Forget Me Not

by Julie Soto

“It’s from Sri Lanka, and it’s the most expensive flower in the world, because it’s literally priceless. Never been bought.”

Needless to say, she does not suck my soul out through my dick that night.

You may think everything ends one day, but you haven’t had ‘everything’ with me.”

“How do…” He stares down at the Bluetooth sheepishly. “How do I use this thing?”

“That’s not how it works,” he says. “There is no falling out of love for people like you and me.”

“Sometimes you just count down the days, the hours, until you can be useful again,” he says. “And if it ever ends, Jackie?” He lowers his voice. “You’re still counting away. The months since. The exact days since. Like a tally of moments you’ve spent not being important to them. But don’t ever think you’ll wake up and not be in love with her.”

“It’s…It was never about extinction. The tattoos…” He blows out his air. “They’re ones that I—that I can’t have. Ones that can’t be used in arrangements, can’t be kept in the shop.” He looks up to me. “Ones that are likely to disappear before I can love them.”