The Pairing

by Casey McQuiston

and another to watch him live the dream he left you for.

“By God, I think you’ve got it.” “Yes, I believe I do,” she agrees. “How’s Paris?” “Well, Kit and his hot girlfriend gave me a cake. Also I drank a lot of wine and now I might have to pee in a bush under the Eiffel Tower.” Sloane drops the accent and sighs, “Oh, Theo.” “I know,” I say. I flip the camera to show her my view. “But look, it’s sparkling.”

And then I think of how many things I’ll never taste or smell, and I put on my boots.

I do want my usual whiskey ginger, but I don’t want him to think he can use the same old map to navigate me.

Novelty is half of sublimity,

“So crazy how two thousand years ago, they were feeling all the same things we feel,” Theo muses. “They wanted to be loved, and eat good food, and make art, and fuck.” “The human condition,” I agree.

cannot help that I am so full of love,” Fabrizio says earnestly, “and also so very good-looking. It is my cross to bear.” “You

“I understand,” Fabrizio says. “You love Theo. You do not want for Theo a selfish lover who takes away choices.” “Yes.” “And so, you take away the choice to be with you.”

And here I have found what I sought not indeed, but finding I would possess for ever. For it is above all gold and silver, and surpasses all jewels.

I’d had the gift of being loved to the center of my soul twice in my life, and even if both of those people were gone, the love had been there.