I’m sorry;
before we go any further:
I have a confession.
When you went to the bathroom
the bartender asked if I wanted a refill
and then he said, "Anything else
for you and your girlfriend?"
I got us another round
but you knew that part.

What you didn’t know was
I didn’t correct him.
I didn’t explain to the bartender
how we were just good friends
that we weren’t going out
and never had.

I let him believe
– by omission.
Only by omission –
that we were a couple
we were involved
we were in love.
For all I know
after he took our emptied pints
he believed that
when we leave here
I’ll take you home
and walk you upstairs
and kiss you before you open the door
and then sweetly lovefuck you
with all the passion
my pitiful body can provide.

I left him with an incorrect impression
and he thinks
probably
that there is something between us
(and that something is a rubber).
I couldn’t help myself.
I didn’t provide truth.
I led him astray.
I can’t even explain why.

It’s just…
bartenders are usually so intuitive.
Maybe he sees something
that we don’t.