Libello
The Exception to the Rule
On February 14, an accidental email to a stranger opens the door to an unexpected relationship in a captivating short story by the New York Times bestselling authors of The Unhoneymooners.
One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?
One typo, and a boy and girl connect by chance. Wishing each other a happy Valentine’s Day isn’t the end. In fact, it becomes a friendly annual tradition—with rules: no pics, no real names, nothing too personal. As years pass, the rules for their email “dates” are breaking, and they’re sharing more than they imagined—including the urge to ask…what if we actually met?
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I am the exception to the rule.
You’re not a slutty douche, C, you’re a conundrum wrapped in a mystery tied with a puzzle shoved in a pickle jar.
I look down at my phone and open C’s email again. Without question.
Isn’t it everyone’s dream to have a library like this?
The tipsiness means that my thoughts float aimlessly.
“I’m sure I’m okay,” I tell him, knowing I’m not okay at all.
I read T’s email again, and then again, and I really think that no matter how badly I want to lie to myself right now, there is no universe in which we just happened to experience two sides of the exact same encounter in different places in the country.
“Yes, you’re right. Having a reputation of being an amazing lay is just too great a burden for me.”
Like, not a bad thing, but our thing.”
“Do you ever have a feeling about someone? Like they’re your safe space and, I don’t know, like someday it could be more?”
“Like a date?”
“I hope so? I intend to flirt.”