A Short-Form Love Story: 5

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, and inspired by the book The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters by Aneva Stout, we invited several members of the Workman staff to each write a short-form love story in just 5 to 7 numbered “chapters.” Our fifth love story is penned by an anonymous former Physics major who now writes under the pseudonym Swept Away. Enjoy!

The Short List:
A Long-Distance Love Story by Swept Away

1. A boy on a bicycle will smile at you.
2. Next semester he’ll be in your Physics class.
   1. That you nearly fail.
   2. Prompting you to declare an English major.
3. You’ll capture his heart when you beat him handily on the golf course.
   1. Okay, that never happens…
   2. But you do come within three strokes.
      1. Years later.
      2. Are you dreaming?
      3. Only when he plays from the tips.
4. He’ll kiss you the day after you graduate from college.
   1. Your car will be packed with all of your earthly belongings.
   2. You’ll smell like you have been moving boxes for five hours.
   3. Your dad will be waiting for you in a sushi restaurant.
      1. In the middle of his lunch.
      2. In the middle of which you have rudely excused yourself.
5. The following months will be filled with the sound of the phone ringing.
   1. You’ll try not to call him back immediately.
      1. Is one day long enough to wait?
   2. Your resolve will weaken quickly.
   3. You’ll fly to another coast to spend weeks with him.
      1. Because you don’t have a job yet.
      2. Because he doesn’t have a job yet.
      3. Because what could be better than an empty house filled
         with the smell of fajitas and puppy love?
6. He’ll leave the country for a year to live on a boat in the South Pacific.
   1. With no internet…
   2. No phone…
   3. And no shirt (practically).
   4. And certainly not you.
7. You will wash that man right out of your hair.
   1. Not so much.
   2. In fact, you will keep your computer open on the bed at night to see if he gets online at port at 3 am.
      1. To completely ignore you.
      2. To have an extremely unfulfilling conversation.
      3. To cry into your pillow when he doesn’t profess his undying love to you.
   3. Until, finally, he comes back to you.
      1. With a pair of tickets to a Pat Green concert.
      2. With a sincere profession of affection and apologies.
      3. With a fantastic tan.

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The format of this story was inspired by the book, The List: A Love Story in 781 Chapters.