and when he catches me off guard and says 'i love you' i catch him off guard and say 'i need your help.
David LevithanAnd I told you: I think of a photograph you took of me, up in Montreal. You told me to jump in the air, so in the picture, my feet are off the ground. Later, I asked you why you wanted me to do that, and you told me it was the only way to get me to forget about the expression on my face. You were right. I am completely unposed, completely genuine. In my mindโs eye, I picture myself like that, reacting to you.
David LevithanI had gotten so used to being alone, but never entirely used to it. Never used to it enough to stop wanting the alternative.
David Levithanexemplar, n. It's always something we have to negotiate- the face that my parents are happy, and yours have never been. I have something to live up to, and if I fail, I still have a family to welcome me home. You have a storyline to rewrite, and a lack of faith that it can ever be done. You love my parents, I know. But you never get too close. You never truly believe there aren't bad secrets underneath.
David LevithanThings are going so well. Weโre volleying words back and forth. Everything she says, I have something I can say back. Weโre sparking, and part of me just wants to sit back and watch. Weโre clicking. Not because a part of me is fitting into a part of her. But because our words are clicking into each other to form sentences and our sentences are clicking into each other to form dialogue and our dialogue is clicking together to form this scene from this ongoing movie thatโs as comfortable as it is unrehearsed.
David Levithan