for the 4th of july, you were funny again.
you don’t really know how it happened. you just kept making jokes, and people kept laughing.
you stayed out until past 2, playing board games with someone who felt suspiciously similar to your brother, went and watched the fireworks on the roof of your office building. they were all new, total strangers, and yet you hadn't disappeared, hadn't gotten lost inside it all. felt like you hadn't really known how uncomfortable you'd always been until for a moment, you weren't anymore.
felt like it had been a really long time.