being with someone for over a year can mean that you love them … but it can also mean you’re trapped.

There's no way for them to take away my sadness, but they can make sure I am not empty of all the other feelings.

It would be too easy to say that I feel invisible. Instead, I feel painfully visible, and entirely ignored.

There are boys so enraptured by love that they can't get their hearts to slow down enough to get some rest, and other boys so damaged by love that they can't stop picking at their pain.

Do you know when you cross against traffic? You look down the street and see a car coming, but you know you can get across before it gets to you. So even though there’s a DON’T WALK sign, you cross anyway. And there’s always a split second when you turn and see that car coming, and you know that if you don’t continue moving, it will all be over. That’s how I feel a lot of the time. I know I’ll make it across. I always make it across. But the car is always there, and I always stop to watch it coming.

Love me less, but love me for a long time

We were painting by numbers, starting with the greens. Because that happened to be our favorite color. And this, we figured, had to mean something.