“And I’d choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I’d find you and I’d choose you.”
“I didn't fall in love with you. I walked into love with you, with my eyes wide open, choosing to take every step along the way. I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we'd choose anyway. And I'd choose you; in a hundred lifetimes, in a hundred worlds, in any version of reality, I'd find you and I'd choose you”
“I get that you're scared and that you've been hurt. But doing what is easy and safe is no way to live, and a life without passion and love is so far beneath what you deserve.”
“I will fill myself with the desert and the sky. I will be stone and stars, unchanging and strong and safe. The desert is complete; it is spare and alone, but perfect in its soltitude. I will be the desert.”
“I can't seem to keep my heart from leaking out of the cracks, like sand clutched in a fist.”
“I'm fine." It's a lie. I am not fine. My head is a symphony of pain, a sadistic master maestro conducting an opus of excruciating, devastating perfecting.”
“I was thinking about framing, and how so much of what we think about our lives and our personal histories revolves around how we frame it. The lens we see it through, or the way we tell our own stories. We mythologize ourselves. So I was thinking about Persephone's story, and how different it would be if you told it only from the perspective of Hades. Same story, but it would probably be unrecognizable. Demeter's would be about loss and devastation. Hades's would be about love.”
“It's all a matter of perspective. And maybe we thought we were living one story, when if we look at it a little different, we can reframe everything - all out memories and attributes and experiences - and see that we're actually living a different story.”
“What if I decide my destiny is someone else?'
'Then that's your decision and I would respect that. Also I know a whole lot of gods to smite whoever it is you choose instead of me.'
'You-'
'Kidding! Totally kidding. Mostly kidding. Okay, not really kidding”
“They're crystal blue, a shade that shouldn't exist on the human body, I shade I immediately crave, a shade that makes my heart beat a little bit faster--almost as if I recognize it. I want to steal it, paint it, throw it into every room I ever decorate. It's the most perfect blue I've ever seen. Even from this distance his eyes are simply remarkable.”
“Boys suck. Even when they have perfect blue eyes and ridiculously cool trucks. Maybe especially then.”
“So, I'm not strange anymore?" he asks.
"What?"
"You're riding in my car, which must mean I'm not a stranger anymore."
"Actually, the more I'm around you, the stranger you get.”
“There's a reason cats were near deity in ancient Egypt. Dogs may be loyal, but cats are smart. This one must recognize our bond. You can take the cat ouf of Egypt, but you can't take Egypt out of the cat. Wow, I should have that embroidered on a pillow or something.”
“I do believe in fate and destiny, but I also believe we are only fated to do the things that we'd choose anyway.”
“Love isn't magic. Just like my family, just like my place in the universe, it's something that I can't keep, can't make last.
I would rather lose Ry before I ever have him.”
“My heart is sand and Orion's cruel tide has washed it away from me, scattered it, lost it.”
“In the interest of not pissing you off anymore tonight, let's not select that particular playlist.”
“Soap operas got nothing on my family history.”
“Oh, shut up. He is not saying that he's too good-looking to be friends with girls. But then again, yesterday at the beach, there were a high percentage of beach beauties sitting very close to us and/or sauntering repeatedly past. And he never looked up once. I snort. "You poor handsome thing. If only you were ugly, then girls wouldn't have to throw themselves at you all the time. I could break your perfect nose for you, if it'd make your life easier.”
“No writing? Your muse isn't speaking to you?'
'She rarely does. International cell charges and whatnot. Besides which, she's flighty and nearly impossible to understand. And she says I always misinterpret her intentions.'
'Muses. What can you do, right?”
“Am I scared of the horrible things I know will happen to my kid to hurt him? Absolutely. But would I stop those things at the risk of taking away joy and growth and the absolute embracing of life? Never. Because I love this child for being mine,but I also love him for the being he will be, and I can't tell you how excited I am to watch him discover that for himself.”
“You’re pretty much everything I’ve thought of for a while now”
“I open my eyes to see Ry staring at me, and my desert soul erupts with turquoise water, floods and cascades and waterfalls rushing in around my rocky parts, pushing and reshaping and filling every hidden dark spot.”
“Some things, the best things, do last forever”
“If you don't want to-I mean, genuinely are not attracted to me, do not think of me that way, cannot stomach the thought of touching me-then I would understand and I would never press the issue again. But that's not how you feel.'
'How do you know?' I snap.
'Because I'm very pretty.'
I whip my head around to glare at him; he's smiling like he couldn't be more amused. 'You aren't that pretty.'
'I am to you...'
'You are unbelievable.'
'I am, aren't I?'
'Unbelievable arrogant.'
'Not arrogant. Confident. There's a difference.'
'Which you clearly do not understand.”
“I will fill myself with the desert and the sky. I will be stone and stars, unchanging and strong and safe. The desert is complete; it is spare and alone, but perfect in its solitude. I will be the desert.
I open my eyes to see Ry staring at me, and my desert soul erupts with turquoise water, floods and cascades and waterfalls rushing in around my stone, swirling and eddying around my rocky parts, pushing and reshaping and filling every hidden dark spot.”
“That’s the downside to San Diego. Once you live here, you never want to live anywhere else. Unfortunately everyone else already lives here.”
“He leans in, and I smile against his lips, finally give up and let his love flood in and carve the last of my stone heart into a new shape I’m only just discovering.
Somehow it doesn’t feel like a surrender.
It feels like a victory.”
“Oh, glorious, glorious caffeine and sugar. I can make it through anything as long as I have enough of those two”
“Are you lecturing me again, Orion? Is that what this is?' ... 'I would never dream of lecturing you. I just thought it was interesting to think about.'
'Mmm-hmm. And how many times did you practice how you'd phrase this little gem of wisdom when you told me/'
He runs a had through his thick, dark curls. 'Ah, umm...who says I practiced it?'
I raise a single eyebrow at him.
'Two. Maybe three. Five. Not more that five”
“Mindy.” he softly said my name. “Tell me…my beautiful red rose,” he continued, “why must you let this thorny bush grip onto you, keeping your light in its dull and ugly world?”
“You think I’m a man who’s got a thing that good, he’ll let it go?”
“No,” I whispered.
“That would be fuck no,” he corrected.”
“Obviously, he psyched you out. He mind-fucked you big time.”
“What right have we to believe Nature under any obligation to do her work by means of complete minds only? She may find an incomplete mind a more suitable instrument for a particular purpose.”
“I love the performance of a craft, whether it is modest or mean-spirited, yet I walk away when discussions of it begin - as if one should ask a gravedigger what brand of shovel he uses or whether he prefers to work at noon or in moonlight. I am interested only in the care taken, and those secret rehearsals behind it. Even if I do not understand fully what is taking place. ”
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