Welcome to adulthood," she said. "It sucks as much as high school.

I tried to hold myself apart, showing only what I wanted, doling out bits and pieces of who I was. But that only works out for so long. Eventually, even the smallest fragments can't help but, make a whole.

I just do the best I can under the circumstances.

I didn't trot my pain out to show around. I kept it better hidden than anyone. I did.

So I left him there alone to watch history repeat the same events retold again and again on his own.

I knew, in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It might be too late: again, I might have missed my chance. But I would at least know I tried, that I took my heart and extended my hand, whatever the outcome. "Okay," he said. He took a breath. "What would you do, if you could do anything?" I took a step toward him, closing the space between us. "This," I said. And then I kissed him.

But something, somehow, had made all these paths converge. You couldn't find it on a checklist, or work it into the equation. It just happened.