You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it.

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

Their words, like the music, had the potential to be endless.

I looked down again at the sign in my hand - ENJOY THE RIDE! - and it seemed, suddenly, to be just that. A sign.

There was nothing, nothing to depend on. And why was I surprised?

That sucks, though," Wes said finally, his voice low. "You're just setting yourself up to fail, because you'll never get everything perfect." "Says who?" He just looked at me. "The world," he said, gesturing all around us, as if this party, this deck encompassed it all. "The universe. There's just no way. And why would you want everything to be perfect, anyway?" "I don't want everything to be perfect," I said. Just me, I thought. Somehow. "I just want—

I would miss Colby, but it wasn't going anywhere. All the more reason why I should.