I dialed the number slowly, wanting to get it right. Two rings, and he picked up. "Yes," I said after his hello. "Mclean?" he asked. "Is that you?" "Yeah," I said, swallowing and looking out my open door, at the ocean. "The answer's yes." "The answer . . ." he said slowly. "You asked me to go out with you. I know you probably changed your mind. But you should know, the answer was yes. It's always been yes when it comes to you." He was very quiet for a moment. "Where are you?" I started crying again, my voice ragged. He told me to calm down. He told me it was going to be all right. And then, he told he'd be there soon.
Sarah Dessen
Related You asked me to go out with you. I know you probably changed your mind. But you should know, the ans... SARAH DESSEN May I see you again?" he asked. There was an endearing nervousness in his voice. I smile... JOHN GREEN You should go order a sweet roll. Those are to die for. And a carne adovada burrito." DARYNDA JONES Plastic ware," he said slowly, "like knives and forks and spoons?" I brushed a bit of dirt off ... SARAH DESSEN Do you know a cure for me?" "Why yes," he said, "I know a cure for everything. Salt water... KAREN BLIXEN «Hazel Grace,” he said, my name new and better in his voice. “It has been a real pleasure to ma... JOHN GREEN Do you know a cure for me? Why yes, he said, I know a cure for everything. Salt water. Salt w... ISAK DINESEN Do you think you might be able to love me someday?" He asked and heard her laugh softly. ... JASMINE DUBROFF Listen to me. When a man wakes, he wakes wanting. He wakes hard and rude and aching with need.” He... TESSA DARE If you haven't guessed it already," I said, something fervent and resonating slipping into my tone, ... BECCA FITZPATRICK Whatever happened to the dragon?" I mustered my primmest tone. "He has a name, you know."... RICHELLE MEAD Who am I, that you should love me?" "You are My Queen," said Eugenides. She sat perfectly still... MEGAN WHALEN TURNER Daniel, he said. I would have you follow me. Master!....I will fight for you to the end!.... ELIZABETH GEORGE SPEARE This is what it's all been about with you," he said in an even tone. "All the fear, all the run... KRESLEY COLE Megan, I love you,. I will always love you." I swallowed hard. "Scared?" He asked. "Y... ELIZABETH CHANDLER After a while Mary said, “Zsadist?” “Yeah?” “What are those markings... J.R. WARD Are you sure you want them to meet me?" she asked. "Yes," he said. "I want everyone to me... RAINBOW ROWELL Answer this question very carefully, kid. Are you a virgin?" The silence was so long I thought ... LILI ST. CROW Two of us in this room, Ace, two keycards," he said and my eyes went to him. When they did, he jerke... KRISTEN ASHLEY How old are you, anyway?' she asked, squinting at him. There was a pause. At last he said, 'Why... NATALIE BABBITT Raphael turned me over and looked at me, his face close to mine. "You and I will never be done.You'r... ILONA ANDREWS Tamani checkled. ‘If it makes you feel any better, it scares the daylights our of me on a regular ... APRILYNNE PIKE You say that your fare told you that he was a detective?" "Yes, he did." "When did he say ... ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?' 'Yes,' said Harry. 'You ca... J.K. ROWLING You’ll have sweet dreams?” he asked quietly and sounding like he cared, a lot. God b... KRISTEN ASHLEY Riley was quiet for a minute. She gathered her blanket all around her. "Paul always loved you, Alice... ANN BRASHARES It was not the thought that I was so unloved that froze me. I had taught myself to do without love.<... KURT VONNEGUT JR. You be as angry as you need to be," she said. "Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not your grandma... PATRICK NESS In Truth,” I said, “there are no rules other than you have to tell the truth.” “How do ... SARAH DESSEN Knock! knock! who's there? me! me who? that's right? what's right? mee... SHEL SILVERSTEIN You know that because you asked me out, you’re the one who has to pick the place, right?” T... STEPHANIE PERKINS He gave a hard smile and the oxygen in my lungs evaporated. “We both know I’m not a gentlem... CATE TIERNAN So," he said as we turned onto the main road, the muffler rattling, "I've been thinking." "Yeah... SARAH DESSEN What's up?" I asked. You tell me," he said. "You were the one about ready to start making... RICHELLE MEAD I read your poem," I croaked. "'Fall.'" Then something I never thought would happen, happened: ... MEGAN MCCAFFERTY For five years I didn't think it was possible to be this happy. But then he forgot all those pr... TERRY MCMILLAN What are my options?" "You could read obscure poetry while I play the triangle, I suppose. Or w... MICHELLE HODKIN He stared at me. "She liked you, boy." The intensity of his voice and eyes made me blink. "Yes,... JERRY SPINELLI Mendanbar took a deep breath. “You could stay here. At the castle, I mean. With me.” This wasn�... PATRICIA C. WREDE I looked at him and the other two people whose names I’d just learned. “So . . . so this is home... KIERA CASS You’re stuck,” I blurted, his grin died and he blinked. “Come again?” I swallowed,... KRISTEN ASHLEY I wished the kiss could have gone on forever. Breaking the embrace, he ran a few fingers through my ... RICHELLE MEAD You really want to know what else it was my mom said about you?" he asked. She shook her head.<... CASSANDRA CLARE Are you okay?" asked Finisterre. "Annoyed," I said, giving him my hand so he could heave me to ... JASPER FFORDE Eros mumbled something. "I'm sorry?" said Aphrodite. "Whatwouldjesusdo." "What would ... MARIE PHILLIPS Sure you are," Jack replied. He sashayed up next to me, and yes, it was a sashay, he was far too dam... CANDICE GILMER I lied," I said. ... "I know it," he said. "Then do something about it. Do anything, just ... WILLIAM FAULKNER Buckley followed the three of them into the kitchen and asked, as he had at least once a day, “Whe... ALICE SEBOLD So look," he began, leaning over the desk, "I was—" "Excuse me?" Bethany said. Her voice was ... SARAH DESSEN Drop something?" he asked, trying to suppress a smile but failing miserably at the act. I nodde... MARKELLE GRABO I should go," I said thickly. "Let me know when you want to start practice again. And thanks for...t... RICHELLE MEAD Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?" "Yes." "You called her a liar?" "... J.K. ROWLING You’ll be angry, but I’m going to ask anyway. Will you marry me?' The unsupported voice, the one... STEVEN BRUST He stood and looked at me for a moment, taking in my outfit. "You look hot." "What? Me?" I stam... MORGAN MATSON Howl backed into the door to shut it and leaned there in a tragic attitude. "Look at you all!" he sa... DIANA WYNNE JONES We could go back," he said. In the dome light of the car, his face looked hard as stone. "We could g... CHARLAINE HARRIS Do you remember me telling you we are practicing non-verbal spells, Potter?" "Yes," said Harry ... J.K. ROWLING O Deep Thought computer," he said, "the task we have designed you to perform is this. We want you to... DOUGLAS ADAMS You just asked me to marry you," he said, still waiting for me to admit some kind of trickery. ... JAMIE MCGUIRE Graystorm: You know Firestar was also very naughty, just like you. Bramblepaw: Really? He... ERIN HUNTER Do you really want to know why you lost?” I asked. “Do you really have an answer?” he cou... MARIA V. SNYDER I love swimming" "I know," I said. "I love swimming," he said again. He was quiet for a li... BENJAMIN ALIRE SáENZ You don't know your father, do you?” I shook my head. "No. All I know is he must have had wic... RICHELLE MEAD where are we going?' I asked. 'I don't know,' he said. 'just driving.' 'But this road does... BRET EASTON ELLIS Where are we going?" I asked "I don't know," he said. "Just driving." "But this road doesn... BRET EASTON ELLIS Mr. Bradford," she said. "I'm not going to propose to you." The twinkle in Mr. Bradford's... HEATHER DIXON Let's look for dragons, I said to Pooh. Yes, let's, said Pooh to Me. We crossed the rive... A.A. MILNE You told me you believed marriage was for other people." "You're the only man who could m... LISA KLEYPAS I started down but Sam caught my arm and knelt down himself to look. "For crying out loud," he... MAGGIE STIEFVATER Yes," Jace said, "I regret having disobeyed you." No! Clary thought, but her heart sank. Was he... CASSANDRA CLARE And so seated next to my father in the train compartment, I suddenly asked, "Father, what is sexsin?... CORRIE TEN BOOM And recite to them the news of Abraham When he said to his father and his people: What do you ... QURAN Would it be possible for me to see something from up there?" asked Milo politely. "You co... NORTON JUSTER We were both quiet a long time and I was about to fall back asleep in the curve of his arm with his ... KRISTEN ASHLEY I'll see you later Roza." "At our next practice?" I asked. "We are starting those up agai... RICHELLE MEAD The phone rang. I picked it up. “Are you sitting down?” Curran's voice asked. “Yes... ILONA ANDREWS Ah, yeah. Yeah, tis awful all right. Well, your Mam wanted me to talk to you about it, but…’ CIARáN WEST I blame everything on LIFE! I was happy being dead until I had a new LIFE! I was alone, bu... ANTHONY T.HINCKS You just want me to hold you until you fall asleep?" I didn't answer. He shifted to look s... JAMIE MCGUIRE Do you want to marry him?" Peter stopped in front of her, pressing close. "You know I don't." SARAH BLAKLEY-CARTWRIGHT Leslie-Ann set down her own bucket and watched, marveling, as a quarter of an inch of water covered ... MICHAEL GRANT He laughs and pulls out a big Ziploc bag of something dark and round. Cookies! I lunge forward.... CARRIE JONES I can't go to Amsterdam. One of my doctors thinks it's a bad idea." He was quiet for a second. ... JOHN GREEN You love me?" he asked suddenly and, at his question, my stomach flipped then twisted. "Yes." KRISTEN ASHLEY Dad?" Jesus asked. "Yes, son?" God replied. "What came before colors?" Jesus asked. "... ANTHONY T. HINCKS Achilles was looking at me. “Your hair never quite lies flat, here.” He touched my head, just be... MADELINE MILLER Oh." He sat in confused silence for a few seconds. "Can I ask you a very serious question?" "I ... KATIE ALENDER I’ve never been this happy,” I whispered, a little scared by it. Caine must have heard the ... SAMANTHA YOUNG How would you like it if I said to you, 'It kills me to say this, but you're actually a tiny bit bea... MELINA MARCHETTA Okay," I said, "what's your biggest fear?" As always, he took a second to think about the answe... SARAH DESSEN And I know things are...screwed up between us. I know that. Even if you tell me you'd rather hump a ... JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT Ravel said. “And I order people around really well. This morning, Tipstaff came over with a cup of... DEREK LANDY J.Lo gasped. When I looked to see why, he had one hand to his mouth and the other pointing at me. ADAM REX All I do when we're apart is think about you, and all I when we're together is panic. Because every ... RAINBOW ROWELL I understand Crawford paid you a visit?" "Yes." "And was he attentive?" "Yes, very."<... JANE AUSTEN Hello, ma’am. How are you today?” he asked one day with a grin on his face the size of Kansas. I... HAZEL CARTWRIGHT But we're not sleeping," he points out. "well, I would be," I say, "if you would let me off the... LAUREN BARNHOLDT He then kissed her. It was a very long time before he let her go. When he did, she looked... EVA IBBOTSON You have to carry the fire." I don't know how to." Yes, you do." Is the fire real? Th... CORMAC MCCARTHY You adopted him," I said when Romeo sat on the coffee table in front of me. "You love him," he ... CAMBRIA HEBERT
More Sarah Dessen
It's okay to accept things from people. It doesn't make you weak or helpless. SARAH DESSEN When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a colouring book, with the inside not ... SARAH DESSEN But you don’t have to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.” “You don’t have to assum... SARAH DESSEN The best gifts come from the heart, not the store. SARAH DESSEN He wasn't the type for displays of affection, either verbal or not. He was disgusted by couples that... SARAH DESSEN Life is an awful, ugly place to not have a best friend. SARAH DESSEN So you're always honest," I said. "Aren't you?" "No," I told him. "I'm not." "Well, t... SARAH DESSEN There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single f... SARAH DESSEN And that was it. All this buildup to a great leap, and I didn't fall or fly. Instead I found myself ... SARAH DESSEN You, have this whole tall, dark stranger thing going on. Not to mention the tortured artist bit. SARAH DESSEN But it was okay not to fit in everywhere, as long as you did somewhere. SARAH DESSEN Okay,' he said. He took a breath. 'What would you do, if you could do anything?' I took a step ... SARAH DESSEN The choices you make now, the people you surround yourself with, they all have the potential to affe... SARAH DESSEN But that was the problem with having the answers. It was only after you gave them that you realized ... SARAH DESSEN I realized how truly hard it was, really, to see someone you love change right before your eyes. Not... SARAH DESSEN But if something was really important, fate made sure it somehow came back to you and gave you anoth... SARAH DESSEN But if everything was always smooth and perfect, you'd get too used to that, you know? You have to h... SARAH DESSEN I don't know. Just because someone's pretty doesn't mean she's decent. Or vice versa. I'm not into a... SARAH DESSEN I don't get it,' Caroline said, bemused. 'She's the only one with wings. Why is that?' There we... SARAH DESSEN If this was my forever, I wouldn't want to spend it here. SARAH DESSEN the truth about forever is that it is happening right now SARAH DESSEN Life can be long or short, it all depends on how you choose to live it. it's like forever, always ch... SARAH DESSEN I have to admit, an unrequited love is so much better than a real one. I mean, it's perfect... As lo... SARAH DESSEN Grief can be a burden, but also an anchor. You get used to the weight, how it holds you in place. SARAH DESSEN We'd start slow, the way we always did, because the run, and the game, could go on for awhile. Maybe... SARAH DESSEN What you have to decide... is how you want your life to be. If your forever was ending tomorrow, wou... SARAH DESSEN But I'd long ago learned not to be picky in farewells. They weren't guaranteed or promised. Yo... SARAH DESSEN Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It's so easy in the past tense. SARAH DESSEN It was just one of those things," I said, "You know, that just happen. You don't think or plan. You ... SARAH DESSEN What you need, what you deserve, is a guy who adores you for what you are. Who doesn't see you as a ... SARAH DESSEN Some people, they can't just move on, you know, mourn and cry and be done with it. Or at least seem ... SARAH DESSEN I like flaws. I think they make things interesting. SARAH DESSEN It's all in the view. That's what I mean about forever, too. For any one of us our forever could end... SARAH DESSEN That was the thing. You never got used to it, the idea of someone being gone. Just when you think it... SARAH DESSEN It's just that...I just think that some things are meant to be broken. Imperfect. Chaotic. It's the ... SARAH DESSEN If you try anything, if you try to lose weight, or to improve yourself, or to love, or to make the w... SARAH DESSEN There comes a time when the world gets quiet and the only thing left is your own heart. So you'd bet... SARAH DESSEN All I'd ever wanted was to forget. but even when I thought I had, pieces had kept emerging, like bit... SARAH DESSEN I knew, in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It might be too late: again, ... SARAH DESSEN Don't think or judge, just listen. SARAH DESSEN I wondered if emotions were like menstrual cycles, if you get enough women together. Give it time, a... SARAH DESSEN How it felt to have the world moving beneath me, a hand gripping mine, knowing if I fell, at least I... SARAH DESSEN Home wasn't a set house, or a single town on a map. It was wherever the people who loved you were, w... SARAH DESSEN There are some things in this world you rely on, like a sure bet. And when they let you down, shifti... SARAH DESSEN If you didn't love him, this never would have happened. But you did. And accepting that love and eve... SARAH DESSEN You should never be surprised when someone treats you with respect, you should expect it. SARAH DESSEN Life is full of screwups. You're supposed to fail sometimes. It's a required part of the human exist... SARAH DESSEN Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you. SARAH DESSEN If you expect the worst, you'll never be disappointed. SARAH DESSEN It shouldn't be easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the things you fight for and stru... SARAH DESSEN Music is the great uniter. An incredible force. Something that people who differ on everything and a... SARAH DESSEN He thought about this for a second. "True. But if you never really make friends, you probably don't ... SARAH DESSEN Hey, and for what it's worth? Friends don't leave you alone in the woods. Friends are the ones who c... SARAH DESSEN You know, when it works, love is pretty amazing. It's not overrated. There's a reason for all those ... SARAH DESSEN No relationship is perfect, ever. There are always some ways you have to bend, to compromise, to giv... SARAH DESSEN Love is needing someone. Love is putting up with someone's bad qualities because they somehow comple... SARAH DESSEN I don't know," I said. "What else did you do for your first eighteen years?" "Like I said," he ... SARAH DESSEN Music is a total constant. That's why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Bec... SARAH DESSEN Some things don't last forever, but some things do. Like a good song, or a good book, or a good memo... SARAH DESSEN I am coming to terms with the fact that loving someone requires a leap of faith, and that a soft lan... SARAH DESSEN This is the problem with dealing with someone who is actually a good listener. They don’t jump in ... SARAH DESSEN I don't lie." "You don't lie," I repeated. "That's what I said." "Ever." "Nope."... SARAH DESSEN for once, you believed in yourself. you believed you were beautiful and so did the rest of the world... SARAH DESSEN I don't live in New York or California. I'm in the grocery store, at the park with my kids, ... SARAH DESSEN I'm always hopeful. I feel like I'm at the prom sitting against the wall waiting for someone... SARAH DESSEN When I was a teen, I was never really into the captain of the football team or the student body pres... SARAH DESSEN It's not always easy being her daughter.' I think,' she said, 'sometimes it's hard no ma... SARAH DESSEN I thought this was a cookout. You know, dogs and burgers, Tater Tots, ambrosia salad" Dexter picked ... SARAH DESSEN Oh, God," I said. "No, it's Dexter," he replied, offering me his hand, which I ignored. He... SARAH DESSEN What the hell," I said, pushing off the wall, ready to take off the head of whatever stupid salesper... SARAH DESSEN But you, fine sir." John Miller clapped Dexter on the shoulder, a bit unsteadily. "You have problems... SARAH DESSEN Plastic ware," he said slowly, "like knives and forks and spoons?" I brushed a bit of dirt off ... SARAH DESSEN Are those the only options? Nothing or forever? SARAH DESSEN I just thought to my self, all of a sudden, that we had something in common. A natural chemistry, if... SARAH DESSEN I was born in 1970 in Illinois, but all the life I remember I've spent in Chapel Hill, N.C. SARAH DESSEN Outside, the ocean was crashing, waves hitting sand, then pulling back to sea. I thought of everythi... SARAH DESSEN Maybe if I'd agreed to do the debutante thing like she wanted. Or taken up pageants instead of ridin... SARAH DESSEN Relationships dont always make sense. Especially from the outside SARAH DESSEN Maybe the truth was, it shouldn't be so easy to be amazing. Then everything would be. It's the thing... SARAH DESSEN Accepting all the good and bad about someone. It's a great thing to aspire to. The hard part is actu... SARAH DESSEN Stuff that would be weird in the bright light of day just wasn't so much once you passed a certain h... SARAH DESSEN Really, it had been stupid to expect anything anyway. A few late nights does not a habit, or a relat... SARAH DESSEN I sat up, sliding them off, and the quiet around me did not, for once, seem empty and vast. Instead,... SARAH DESSEN Look, everyone mourns at their own pace. Maybe you're just a little bit ahead of her, but she'll get... SARAH DESSEN She bought seeds and raided nurseries and mulched and composted and spent full days with her hands f... SARAH DESSEN But anyone can begin. It was the part with all the promise, the potential, the things I loved. More ... SARAH DESSEN There's just something obvious about emptiness, even when you try to convince yourself otherwise. SARAH DESSEN Macy: “In Truth,” I said, “there are no rules other than you have to tell the truth.” W... SARAH DESSEN funny how a beautiful song could tell such a sad story SARAH DESSEN Life shouldn't be about the either/or. We're capable of more than that, you know? SARAH DESSEN Not everything's perfect, especially in the beginning. And its all right to have a little bit of reg... SARAH DESSEN Well, it's true that I have been hurt in my life. Quite a bit. But it's also true that I have loved,... SARAH DESSEN She knew I could tell with one glance, one look, one simple instant. It was her eyes. Despite the th... SARAH DESSEN I didnt pay atteniton to times or distance, instead focusing on how it felt just to be in motion, kn... SARAH DESSEN Wherever you will go, I will let you down, But this lullaby goes on. SARAH DESSEN I am still the center sister. But I see it differently now. There has to be a middle. Without it, no... SARAH DESSEN Maybe not," she said as we came to the car. "But maybe that isn't so bad. You can't love anyone that... SARAH DESSEN Remy: Did you really believe, that first day, that we were meant to be together? Dexter: ... SARAH DESSEN Love is so unpredictable. That's what makes it so great. SARAH DESSEN Silence is so freaking loud SARAH DESSEN Maybe other writers have perfect first drafts, but I am not one of them. I always try to get the boo... SARAH DESSEN You're not supposed to have it all figured out in high school. If you knew it all, and it was th... SARAH DESSEN I'd still thought that everything I thought about that night-the shame, the fear-would fade in time.... SARAH DESSEN Despite my dad's assurances I was strangely nervous my stomach tight ever since we'd hung up. Maybe ... SARAH DESSEN That was the hard thing about grief, and the grieving. They spoke another language, and the words we... SARAH DESSEN because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. no matter what... SARAH DESSEN I've never envied the person who had to put my books together in one script. SARAH DESSEN Sometimes, you get things right the first time. Others, the second. But the third time, they say, is... SARAH DESSEN He glanced over at me. 'Scared? Of Reggie? What, she thinks he might force her to give up caffeine f... SARAH DESSEN In midair, dangling lost above the world. SARAH DESSEN And so we stood there in the kitchen, my mother and I, facing off over everything that had built up ... SARAH DESSEN And to know me, as you have discovered, is to love me. SARAH DESSEN Sometimes you dont even want to think aout what people are doing with their groceries. SARAH DESSEN Best Friends. And I thought of what she had done all the millions of times I cried to he... SARAH DESSEN Why don't you ever wait a second and see what I'm planning, or thinking, before you burst in with yo... SARAH DESSEN I didn't want to leave things the way we had, unresolved, ... and tried to tell myself he cared abou... SARAH DESSEN It was something I couldn't put my finger on or define clearly, but a whole mishmash of words and in... SARAH DESSEN As far as I was concerned, we'd come to a draw: I hadn't wanted to come, and she didn't want me to l... SARAH DESSEN The language of solace, and comets, and the girls we all become, in the end. SARAH DESSEN This world is an awful/ugly place not to have a best friend. SARAH DESSEN its reall bad SARAH DESSEN Just like that, with one phone call, she was a daughter again. SARAH DESSEN I hoped that Grace would be a little bit of the best of all of us: Scarlett's spirit, and my mother'... SARAH DESSEN If you have just one person believe in you, you'll always find your way SARAH DESSEN You can't just plan a moment when things get back on track, just as you can't plan the moment you lo... SARAH DESSEN And that was it; it was so easy for her. My own memories did not even belong to me. But I knew she w... SARAH DESSEN I knew I had to keep him to myself, as I'd slowly begun to keep everything. We had secrets now, trut... SARAH DESSEN He wasn't what I'd thought he was; maybe he never had been. I wasn't what I'd thought I was, either. SARAH DESSEN When I pictured myself, it was always like just an outline in a coloring book, with the inside not y... SARAH DESSEN Mom." I couldn't believe she was doing this again. She was taking this moment, this time when I was ... SARAH DESSEN I wondered again why the right thing always seemed to be met with so much resistance, when you'd thi... SARAH DESSEN Macon: “It’s true. And if that doesn’t work, use the Jedi Mind Trick. But only if you really h... SARAH DESSEN Don't be a fool. Don't give up something important to hold onto someone who can't even say they love... SARAH DESSEN I've given lots of people chances," she said suddenly, as if Marion was still in the room to hear us... SARAH DESSEN I watched my mother do what she did best, and realized there would never be a way to cut myself from... SARAH DESSEN You can't just turn your heart off like a faucet; you have to go to the source and dry it out, drop ... SARAH DESSEN You can't just plan a moment when things get back on track, just as you can't plan the moment you lo... SARAH DESSEN What is family? They were the people who claimed you. In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they we... SARAH DESSEN Because this is what happens when you try to run from the past. It just doesn’t catch up, it overt... SARAH DESSEN Sometimes it seems safer to hold it all in, where the only person who can judge is yourself. SARAH DESSEN The bottom line is, what defines you isn't how many times you crash, but the number of times you get... SARAH DESSEN An ending was an ending. No matter how many pages of sentences and paragraphs of great stories led u... SARAH DESSEN So many times it seemed like there were chances to stop things before they started. Or even stop the... SARAH DESSEN Friends are honest with each other. Even if the truth hurts. -Maggie SARAH DESSEN Two a.m.' He swallowed, then said, "You know. The person you can call at two a.m. and, no matter wha... SARAH DESSEN So much had happened that morning. Yet it was this image, this moment, that i kept going back to hou... SARAH DESSEN [Adam picks up the camera] "I have to get a shot of this." The reaction in the room was swift, ... SARAH DESSEN You get what you give, but also what you're willing to take. SARAH DESSEN It didn't make you noble to step away from something that wasn't working, even if you thought you we... SARAH DESSEN There's a kind of radar that you get, after years of being talked about and made fun of by other peo... SARAH DESSEN You can't make any one person your world. The trick is to take what each can give you and build a wo... SARAH DESSEN Hate Spinnerbait! SARAH DESSEN It's a lot easier to be lost than found. It's the reason we're always searching and rarely discovere... SARAH DESSEN It doesn't matter, anyway, why you like me. Just that you do. SARAH DESSEN Suddenly, I was just sure he was going to kiss me. He was there, I could feel his breath, the ground... SARAH DESSEN There was something so heavy about the burden of history, of the past. I wasn't sure I had it in me ... SARAH DESSEN Oh for God's sake,' Heather said, 'I wish you two would just go out, fail miserably as a couple, and... SARAH DESSEN It's a great compliment that people think they're fast reads. It's always funny to me because it tak... SARAH DESSEN Wherever you will go, I will let you down, But this lullaby goes on. SARAH DESSEN I think my mother characters have changed a lot since Sasha was born, just because I understand what... SARAH DESSEN With love like that, you can't get pick about how it finds you or the details. All that matters is t... SARAH DESSEN You want me to give her a key?" the guy asked. "I want you to give her a possibility," she told... SARAH DESSEN What was it like to be so confident even in your failings that you weren't the least bit bothered wh... SARAH DESSEN Look,” he said, “the point is there’s no way to be a hundred percent sure about anyone or anyt... SARAH DESSEN Your mother won a special reward," she told me, "because everyone had a head in her pictures. We all... SARAH DESSEN Rogerson," I asked him sweetly as we sat watching a video in the pool house, "where would I find the... SARAH DESSEN I'd heard of Evergreen Care Center before. Cass and I had always made fun of the stupid ads they ran... SARAH DESSEN Nothing like being scolded by a hippie. SARAH DESSEN After all, it's all kinds of things that make up a life, right? The big, like falling in love and sp... SARAH DESSEN I knew this feeling, the 2 a.m. loneliness that I'd practically invented. SARAH DESSEN Maybe we were all destined to just keep doing the same stupid things, over and over again, never rea... SARAH DESSEN After the group vet appointment--during which Lyle scratched the vet, the vet tech, and some poor wo... SARAH DESSEN It [I'm leaving] wasn't really necessary to say, especially if you were already walking away. Almost... SARAH DESSEN It was so risky and so scary, and yet at the same time, so beautiful. Maybe the truth was, it should... SARAH DESSEN When you don't know where you're going, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing to have more than you need. SARAH DESSEN That's not a real answer.' Says who?' Says me. I mean real fear, like of failure, of death... SARAH DESSEN It's hard to be nice when the rest of the world is so mean. SARAH DESSEN I want the white one SARAH DESSEN As Isabel acted out her date, both of them laughing, I stayed in the kitchen, out of sight, and pret... SARAH DESSEN Isn't it weird," I said, "the way you remember things, when someone's gone?" What do you mean?"... SARAH DESSEN I can still see Boo sitting there on the floor, cross-legged, holding my Ken and watching my face as... SARAH DESSEN So what's your doll's name?" Boo asked me. "Barbie," I said. "All their names are Barbie." SARAH DESSEN Why should I even bother? What's the point, really?" He thought for a moment. "Who says there h... SARAH DESSEN I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be one of so many, to have not just parents and siblings... SARAH DESSEN If someone is really close with you, your getting upset or them getting upset is okay, and they don�... SARAH DESSEN Restoring order of my personal universe suddenly seemed imperative, as I refolded my T-shirts, stuff... SARAH DESSEN There were so many places in my time with Rogerson that I wished I could go back to, hitting the sto... SARAH DESSEN That's what this has been all about for you, correct? Make it clear. That you and me--it was nothing... SARAH DESSEN And for one second, it was like I could feel the timing clicking together, finally pieces falling in... SARAH DESSEN Sometimes, you have to manufacture your own history. Give fate a push, so to speak. SARAH DESSEN It was amazing how you could get so far from where you'd planned, and yet find it was exactly were y... SARAH DESSEN These were always the weirdest trips for me, when it was midnight or even later, and we pulled up to... SARAH DESSEN You couldn't just pick and choose at will when someone depended on you, or loved you. It wasn't like... SARAH DESSEN Story of my life. SARAH DESSEN instead, we just sat there, together but really apart, watching a show about a stranger and all her ... SARAH DESSEN I understood now. This voice, the one that had been trying to get my attention all this time, callin... SARAH DESSEN I am the middle sister. The one in between. Not oldest, not youngest, not boldest, not nicest. I am ... SARAH DESSEN I'd been convinced I was on the outside, but really, I'd always been within arm's reach. All I had t... SARAH DESSEN Because this is what happens when you try to run from the past. it doesn't just catch up: it overtak... SARAH DESSEN Because the truth sometimes hurts," I said. Yeah," he said. "So do lies, though. SARAH DESSEN