D̶e̶l̶e̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶S̶c̶e̶n̶e̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ 🅻🅾🆅🅴 🅾🅽 🆃🅷🅴 🆂🅿🅴🅲🆃🆁🆄🅼 ♥♥

Brandon Diehl

My friend came over and we were half-watching Love on the Spectrum on the couch. There was a scene where this young woman was sitting on a couch with her friend. I thought, “Parallel universe.” The young woman was twirling a noodlelike fidget toy in her fingers while her other hand swiped guys to the left on a dating app. She kept saying “Noooooppppe” in a faraway voice that made it sound like she’d rather be doing anything else. She kept saying “Nooooooppppe” and I looked at my friend and said, “I like her personality.” My friend said, “I don’t get it.” I said, “Hey, do you think if I made a really long trail of those fidget things — like the one she’s holding — I could lure her to me so I could ask her out on a date?” My friend said, “That was one of the creepiest things I’ve ever heard a person say.” I said, “What did she say? I missed it.” We finished watching the episode, then my friend went home and I stared at a wall.

Brandon Diehl lives in New Jersey with his cat. His writing has appeared in Maudlin House, Pool Party, Scaffold, Cottonmouth Journal, Blood+Honey, The Daily Drunk, Horror Sleaze Trash, Ear Rat, The Literary Underground, and other places. You can find him at www.brandondiehl.net, which he never updates.