You have spent years in subpar friendships and flings, Leo would say without stuttering. You have spent years lost, unable to find your place in the world. But all of this was to serve the function of demonstrating to you what love is not, so that when you came upon the real thing, you would know it by contrast to its previous imitations. I have been on that same pilgrimage. We have found each other now and I love you madly and unconditionally. We will go to parks and read together. We will come home and hold each other long into the small hours. We can live forevermore, side by side, in the Sunshine Middle of the World. The woman got off at the next outpost town. “Goodbye then,” she said. “Yes, bye,” Leo said.

— Geometry for Ocelots by Exurb1a