Broken Pinky Promises

The first time was during elementary school recess

Your friend told you that she would choose you

To be her partner in gym

If you gave her the second half

Of your Cosmic Brownie

And she offers you her pinky

In a form of collateral.

Your pinkies link

And you’re left

Confused

And hurt

When gym comes around

And she chooses someone else.

And then you’re in middle school

Where some of the girls are mean

Just so mean.

You and your best friend

Make a pact to stick together,

To have each other’s backs.

And you seal that pact

With your fingers linked

Crossing over in the form of a promise.

But she left you

When the mean girls pretended to be her friend

Leaving you with tears on your cheeks

And your eyes lingering on your pinky

Left alone

Hanging in the air

Then comes high school

And you’ve fallen in love

For the first time

And it feels like it’ll last forever

And she promises you that she’s yours

And will always be yours

And you believe her and her pinky promises

But along with your heart,

She breaks them too

And in college, you start to heal

So when the next girl offers her pinky

With words of a promise

You accept with hope

And the belief that

This time will be different

And for a long time

It is.

And you forget what it was like

To feel pain

And to feel deceived

You make promise after promise

Until one day a year later

She made one final one

Pinkies interlocked

Only to break it

A few days later.

And it’s earth-shattering.

And unlike any other pain you’ve felt before.

And you don’t understand

How she could hurt

So, with the ache in your heart

You vowed to never trust

Another pinky promise

Ever again.

The pain lingers so unbearably long

But, of course, eventually

Your heart opens up once again

But you remain cautious

So, when the next girl

Promises you to be yours

And only yours

You expect her other hand

To be crossed behind her back.

And it was.

And this time you weren’t surprised.

And the next time you,

With your patched heart and shattered pinkies,

Will expect to be broken again.