In Love

His friend said "You're in love."

"I’m really not" he replied.
"I’m just kind of,
you know,
I got this
hope, maybe,
but I’m not in love.
No way, man.
I'd know, you know?
Because love, it's like
physics,
action, and reaction"

"I know," the friend said.

He shrugged.
"If she told me off
right now
it would hurt
sure,
a little but not that badly
not like so many other times."

"Such as?" His friend asked.

"This one time,
laying there, you know,
afterwards.
The night was soft,
not hot or cold,
the breeze light,
faint music,
barely heard through the door.
It was just one of those moments,
those perfect moments."

"And?"

"She turned to me,
you know
looking at me for just a moment,
kind of a blank expression,
and tells me she found someone else,
that next week
she'd be moving in with him."

"That must have hurt," the friend said.

"It did," I said.
"But that's why it was good.
That’s how I know this ain’t love
because if she told me off,
right here,
right now,
it wouldn’t hurt,
not that much really,
not like that other time.
This,
this wouldn’t be anything."