Four years of sparring when we could have had this: his awful singing voice, his hip bumping mine to encourage me to sing along, the scarlet on his cheeks when I attacked him with icing. While I was so focused on destroying him, I missed so much.
He’s waiting on a bricked street with a rickety staircase that leads to the museum. His hair mussed, his posture slightly hunched. Why did I ever tease him about those freckles? I love them. I love every single one of them. I love his freckles and and his red hair and the too-short legs of his suit pants and the too-long sleeves, the way he laughs, the way he pushes up his glasses to rub his eyes.
Love isn’t immediate or automatic; it takes effort and time and patience.” -Rowan.
Opposites attract is my favorite trope, so it made sense to start there. Because, of course, the thing about opposites: they always have a lot more in common than they think.
You don’t have to explain,′ I say, though all I want is a detailed explanation with an accompanying PowerPoint presentation.
I tug his hoodie closer. We’re not soaking wet anymore, just a little damp. Now that we’re outside again, I’m convinced the smell of his hoodie had to be the rain. I’m not still thinking about it, but if I were, its just... petrichor.
The people who love us the most have the power to hurt us the most, too.
Sometimes I think parenting is a combination of doing things the opposite of how you were raised mixed with doing things exactly how you were raised and worrying that you’re becoming your parents.
Make people cry, and then make them laugh,” my dad would say. “But most of all, make sure you’re telling a good story.
Maybe this version of you would have been cool. But... you’re kind of great now, too.
All th ebooks in the world couldn’t prepare me for this moment.
Maybe this is how I’m supposed to say goodbye to high school: not with an arbitrary list or a preconceived notion of the way things are supposed to be, but by realizing we’re actually better together.
Sometimes I feel like I’m playing at being an adult, like I’m constantly looking around, waiting for a real adult to tell me what to do if my garbage disposal starts making a weird sound or if I should be putting more money in my Roth IRA. I am just... I feel like a complete mess.
I used to think that without my dad, I’d never be whole again. But maybe that’s what we all are – halfway-broken people searching for things that will smooth our jagged edges.
I meant it when I told you before: I want every version of you.” A fingertip lands in the center of my lower lip. “I love every version of you.
You’re never too anything for books. We like what we like” -Rowan.
When you’re in love, whether that love is platonic or romantic, you get to be the fullest version of yourself, uncertainties and mistakes and all.
Sometimes I wonder if content is really just a synonym for complacent.
Neil is softer than I realized, and I’m a barbed-wire fence. Every time he gets too close, I make myself sharper.
You and I have to always be the best, right? So we’ll be the best at long distance, if thats what we decide to do.