01c. 1970 ADYou get used to people being a certain way; you depend on it. And when they surprise you, for better or worse, it can shake you to your core.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
02c. 1970 ADIsn't that the way everything begins? A night, a love, a once and for all.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
03c. 1970 ADEverything in life had its phases, and if you were smart, you learned to appreciate them all. What really mattered, though, were the people in those moments with you. Memories are what we have and what we keep, and I held mine close. The ones I knew well, like a night on the beach with a boy who would always live in my heart, and the ones yet to come with another.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
05c. 1970 ADBecause it is so hard, in any life, to believe in what you can't fully understand.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
06c. 1970 ADI knew from experience that no matter how much you turn things in your head, trying to make sense of them, some people just defy all logic.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
07c. 1970 ADSo many times it seemed like there were chances to stop things before they started. Or even stop them in midstream. But it was even worse when you knew in that very moment that there was still time to save yourself, and yet you couldn't even budge.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
08c. 1970 ADLike I, of all people, didn't know better than to lead a total stranger to the point where they could hurt me most, knowing how easily they'd be able to find their way back to it.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
09c. 1970 ADSomeone who normally moved so slowly, this time, for once, was long gone.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
10c. 1970 ADI would have thought this would make me feel better.. getting to be the one to leave and not the one left behind. But it didn't. Not at all.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
11c. 1970 ADThe people who know you best can be risker, because the words they say and things they think have the potential to be not only scary but true, as well.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
12c. 1970 AD... Everything he feels, he feels strongly. Too strongly, sometimes. I think he freaks people out.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
13c. 1970 ADBut I knew what it said. That I could be imperfect, but only so much. Human, but only within limits. And honest, to her or to myself, never.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
15c. 1970 ADYou did listen." He sat back, nodding his head. "Okay, then. Now tell me what you really thought.""I told you. It was interesting.""Interesting," he said, "is not a word.""Since when?""It's a placeholder. Something you use when you don't want to say something else." He leaned a little closer to me. "Look, if you're worried about my feelings, don't be. You can say whatever you want. I won't be offended.""I did. I liked it.""Tell the truth. Say something. Anything. Just spit it out.""I—" I began, then stopped myself. Maybe it was the fact that he was so clearly on to me. Or my sudden awareness of how rarely I was honest. Either way, I broke. "I… I didn't like it," I said.He slapped his leg. "I knew it! You know, for someone who lies a lot, you're not very good at it."This was a good thing. Or not? I wasn't sure. "I'm not a liar," I said."Right. You're nice," he said."What's wrong with nice?""Nothing. Except it usually involves not telling the truth," he replied. "Now. Tell me what you really thought.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
16c. 1970 ADJennifer Anne had prepared some complicated-looking recipe involving chicken breasts stuffed with sweet potatoes topped with a vegetable glaze. They looked perfect, but it was the kind of dish where you just knew someone had to have been pawing at your food for a long while to get it just right, their fingers all in what now you were having to stick in your mouth.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
18c. 1970 ADBut as i lay there, it only seemes like silence filling my ears. And the thing was, it was so freaking loud.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
19c. 1970 ADThe silence wasn't like the ones I'd known lately, though; it wasn't empty so much as chosen. There's an entirely different feel to quiet when you're with someone else, and at any moment it could be broken. Like the difference between a pause and an ending.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
20c. 1970 ADI reached up with my finger and traced the scar over my eyebrow, remembering when that was the greatest hurt I'd ever known.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
21c. 1970 ADThe first thing I did when I got inside was turn on the kitchen light. Then I moved to the table, putting my dad's iPod on the speaker dock, and a Bob Dylan song came on, the notes familiar. I went into the living room, hitting the switch there, then down the hallway to my room, where I did the same. It was amazing what a little noise and brightness could do to a house and a life, how much the smallest bit of each could change everything. After all these years of just passing through, I was beginning to finally feel at home.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
22c. 1970 ADYou could just tell when a person belonged somewhere. That is something you can't fake, no matter how hard you trySarah Dessen / quote ↗
23c. 1970 ADWhat you do in your dreams is never your choice. But it made me happy anyway.Sarah Dessen / quote ↗
