Strawberry Gum

It became a factor of my thinking to associate the smell of tangerines, sugar and sweet, citrusy orange with you.

Orange was everything about you.

You were loud in the way that glowing orange embers popped on silent camp nights, extroverted in the way those flames would shoot up towards the sky, aesthetically pleasing to my appreciative gaze in the way that you always looked so sharp and so perfect just like how the color orange was, personality bold in the way that there was never a dull moment with you just like how the flavor of oranges are, but in the way that in those moments I was either constantly second guessing myself or laughing with you as you laughed about anything.

Orange, now, tastes somewhat bittersweet.

I still love this tropical twist trident gum; as a matter of fact, I chew it every day; but all I can think about is the way it was always constantly swirled on your breath like a – not like a nuisance, but – a caress.

You’d walk past me and blow me a citrus-sweet kiss, or you'd give me a sip of your water and I'd taste it on the rim of the bottle, or you’d smile softly, the corners of your lips angled upwards, eyes fixed on my mouth, lean in and capture my mouth with yours, bring your hands to cup the sides of my face accented by a delightful tang of orange in your mouth- but I bury this love- this love that I don’t know if I still have for you, or for this color, or for this fragrance, or for this flavor, or for this fruit.

Only yesterday did I try a different gum, wholly by chance. It was an impulse purchase, the packaging a bright pink. It is called Island Berry Lime. The lime was... a lie, like how you would lie with that signature sweetness-

But it was just strawberries. No 'Island' or 'Lime', only berry.

There were no feelings associated with the gum.

Just strawberries. No feelings, good or bad.

Well, I think I liked the gum, anyway.

I’ll probably buy it again. Probably, because when it runs out before the other gum I always buy, I’ll buy this one.

I'll buy this strawberry gum again, and again, and again.