Looking for something to read on Valentine’s Day, I ended up curating a list. These 7 love stories, that can be read in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette, span teen romance to grief, possessiveness to betrayal. Read these to get the feels:

• THE KINGDOM THAT FAILED Haruki Murakami The New Yorker

The more sincerely he tried to explain things, the more a fog of insincerety came to hang over everything.

• RUBY Veronica Montes Smokelong Quarterly

The boy adjusts the way he’s sitting; his breath turns ragged in Ruby’s ear. She is repulsed and delighted, just barely grasping at the truth of what’s happening.

• THIS IS HOW YOU FAIL TO GHOST HIM Victoria McCurdy MONKEYBICYCLE

Swipe right. Swipe right.

Tinder. Bumble. Be unable to remember which, but this younger, generically handsome boy whose face reminds you of a Playmobil figure has driven from the suburbs tonight to meet you.

Stand about awkwardly until you are seated at a table in the loudest section of the bar. Read more.

• THIS HEADY THING CALLED LOVE Linda Ferguson Brilliant Flash Fiction

He calls and I say I’ll come.

I haven’t seen him in three days. Unless you count Tuesday, in the dining hall. Ah, there he was, in line with the tall ballerina with the beret tipped over her Lauren Bacall bob.

Read more.

• THE MAN I AM NOT MARRYING Cath Barton Spelk Fiction

I wake with a taste of salt in my mouth and a gritty feeling between my toes. And screw up my eyes as the birds sing a fanfare.

My dress is buttercup-yellow, the hem scalloped. I have no hat. Read more.

• POSSESSION(S) John Smolens Pank Magazine

When you open the closet door her coats hold still, suspecting they’re gonners. Threads of memory. She wore this one there, that one here. Every garment a chapter. 

• THE GODDESS Catherine McNamara Spelk Fiction

Max and Marzia were an astounding couple for over two decades. It was said that Marzia first made love to Max when he was a fifteen-year-old Latin student, tall for his age. But this was untrue. It was Max who seduced Marzia … More

Hopefully, these tiny stories demonstrate how beautifully the colors of love can be written in small easy narratives.