In the Unlikely Event

by L.J. Shen

Men do have the emotional intelligence of underdeveloped bricks.

Our hands touch, and there’s a moment I can’t explain. It feels like more than just our flesh links us. I tell myself it’s nothing, that I’m the only one feeling it, but then I slip my hand back between my thighs and we both shudder in unison, like someone unplugged us from an electric outlet. To burn under your fingertips, I think, is to come alive.

I sit back and let Mal reach over, grab my hand, and lace his fingers through mine over the gearshift. Life is too short not to kiss the one you want.

“That was a minute ago. It’s time to move on. Don’t let the little things in life bother you, yeah?”

Penises freak me out. Especially uncircumcised ones. They look like sweater sleeves curled inwards after a wild ride in the washing machine.

But Belle is my name, too. Not that he knows that.

“For no doubt disrupting your life and tearing it apart next time I meet you. All’s fair in love and war, yeah?”

“You’re the four seasons, Rory. And I promise to be your shelter in the winter. To bask in you in the summer. To crash into love with you in spring like it’s the first time we’ve met. And when you fall? I promise to always pick you up.”