I once tried being dramatic when I was fourteen. My mother told me to add it to the calendar.
Because when a guy sees a car he likes, all he can think about is getting under the hood or taking her for a ride.
For all my bravado, when I fell, I fell hard. I fell fast. I fell stupid. I invested too much too soon. My capacity for giving was matched only by their capacity for taking.
Be cool. Be cool and act cool. Be chill, act chill, be ice. You’re an ice cube. Just be cool.
I’m going to take this from you, but you shouldn’t be surprised because you know I’m a selfish bastard.” His voice was low, gravely, almost a whisper, his lips just inches from mine. “But I also want to make sure it’s done right. I don’t know this Mark from art history. He could be a rubbish kisser, scarring you for life. It might take me years of kiss-therapy to undo the damage.
It is a universally acknowledged, inalienable truth that a knitter faced with the unadorned neck, head, and hands of a person she cares for feels an overwhelming compulsion to smother that person in fancy hand-knits.
Compassion without love felt suspiciously like pity.
Cletus sneered. “You are the opposite of boastful, and your humbleness verges on infuriating.” “Gee, thanks.” I rolled my eyes. “Look, all I’m saying is that if a person is great at something, she shouldn’t have to pretend she’s not, and she shouldn’t have to downplay her hard work. There’s nothing wrong with humility or modesty, Jenn. But – for heaven’s sake – take credit for being a badass.
I can tell you there are as many kinds of love in the world as there are stars in the sky.
I was looking at my past self through the one-way interrogation window of my current self, and it caused me to experience the strange sadness that accompanies helplessness. If only I could have told teenage Elizabeth that none of it actually mattered. It all seemed to matter so much at the time.
I promise, if you’ll have me, I’ll sing with you whenever or wherever you want. But only with you, Scarlet. I only want to sing with you.
That’s right. I’m looking for an escape. Drew is out there. And – oh God – Cletus, I’m the worst. I’m so awkward, my awkward is embarrassed by my awkward.
Absence makes the heart suicidal.
I wanted to explore this part of myself for me, not in spite of or because of another person. If I was going to change my style or add to it, I wanted to do it because of how it made me feel. Not because I wanted to make someone else feel better or view me differently.
Each marriage is a living thing, just as complex as the two individuals within it.
You’re callous because you have to be. Because otherwise you’d be bleeding all the time.
That’s right. A chauffeured car, for a twenty-year-old college student. If I hadn’t felt so pensive I might’ve looked for the Grey Poupon Dijon mustard.
Bravery was still bravery, no matter how clumsy the execution.
His eyes always seemed to be a shade of up-to-no-good blue.
It’s difficult – no, it’s impossible – as a child to see yourself as worthy or worth knowing if no one else does.