No wonder I’d never had any friends. I was shockingly bad at it.

I only really ever hug my mother. Is this okay?” he asked. I laughed. “It’s hard to get a hug wrong.

I let myself be sad. I let myself think of him.

Is this a good time to pat your shoulder?

I'm not so stupid as to believe that you've completely forgotten about your former boyfriend. I know you think there are others here more suited for me and this life, and I wouldn't want you to rush into trying to be happy with any of this. I just... I just want to know if it's possible.

It hurt me to be away from him. Some days I went crazy wondering what he was doing. And when I couldn't handle it, I practiced music. I really had Aspen to thank for me being the musician that I was. He drove me to distraction. And that was bad.

I know there was a time, when our country was new, when the assignment of these numbers helped organize something that was on the brink of not existing. But we are no longer that country. We are so much more now.