A boy starts haunting his local Walmart to see a girl with the upside down smile who won’t shake his hand and won’t leave the store. Their friendship grows in a McDonald’s booth until he asks the question she’s been dreading—and offers the thing she’s been waiting forever to accept.

This story was written years ago in response to my buddy’s writing prompt over at Hare Brained Press. The prompt was “Buy the sofa, then for a couple years you're satisfied that no matter what goes wrong, at least you've got your sofa issue handled.”

“Je t’aime,” she says, breaking the silence. Her voice is soft, barely audible. Then she becomes self-conscious and pulls her collar around her face. I look at my shoes. A flash fiction piece I wrote a very long time ago, forgotten and then rediscovered. Just needed a little polishing.