Scandalized

by Ivy Owens

“I liked that I could just be a man with you,” he says. “That I didn’t have to live up to some expectation and that you weren’t nervous with me. I liked that you were real. I never get real, ever.” He stares at me for several tense seconds. “But I’m sorry I lied to you.”

“You’re going to make me love you, aren’t you?” He doesn’t even falter, in step or breath. He says only, “I’m sure going to try.”

The thought sings to me as I cross the street: life will throw curveballs, and things won’t always be this easy or straightforward, but this love—our love—is the rare wonder that comes along once in a lifetime.