Tilapia

Everything he did was cute. Everything. We were eating grilled tilapia one time and Jonah took one of the fins, nibbled on it like a mouse might. He noticed me noticing and said, “Calcium.”

“Calcium,” I said, trying to not laugh.

“Yeah. You know, for bones?” He smiled. Then he winked.

I had a boyfriend back home. Felix. Felix loved me, and had cried when I left. Felix said we’d be okay. Later, when I told him about Jonah, he cried again and hung up. The next day he sent an email that was so long I never finished it. It was in all caps, which is something I’ve never understood. Are you supposed to read it imagining the person is shouting at you, or what? At any rate, Felix would have lost his voice a quarter of the way through that tirade. I should have kept it, I suppose, but it was too much, had too many F-words.

After everything, I suppose I should have known it was never going to work out. Jonah just wasn’t that into me. I think he could have been into me if I wasn’t so into him, but I couldn’t help myself. Whenever he entered a room I was in I would suddenly feel acutely aware of my breathing, and the color of my ears. I laughed at everything he said, even when he said he was thirsty.

He had a great way of saying “thirsty.”

We had sex three times, all of which were amazing. Then, when I tried to kiss him he said, “No, I don’t want to take advantage of you,” which didn’t make any sense. He started spending all this time with this curly haired girl named Jenna, and after that nothing he said was funny at all.

Jerry Flynn is a writer living in the woods in Alaska. His work has appeared in several periodicals including Bull, Herald and News, To Whom It May Concern, and Jake. He is a noncompetitive crossword aficionado.