Shy” was the sympathetic interpretation she got from older people. “Snotty” was the interpretation she got from people her own age.
Their friendship was only one aspect of their lives but it seemed to give meaning to all the others.
She'd loved him as much as he'd let her. More than he'd let her.
She hadn't chosen the brave life. She'd chosen the small, fearful one.
Wear them, they will make you brave.
You couldn't erase the past. You couldn't even change it. But sometimes life offered you the opportunity to put it right.