The Hypothesis

It had been a quiet court,
Unknown to both of us at first.
I was not sure of what I wanted and I undulated from a yes to a no countless times.

He… well, he acted as though he did not know.
Or maybe he really did not.

But it had been a playful court
Full of teasing and tense moments
And wondering (will he call?)
And waiting (what’s wrong with him?)
And self-doubt (what’s wrong with me?!)

It had been a roiling mass of controlled chaos
That we were on the verge of popping open like a can of soda
Pop, freshly shaken.
But we stopped.
Or I stopped.
Or fate stopped us both.
And through better judgment,
I put down the can.

It was not for me,
Not yet,
Not here,
Not with him…

We had had everything and nothing
Trapped in a breathless space of time that we had only to let be.
We had been but a maybe,
A word unsaid,
A hypothesis.