and I wondered if, in the end, this is how all disputes are settled, with a shared silence as things become equal. You take something from me, I take something from you. We all want balance, one way or another.
Sarah DessenSometimes things don't turn out the way you want them to, Haven. Sometimes the people you choose to believe are wrong.
Sarah DessenI'd come here planning to leave as soon as I could. It was a pit stop, not a destination. I had my whole life mapped out." "So what happened?" "I guess that map didn't turn out to be mine after all.
Sarah DessenThe chances we take, knowing no better than to fall or to stand back and hold ourselves in... protecting our hearts with the tightest of grips.
Sarah DessenThere was something striking about a single key. It was like a question waiting to be answered, a whole missing a half. Useless on its own, needing something else to be truly defined.
Sarah DessenLove is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow complete you.
Sarah DessenNah," I said. "But if it does, just tell him I said to get back on the bike." "What?" "He'll understand.
Sarah DessenAs if he was beating me to the punch, his words living forever, while I was left speechless, no rebuttal, no words left to say.
Sarah DessenYouโre always a kid around your parentsโฆ Unless theyโre acting like children. Then you donโt get the chance.
Sarah DessenWe can't expect everybody to be there for us, all at once. So it's a lucky thing that really, all you need is someone.
Sarah DessenThere was only so much space between us, not even a real distance if measured in miles or feet or even inches, all the things that told you how far you'd come or had left to go. But it was a big space, if only for me. And as I moved forward to him covering it, he waited there on the other side. It was only the last little bit I has to go, but in the end, I knew it would be all I would truly remember. So as I kissed him, bringing this summer and everything else full circle, I let myself fall, and was not scared of the ground I knew would rise up to meet me.
Sarah DessenThen what are you like, Annabel?" he shot back. "A liar, like you told me that first day? Come on. That was the biggest lie of all.
Sarah DessenBut it was too early to know: there were always more pages to go, more words to be written, before the story was over.
Sarah DessenYes, it sucked getting dumped. But wasn't it better to just be brutally honest? To admit that your feeling for someone is never going to be powerful enough to justify taking up any more of their time? I was doing him a favor, really. Freeing him up for a better opportunity. In fact, I was a practically a saint, if you really thought about it. Exactly.
Sarah DessenI had to wonder whether it was possible that this wasnโt already decided for me, and if maybe, just maybe, this was my one last chance to try and prove it. There was no way to know. There never is. But I reached out and took it anyway.
Sarah DessenWhen you had to do something, you had to do it. And eventually, if you were lucky, you did it well.
Sarah DessenI think I'm way too much of a control freak to co-author anything with anyone. I have a hard enough time writing with myself! I admire people that can do it, but it's not for me.
Sarah DessenAs Isabel acted out her date, both of them laughing, I stayed in the kitchen, out of sight, and pretended she was telling me, too. And that, for once, I was part of this hidden language of laughter and silliness and girls that was, somehow, friendship.
Sarah DessenBut against love, the case was solid. Easily argued. And you could, indeed, hold it in your hand.
Sarah DessenMorgan sighed. "I," she announced, "am so pathetic." "You are not," I said. "I am." She went over and straightened the cling wrap, corner to corner. "Do you know how many times I've brought in devilled eggs? This is, like, the only time I haven't been sobbing and that's only 'cause I cried all night. And Norman," she said, her voice rising to a wail, "sweet Norman, always just acts so surprised to see the eggs, and pleased, and he never, once, has ever acted like he knew what they meant."
Sarah DessenHow it seemed like you could see everything, but certain things were blocked out, hidden.
Sarah DessenMusic is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in your or the world, that one song says the same, just like that moment.
Sarah DessenFailing sucks. But it's better than the alternative." "Which is?" "Not even trying." Now he did look at me, straight on. "Life's short, you know?
Sarah Dessen