Because I’m seventeen I think you’ll only want to be with me if I emulate you so I sit on your dog-brown couch playing Tekken 2, and you forgive my sloppy technique of winning by mashing all the buttons at once because later in your bedroom you close the door and do the same to me and I come because I’m seventeen and nearly came when I walked in the door and smelled the Lynx Africa on your shirt, and you lay on your back, hands behind your head, and although you try not to, you grin and say ‘KO’.



Kinneson Lalor’s work has appeared in various places including Tiny Molecules, Reflex Press, and Janus Literary, and on various shortlists including the BFFA. She is currently querying for her novel about time-travelling botanists and beasts in castles. Find her on Twitter (@KinnesonLalor), Instagram (@kinneson.lalor), or via www.kinnesonlalor.com.