You wrote a fucking book. Do you know how many people wish they could do that, or how many people talk about doing it and never do?

He glances down at his arms. “I didn’t even realize—am I expos-ing too much skin? I don’t want to be parading myself in front of you, taunting you with what you can’t have. I have a hoodie in my backpack. I can put it on if you’re—”“You’re definitely better. We’re leaving.

There’s this word in Japanese: tsundoku,” Neil says suddenly. “It’s my favorite word in any language.”“What does it mean?”He grins. “It means acquiring more books than you could ever realistically read.

I let it sink in, trying to be okay with that uncertainty. As much as I've idealized the happily-ever-after, I can't deny that he's right. Today isn't my epilogue with Neil-it's a beginning. I'll leave the happily-ever-afters in the books.

And just so you know, we might be having dinner together, but this isn’t a date,” Neil says, completely straight-faced. “I just don’t want you to get too excited. I mean, your parents are going to be there, so it would be really awkward if you were fawning over me the whole time.

Maybe it's the whole concept of a guilty pleasure," Neil says gently. "Why should we feel guilty about something that brings us - pleasure?

The thing about losing someone is that it doesn’t happen just once. It happens every time you do something great you wish they could see, every time you’re stuck and you need advice. Every time you fail. It erodes your sense of normal, and what grows back is decidedly not normal, and yet you still have to figure out how to trudge forward.

QUIDQUID LATINE DICTUM, ALTUM VIDETUR.

I am into classical music, in fact,” I say. “It’s been around for more than a thousand years, its composers have more name recognition than whatever ‘indie’ music you’re listening to right now, and symphonies sell out millions of performances a year. So go ahead, tell me classical music is tedious or boring or inferior.

My problems are not in the same country as hers and Ima's. They're not on the same map. Does that make them less valid?