If I Never Met You

by Mhairi McFarlane

The air was thick with a Terrible Unsaid and her antennae picked it up easily enough to feel completely nauseous.

In this moment, she made herself a promise: in the very unlikely event she found herself in love with anyone again, she’d assert herself. She’d say what she wanted, not endlessly accommodate his needs. If that made her a bitch at any point, so be it. There were no rewards to being a walkover.

While Laurie was pleased, it felt cheap, as these were things that had happened to her, not things she’d chosen to do.

“You’re a survivor,” Jamie said. “Of some difficult things. What needs explaining or apologizing for about that?”

You were equal with these men so long as you didn’t make them feel unequal, lesser, challenged. If you stayed in your lane.

“I think that’s something a lot of people do. What is the bitter truth?” “That I’m fake. That I’m dull. That sometimes, when I go to do a wee I do an unexpected fart instead that sounds like a bear complaining.”