The Way We Fall

You'll always be the deepest scar on my heart.

This is the way we fall. First we lose our balance, teetering precariously on the edge of uncertainty, until, mercilessly, gravity takes over. You can’t outshine gravity.

It doesn’t have to end, does it?” “I hope it never ends.

We may only ever have one great, passionate love, but sometimes it’s best to leave that kind of love in the past. A love like that can’t last forever.

I think I need you to save me this time.

The world can fall to pieces around us, but in the end, we'll always make it back to us.

Then, she let it go.

Love is a strange concept. That the very sight of someone, the very mention of their name, can cause an intense chemical reaction inside you is crazy.

No one’s perfect. And anyone who expects you to be perfect is just hiding something.

They say love is just two souls recognizing each other.

She was the drug that numbed the pain, but only temporarily.

If ignorance is bliss, believing lies is orgasmic.

It’s about us,” I whisper. He looks confused. “What are you talking about?” “The book. It’s the story of us.” He sighs as if he’s been waiting to hear these words all his life. “I hope it never ends.

I need you to know how serious I am first.” He takes my face in his hands again and I draw in a sharp breath. “Promise me you’ll wait for me and I promise I’ll tell you everything.

Lies are comforting. Soft blankets we wrap around our hearts. We roll around in them like fat, happy pigs. Gorging on their decadence. We prefer lies, though we claim otherwise. Trust me. If ignorance is bliss, believing lies is orgasmic.

That’s because everywhere we’re together is the only place and the only moment that exists.

Houston, I’d rather have the truth than this ring.” “That ring is my promise to tell you the truth, but only when the time is right.

This is yours. It’s my promise to you. I swear I’m going to do everything I can to get that ring on your finger.

He blinks back tears. “There’s so many things you don’t know about me that I need to tell you, so you’ll understand everything that happened back then and afterward.

I clutch my chest as I try to keep breathing. “What? I don’t understand. You… you said we couldn’t get married. You… you broke my heart.” “It was the biggest mistake of my life. I could see it then and I can see it even more now. Letting you go was the single stupidest thing I’ve ever done.

I was eighteen when I got lost in Houston, and in him I found myself. They say love is just two souls recognizing each other. With Houston and me it was more like two souls staring into a mirror, my left hand aligned with his right, our hearts skipping a beat at the same moment, our lungs choking on the same noxious air, our scars as perfectly aligned as mountains and fault lines. If ever two souls were perfectly right and perfectly wrong for each other, it would be us.

What can I say? When I was in college, I was partnered up with this really smart girl who taught me how to construct the perfect sentence.” “Really? So what’s the perfect sentence?” He smiles and leans forward as if he’s about to divulge a secret. “Then, she let it go.

You’ll always be the deepest scar on my heart.

It seems that without knowing it, we fell into the same pattern we fell into five years ago. We were so busy looking in the rearview mirror, we didn’t realize we were about to crash. Only this time, it wasn’t just Houston and me who got hurt.

We may only ever have one great, passionate love. If I had one, it would definitely be Rory.