Drunk Girls in the Bar's Bathroom

will look at you and say
         Wow, that outfit
         Or
         You are soooo pretty
Drunk girls in the bar’s bathroom
Will dance with you to
a muffled version of
Dancing Queen.
A golden sequin
crop top to tug
with every beat,
bloated beer-bellies
exposed.
         In the bathroom stall
         you are lonely
         left with red imprints
         jeans engraved
         to your skin.
         You squat to avoid
         diseases
And stumble to
Drunk girls in the bar’s bathroom
who will hold your face with
dainty hands made for opal rings,
to reassure you of
your worth.
You say thanks with teared-eyes
         you will hold onto
         the compliments
         until you wash your hands
         to glance at
         a scratched mirror
         to recognize
         a blurry reflection
         drunk girls in the bar’s bathroom
notice.
Silent sober girls open the door to
take your place in this fifteen minute friendship.
You will walk out taller
than you walked in.

Samantha Rivas is an introvert with loud thoughts, she scribbles on any piece of paper she can find—mostly on the back of CVS receipt. She graduated from CSULB with a BA in Creative Writing and is currently in Portland State’s Creative Writing MFA program. Her work has been published in The Indian Feminist Review, ATLAS Literary Journal, and Dryland Literary Journal.