The Love Game

You're one of my best friends, and I care about you, and that means you don't have to do anything alone. Friendship means never having to be alone, it means there's a constant wall of solidarity even when everything else is crumbling around you. If he's the crumble in your life, then I'll be the damn wall!”

what? We all have to get our hope from somewhere, and if getting lost between the pages of a deep book gives me hope, then I'll keep on getting lost, all the while hoping that one day I'll have a real love I can get lost in. Because it will happen, to each of us. One day we'll get so lost in love that we won't be able to find our way back out.

“Oh, I believe in love, Kay. I believe that each of us have someone out there that will love us no matter what. I like to believe that. Otherwise, what would be the point? Love is beautiful, it's free from judgment and it never condemns. It enlightens, it embraces, and it makes even the hardest day worth living through.

Love is like Clue - you might take a few wrong turns, but you'll get there in the end.

I'm nineteen. I don't do forever.

We might not be forever. Our first love might not be our last. I can't predict where we'll be five, ten, even fifteen years from now, but I can't let my past rule my future. My past has shaped me into the person I am today, and knowing that means I can let go of all of my doubts and hold onto what I have. I can let go of my thoughts of my brother and hold onto Braden as tight as he'll let me.
Because, sometimes, letting go is the key to holding on.

“Maybe this is what I should have said the other day. You know I'm no good with dating. I had to look on Google for where to take you for our second date, for fuck sake.” I smile a little. “I'm no good at this, Maddie. I've messed up big time and it probably won't be the last. Maybe shouting at you about how crap my life is without you wasn't my smartest move, but damn it.... I'm so lost without you around. I can't let this go, Maddie, and I'm not going to. You can run all you like, but I'll catch up with you every time, and when I do I'm gonna try and prove to you how right we are together.”

“Who is he?” She tilts her head to the side, her eyes finding a spot behind me.
“Who is who?” I say tentatively.
“The reason you're sad.”
“I'm not sad.”
She nods, her eyes unfocused. “You are. I can see it. What did he do?”
“He didn't really do anything. It was both of us.”
“What's his name?”
“Braden.”
Her head bobs. “Tell me.”
“Are you-”
“Tell me. I want to know, Maddie.”

“So tell him,” she replies simply. “We have to tell people sometimes.... Because they don't always know. It's a little word that means a lot. Sometimes, love is all you need, even when you think you don't. Sometimes, you just have to say it.”

She'll always be mine – and I'll always be hers.