‘I'm sorry,' the barista said, discomfort etched on his face. ‘There's been complaints. Can you please... stop that?'

Stop kissing, he meant. We were in a thrumming late-night coffee shop – the kind that doesn't exist anymore. Bright lights, posters on the walls. Pool table against my back as we cooed and caressed like doves.

At eighteen, I'd kissed boys in rain-slicked beer gardens, in cinemas and parks.

There were never any complaints before her.

While I knew he was only the messenger, I kept the message he delivered like kindling. It took me a decade—more—to burn it.

 

There's Been Complaints by Ellie Cottrell. Ellie Cottrell is a writer and poet working on Whadjuk Noongar Country. She has been featured in Hooligan Street Poetry, StylusLit, Poetry d'Amour, Creatrix, and the anthology Ourselves: 100 Micro Memoirs (Night Parrot Press). Ellie released her first poetry collection, Speakeasy, via In Case of Emergency Press in 2023.