ME
Lorde, I have to tell you something. Yesterday, during the solar eclipse, I kissed Jacques.

LORDE
Jacques Cousteau or Jacques Derrida?

ME
Well, Jacques Derrida. And I know you two were sort of seeing each other, but—

LORDE aims a gun at me.

LORDE
Bet you rue the day you kissed Derrida in the dark.

ME
I’m not sure that’s how you pronounce Derrida.

---

Ellie Powell is a writer from Virginia and an editor at House House Magazine. Her work has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Harvard Advocate, On the Rag, and Soliloquy Mag, among other publications. She’s the 2025 winner of the Edward Eager Memorial Prize for fiction.