She told him a million times, “Honey if you don’t ask, some other guy will.”

And he knew it was true. It just didn’t seem this-minute-true. He thought maybe if someone else did ask that would solve his problems, and maybe if someone didn’t, she would stick around.

That’s what loyal girls do. Stick around.

“Don’t you wanna keep me?” she asked from time to time, and he would look away from her toward nowhere. Toward the future.

“Well— I don’t know. There’s things to consider.”

And consider, he did. Spending days until months accrued. Accruing months until years fell by.

But loyalty is loyalty, and so she stood her ground.

“Don’t you wanna keep me?” she asked.

And when his eyes slipped away to that recessive future, she realized that loyalty without reciprocation is just martyrdom.

© 2023 Katie Baker