“Liar,” she taunts. She dips her fingers into a bowl of hard candy, knocking two pieces onto the counter. She stuffs one, wrapper crinkling, into her pocket for later.

She wants a magic elixir so Arturo, her true love, can return to her, so they can make love from dusk to dawn in a tent on a far off beach, no worries about what the future will bring. She wants a potion to take her back—if only for a day—so she can race full tilt down the sidewalk to catch a streetcar and know in that moment exactly how beautiful she is.

Toby and I were a new couple, strolling the halls between classes, but then slime began oozing from his hands, leaving oily streaks on his notebook and on his corduroy Levis when he tried to wipe them off.