perfect Christmas card photo.

December 2019

A green Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle t-shirt on you, a white and black knit cardigan on me. Both our eyes are closed, and you are kissing my forehead. The sun sends streams of light from behind your head, which might be considered a lighting mistake by some, but I happen to love that overexposed look and how it radiates you. Your face is a little unshaven, just the way I like it, and for once my skin is totally clear. 

January 2020

Now I’m in a red pleather jacket and you're in a black coat, and red and green fireworks are shooting in the sky behind tall palm trees. I have glittery gold eyeshadow with a black winged eyeliner on fatigued eyes. We stand in the middle of a large crowd, welcoming a new year, a new decade, hearts set on another roaring twenties. 

February 2020

Thrift shop jean jackets we bought together with one matching patch portraying a stack of red, yellow, green, and purple cartoon books. The rest of the patches represent our own selves, a Hufflepuff patch on my right shoulder and a Gryffindor one on your left. Disney pins and flower patches litter my jacket while a beating heart and pirate skulls are subtly placed on yours. Winnie the Pooh stands between us with a “friends as sweet and hunny” banner behind us. My ears are a red and tan plaid this time with a red satin bow in the middle. 

March 2020

Only one was taken early on in this month, a blurry mirror selfie taken in a blotchy, dirty mirror. I can’t really tell what you are wearing, just that it is all black. I don’t know what we were doing that day. Neither of us are smiling. 

April 2020

We’re sitting on the grass outdoors sitting six feet apart. You’re wearing a bright red t-shirt and aviator sunglasses. You’re not smiling. The picture cuts off at my head, hair pulled back in a ponytail, and I have a bright red pimple under my nose. My lips are closed in a tight grin. My eyes seem to be closed underneath my dark blue tinted sunglasses.

May 2020

It’s an overcast day, and there are tall green bushes and a dirt hiking trail behind us. We both have aviator sunglasses on, yours silver and mine rose gold. We both wear grey, and I have a pink baseball cap on over two long braids. We’re sticking our tongues out at the camera.

June 2020

This one is a blurry Facetime screenshot from my phone. Your hair is messed up and you’re making a frog face, and I am laughing in the tiny box in the top left corner. My face is bright red and the skin around my eyes are blotchy, so I must have been crying. 

July 2020

This one is another Facetime screenshot from my phone. I must have said something annoying, because you're looking at me with pierced lips, stern eyes, and eyebrows knitted together, but not in an angry way. My pale face with greasy hair is in the top right corner laughing. The camera is at a terrible angle because you can see my double chin. I’m laying in the same bed I had been laying in for nearly two weeks. 

August 2020

A white chocolate frappuccino in your hand and a chocolate cookie crumble one in mine, our lips pursed over the green straws, smiling around the straws with dimpled cheeks. We wear matching tie dye t-shirts that we made together. They have black and purple swirls and streaks.

September 2020

Our faces close together, sparkling eyes, smiling into the camera with green grass behind us. You’re wearing a new, black Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt, the one I got you for your birthday, and I’m wearing a thin cream sweater and pink eyeshadow. Your arm is around me again.

October 2020

We’re lying down together, my really long brown hair, uncut for many months, spread out over the grass. I’m wearing a homemade black cat mask with moons and stars. My head is turned towards you, and I’m looking at you with smiling eyes. Your hand is over your disposable mask, and your eyes are laughing into the camera.