V

“Have you ever been in love? Horrible isn’t it? It makes you so vulnerable. It opens your chest and it opens up your heart and it means that someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up all these defenses, you build up a whole suit of armor, so that nothing can hurt you, then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life…You give them a piece of you. They didn’t ask for it. They did something dumb one day, like kiss you or smile at you, and then your life isn’t your own anymore. Love takes hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like ‘maybe we should be just friends’ turns into a glass splinter working its way into your heart. It hurts. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It’s a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain. I hate love.”

“I think I’ll always be waiting to see your name. I think I’ll always be waiting for you to care.”

“You will always undoubtedly be one of the greatest things to ever happen to me. Thank you for that. For making life a bit more exciting.”

“They told me that I’ll meet someone better, someone who’d treat me the way I deserved to be. But they don’t get it, don’t they? I just want it to be you. Only you.”

“Scary how much I’m willing to do for another person. You’re nothing special, really. It’s just that I love you very much.”