Elizabeth Chandler

“Do you know what it was like kissing Holly and looking up to see you?""What?""You said to begin anywhere."But I hadn't expected that as a beginning, middle or end. I felt my cheeks getting warm. "I guess it was pretty embarrassing for both of us," I said, and walked ahead of him so he wouldn't see my face. "I know, I just kept staring at you.""What were you thinking?""I don't remember.""Don't you start using that line," he chided."Then don't ask me, Nick." Did he suspect how I felt.He caught me and turned me around to face him. I focused on his shirt. "Okay," he said quietly, "I'll tell you what I was thinking. I couldn't believe that I, who was never going to get hooked, had fallen in love with a girl who didn't want to date, and she was watching me kiss somebody else."I glanced up."Your turn, brave girl. What were you thinking?""That Holly looked beautiful in your arms and that you didn't pull away from her the way you had pulled away from me when I kissed you."He drew me to him. "I'm not pulling away again," he said holding me close.”

“I had discovered that there was something more painful than falling in love with someone who hasn't fallen for you; hurting that person-hurting him and not being able to do anything about it.”

“Hey, does my stupidity give you the right to bruise a tender heart?""Yeah, yeah. I'm bruising a heart made of Play-Doh.”

“Are you lost?"I turned around. "Excuse me?"Two guys were sprawled on a bench close to the sidewalk. The one who had spoken wore tattered shorts and a colonial three-cornered hat-nothing else. He had wide shoulders and long, muscular legs. He stretched dramatically, then lay his tanned arm along the back of the bench. "You look lost," he said. "Can I help you find something?""Uh, no, thanks. I was just looking."He grinned. "Me too.""Oh?" I glanced around, thinking I'd missed something. "At what?"He and his friend burst out laughing. Way to go, Lauren, I thought. He had been looking at me!”

“When a writer looked at an empty computer screen, what did she see? Tristan wondered. A movie screen ready to be lit with faces? A night sky with one small star blinking at the top, a universe ready to be written on? Endless possibilities. Love's endless twists and turns - and all love's impossibilities.”

“I'll never stop wanting to kiss you," he whispered.”

“I'm not supposed to date you, Jenny.""That's what you said before."He leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "I didn't think this was going to be a problem. I mean, I'm pretty good at not letting someone become important to me. I have to be if I want to make it to L.A.""I understand."He laughed. "How nice of you to understand, since you're the one making it a struggle for me! It would be so easy to make you important.”

“When you love someone, its never over. You move on, because you have to but you take them with you in your heart”

“He can't remeber who he is or where he lives.""Well that's convenient.""Not when it rains.”

“Let's just say that if you were stealing TVs instead of thoughts, you would have been caught by a half-deaf, mostly blind, fifteen year old dog three robberies ago.”

“The problem for me is that I can't ever really see who Gregory is, any more than I can see what a mirror by itself looks like, because he reflects whoever's around him.”

“You fell in love with me?”

“I leaned back against him and rested my cheek on his shoulder. I could feel the river water dripping off of him."Thank you" I whispered. When I looked up, I saw he was crying.”

“It was Nick's voice Nick's arms. He turned me on my back and swam with me, pulling me to the bank.”

“So are you turning out like them? Do you still write and draw?""yeah, but I don't do anything personnal or profound. My parents take life way to seriousely. I lke to make people laugh. I had a regular cartoon feature in the school news paper and created some for the year book. Social satire stuff. I've done a couple of political cartoons for wisteria's paper and just got one accepted in Easton's, which has a much bigger circulation. Impressed?”

“You've grown up, girl. You've grown up real nice, Welcome home”

“I took a step back."Here." He plunked his wet hat on my head. "Don't go anywhere," he told me, then turned away.”

“Nick? Nick Hurley?" I asked, laughing.He took back his hat. "You'll be sorry to hear I don't make gross faces as much as I used to. Now I'd rather smile at girls.""I noticed"He waved his hat around as if he was trying to dry it, his green eyes sparkling at me, as full of fun and trouble as when he was in elementary school. I realxed.”

“You've changed," he said. "You're-uh-""Yes?""Taller.""I hope so. I was ten the last time you saw me.""And your hair's really dark now-and short," he added.”

“I should have known it. You still have those chocolate-kiss eyes.”

“Ten, I thought, he's definitely a ten”

“Then come on up. DO everyone a favor and shut me up," he said. "Put down your money, pick up that ball, and let it fly, looker." "I'd rather not"People laughed.He flapped his arms and squawked like a chicken "Afraid you can't throw that far?""I know I can"He lifted his hat in a small salute to my claim. Blond curls slipped out, then he plopped the hat back on and said, "I dare you.”

“Hi" he said"Hi""I'd like to kiss you" He waited a moment for my response, then added, "Or, if you rather, we can dance, as long as we can get you unstuck." "I think I'm in deep.""Me, too," he said, looking into my eyes.His head moved closer to mine. Then he lifted his hand, cupping my cheek ever so gently. His lips touched my lips, light as a butterfly, once, twice.The kisses were so lovely, so lovely I couldn't help it-I did a totally stupid, uncool thing. I sighed.I heard the laughter rumbling inside Nick and I started to pull away. But his arms wrapped around me. He held me close and pressed his lips against mine. A thrill went through me. I kissed him back-I didn't think about it, just kissed him with all that my heart felt.”

“So what don't you get?""The way people talk and act like they're crazy in love, and then, ding, suddenly they'renot. It's like it was all just pretend. Like it's just a game."He crunched on an ice cube. "Well, sometimes it is just a game.""Then how are you supposed to believe someone when it isn't?”

“Things change when someone special comes into your life. Both sides have to give up things. The one thing you don't give up in a good relationship is you--whatever makes you most you. - Jim Olsten (Jane's Grandpa)”

“A storm was brewing. The wind has picked up and a mass of purple clouds was coming in from the West. It felt good to have my hair whipping around my head. I thought it might feel good to have hail beat down on me. Sometimes storms outside are the only relief for storms inside...”

“This isn't some kind of game for me. I love you, Ivy Lyons, and one day you're going to believe me.- Tristan Carruthers -”

“Fix yourself something to drink," she said. "I don't have any Mr. Pepper.""You mean Dr. Pepper?""For the love of God!" She exploded. "People expect everything from a psychic! 'Doctor,' 'mister,' I was close enough. I didn't call it 'Mrs. Salt,' did I?”

“This isn't a game for me. I love you, Ivy, and one day you're going to believe me.”

“I love you, Ivy. I'll never stop loving you."She leaned against the winsow, looking out on a pale and glittering night. She looked through tears.I prayed for one more chance to reach you," he said, "to tell you how much I love you and to tell you to keep on loving. Someone else was meant for you, Ivy, and you were meant for someone else."She stood up straight. "No."Yes, love," he said, softly but firmly.No!"Promise me, Ivy-"I'll promise you nothing but that I love you," she cried.Listen to me," Tristan pleaded. "You know I can't stay any longer."The pale, glittering night was raining now, and fresh tears gleamed on her cheeks, but he had to leave.I love you," he said. "I love you. Love him.- Tristan Carruthers -”

“I wouldn't have been sent back to help you," Tristan continued. "I wouldn't have been made an angel if it weren't important that you live, Ivy. I want you to be mine" -Ivy could hear the pain in his voice- "but you're not.""I am!" she cried out loud."We're on different sides of a river," he said, "and it's a river that neither of us can cross. You were meant for somebody else.”

“I glanced up at him. "I love things that are beautiful when you don't expect them to be.”

“It's been my experience," he continued, "that when you're with the right people, you feel more like yourself than ever. There's a happiness, and a feeling of coming alive to yourself and the other person, that's like nothing else.”

“There's a gentleness about April that made me ache. It seemed like I was always on the run, always working and chasing some goal or another, but April had a way of holding me still. And then I'd begin to hurt and yearn for something I couldn't describe, something I hadn't known yet. All I knew was the ache itself and the strange, sweet feeling it was.”

“Who's that little brunette?" Suzanne asked. "I hate little petite types. Gregory doesn't look right with someone petite. Little face, little hands, little dainty feet." "Big boobs," Beth said, glancing up.”

“How would you feel about sharing your bed?" she asked. Tristan blinked. "Excuse me?" "He'd love to!" Gary said. Tristan shot him a look, "Good," said Ivy, failing to notice Gary's wink. "Ella can be a pillow hog, but all you have to do is roll over her.”

“Quick, how do you pick up a cat?""Buy her a drink.”

“I felt mocked. "That's what I get for trusting you."He took a step back. "Excuse me! Trust doesn't mean you get the response you want from someone, but that you'll get an honest response, and that the other person will stick by you even when you can't agree."Stick by you for how long, through how much? I wondered. What is the expiration date on trust? ”