Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between

Maybe the world isn't full of signs so much as it's full of people trying to use whatever evidence they can find to convince themselves of what they hope to be true.

It can’t be epic if there’s no challenge to it.

Because how do you say goodbye to a piece of yourself?

We keep thinking there are only these two choices: We either grow apart or grow together. But maybe we can just kind of each grow on our own, and see how it goes. And then later, if it’s right, we’ll come back to each other and start again.

Aidan is the only person she knows who would mend a pair of sweatpants. He hates to give up on anything.

And here’s the amazing thing: Now it was.

The only thing harder than leaving is being left behind.

Clare's been called a lot of things- smart and funny, driven and talented- but memorable certainly isn't one of them. The most important things about her- the ones she's most proud of- are apparent only once you get to know her.

Is the kind of smile she loves best: It’s like a sneeze, a reflex, a twitch, helpless and automatic, and it only happens when he looks at her.

She shakes her head. “I can’t think of a single good reason to break up with you right now.” “That’s because you’re not thinking big enough,” he says. “It’s gotta be something huge, something grand.” “Like world peace?” “If world peace were a possible side effect of you breaking up with me, then yes, sure, that would definitely count as a noble reason.” “Maybe,” she says after a moment, “it’s just that we love each other too much.

Love wasn’t something you could take back. It was like a magic spell: Once you said the words, they were simply out there, shifting and changing everything that had once been true.

For a long time, it had felt like something way out on the horizon, this moment, something she had to squint to make out, so far away it didn’t seem quite real. Until now, when it’s suddenly hurtling toward them at an impossible pace, so swiftly that it doesn’t matter whether or not Clare is ready for it. There’s no preparing at this point. There’s only steeling yourself. There’s only hoping for the best.

And it’s more than just the distance, You know it is. Nobody survives this kind of thing. You pretend it’s going to work, and you make all these promises, and then you talk on the phone every night and text each other between classes and maybe manage a visit during fall break or something. But then everything’s awkward, because so much has changed, and you don’t fit into each other’s lives anymore.

I might not say it, but I obviously show you how I feel,” she says. “Why do the words have to be so important?” “They just are,” he says, standing up and brushing off the back of his jeans. “Not because you’re saying them, but because you’re not.

A relationship doesn't have a shot in hell if you start planning its ending before it even starts