If I'd managed any of these ifs-- would I have been able to avoid the inevitable fuck-up, the full-force fuck-off? My pride shut me up, my heart shut me down, and together they ganged up on my hope and let her get away.

“The moment you fall in love feels like it has centuries behind it, generations—…”

“It is very hard to stay alive just for your own sake. It is very hard to stare …”

“Things are going so well. We’re volleying words back and forth. Everything she …”

“I was horribly bookish, to the point of coming right out and saying it, which I…”