It wasn’t how you bossed and owned the wizard pinball machine, smashing my high score in the process. It wasn’t your jubilant peck afterward, before Becky and Steph enveloped you. It was your sassy walk-off through the clang of the arcade, was the moment I knew I’d marry you.

Raymond Sloan lives and writes in County Down, Ireland. He has previously been published in Blink-Ink, 101 Words, Nanoism, Potato Soup Journal, and 50-Word Stories.