The Friends Picnic

CW:

sexual assault


Two friends sit
at a picnic,

at the beach.

One, a teacher.
A woman.

Into men.

The other, a waiter.
A man.

Into men.

So, she doesn’t need to fear
the request for sex.

Been friends since school.
And now, both twenty-six.

Life’s proceeding.
Will continue to.

The students
often scrabble.

And shout
at her.

And never
seem to

do work.

But she
enjoys her job.

She laughs.
Smiles.

Gazes at
the high noon sun.

Turns to him.
Smiles still deeper.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” he grins.

“Glad I had the day off,”
she says.

Just then, she returns.

To. To that person.
That man.

Who claimed
himself her friend.

And… One night…
His hands.

She shudders,
as slightly as she can.

Turns back
to the cresting sun.

Then back
to him.

And she smiles.

Rent empties her.
Bills shear.

And life often thwacks.

But now, they can sit.
Here.

They can picnic,
two sunlit battlers,

illuminated warriors.