Fall at Once

by Nora Everly

“It’s the way of the world. Things have to die to make room for the new.

She was like fucking sunshine, and I was nothing but a grumpy, dark cloud.

It would have been a shut-up ring if he proposed to you that night—like a ‘will you marry me and shut the fuck up about it’ kind of thing. He would have been one of those wedding reception cake-smashed-in-your-face guys, Madi. It wouldn’t have been holy matrimony; it would have been holy shit; what was I thinking? And you know it.

I stopped retaining new information, and the word ‘hot’ just beep bop booped inside my head as I tried not to drool. Do eyeballs feel happiness? Because I think mine are fucking overjoyed right now.

My breath caught in my throat. Could this be any more humiliating? Apparently. “Do it,” I heard Tate say. “Get your girl,” Quinn added.

“There is no place I’d rather be than here with you. Believe that. You deserve a man who will take care of you, respect you, and treat you like the amazing woman that you are. Not some dumb motherfucker who would try to humiliate you in a goddamn bar.”

“Chicken nuggets? I maintain that they are not a kid’s only food.”

“Sure, my kids love them, but can’t a man enjoy a high-quality dinosaur-shaped nugget from time to time?”

Freckles dotted her nose like little kisses from the sun. Fuck the sun. I wanted to be the one to kiss her.