Jenny Han

“My dad used to say that with everything in life, there's the game-changing moment. That one moment everything else hinges upon, but you hardly ever know it at the time.The three-pointer early on in the second quarter that changes up the whole tempo of the game. Wakes people up, brings them back to life. It all goes back to that one moment.”

“It’s the kind of love that doesn’t know better and doesn’t want to—it’s dizzy and foolish and fierce.”

“Because sometimes words were so pitifully inadequate, and I knew that, but I had to try anyway.”

“The air tasted just the same, smelled just the same. The wind making my hair feel sticky, the salty sea breeze, all of it felt just right. Like it had been waiting for me to get there.”

“It was like coming home after you'd been gone a long, long time. It held a million promises of summer and of what just might be.”

“Underneath my lashes I watched him, and I thought,Come back. Be the you I love and remember”

“He acted like he didn't hear me. "He will let you down, because that's what he does. That's who he is." For the rest of my life, I was going to remember those words. Everything Jeremiah said to me that day, our wedding day, I would remember. I would remember the words Jeremiah said and the way he looked at me with them. With pity, and with bitterness. I hated myself for being the one who made him bitter, because that was one thing he'd never been. I reached up and laid my palm on his cheek. He could have pushed my hand away, he could have recoiled at my touch. He didn't. Just that one tiny thing told me what I needed to know - that Jere was still Jere and nothing could ever change that.”

“He will let you down, because that's what he does. That's who he is.”

“I need you to know that no matter what happens, it was worth it to me. Being with you, loving you. It was all worth it.”

“I sank onto the deck. My heart was pounding a million trillion times a minute. I never felt more alive. Anger, sadness, joy. He made me feel it all. No one else had that kind of effect on me. No one.”

“You were gullible," he said. And then, "When you were really little, you hated carrots. You wouldn't eat them. But then I told you that if you ate carrots, you'd get X-ray vision. And you believed me. You believed everything I said." I did. I really did. I believed him when he said that carrots could give me X-ray vision. I believed him when he told me that he'd never cared about me. And then, later that night, when he tried to take it back, I guess I believed him again. Now I didn't know what to believe. I just knew I didn't believe in him anymore.”

“Some girls are pretty and they were born for it but no matter what always be yourself because people might see the wrong side of you”

“I knew that now—that love wasn’t something you could do away with, no matter how hard you tried.”

“You can't put being in love on a scale. Either you are or you aren't.”

“When he backed away, his pupils were huge and unfocused. He blinked, and then he cleared his throat. "Belly," he said, and his voice was foggy. He didn't say anything else, just my name. "Do you still--" Care. Think about me. Want me. Roughly, he said, "Yes. Yes, I still." And then we were kissing again.”

“When she leaned forward to mess with the AC vents, her hair brushed against my leg and it was really soft. It made remember all over again. It made it hard to stay pissed and keep her at arm's length the way I'd planned. It was pretty near damn impossible. When I was near her, I just wanted to grab her and hold her and kiss the shit out of her. Maybe then she'd forget about my asshole of a brother.”

“There have been other girls. But they weren't her.”

“It’s hard to throw away history. It was like you were throwing away a part of yourself.”

“The brief walk--from the screened-in porch outside to the Hearse--was one of those moments he knew he'd remember and look back on, one of those moments that he'd try to capture in the stories he told. Nothing was happening, really, but the moment was thick with mattering.”

“A memory, pressed into my heart like a leaf in a book.”

“I remembered when he'd explained the concept of infinity to me. Immeasurable, one moment stretching out to the next.”

“I could feel my insides sink. My knees too. So I sat on the ground, against the wall, letting it support me. I thought I knew what heartbreak felt like. I thought heartbreak was me, standing alone at the prom. That was nothing. This, this was heartbreak. The pain in your chest, the ache behind your eyes. The knowing that things will never be the same again. It’s all relative, I suppose. You think you know love, you think you know real pain, but you don’t. You don’t know anything.”

“I loved the feeling of talking and having somebody really listen to what I have to say. It was like a high or something.”

“I could survive for months, years, on a crush. It was like food. It could sustain me.”

“Everything in my room was old and faded, but I loved that about it. It felt like there might be secrets in the walls, in the four-poster bed, especially in that music box.”

“Some girls are pretty, and it’s like they were destined for it. They were meant to be pretty, and as for the rest of us, well, we get to exist on the outer edges of life. It’s like moths. They’re the same as butterflies, aren’t they? They’re just gray. They can’t help being gray, they just are. But butterflies, they’re a million different colors, yellow and emerald and cerulean blue. They’re pretty. Who’d dare kill a butterfly? I don’t know of a single soul who’d lift a finger against a butterfly. But most anybody would swat at a moth like it was nothing, and all because it isn’t pretty. Doesn’t seem fair, not at all.”

“Hans axlar skakade. Han grät. Det kändes som om hjärtat skulle brista i mig när jag hörde honom vädja så där, när jag såg honom så blottad och sårbar.”

“Jag ville inte att min kärlek en dag skulle slockna som en fallande stjärna. Jag ville att den skulle brinna för alltid.”

“Jag slog näven i vattnet. Fan ta honom.Det här är en sak mellan mig och Belly.Den självbelåtne jäveln.Han skulle gifta sig med min tjej och jag kunde inte göra någonting åt det.Jag kunde bara stå och titta på, eftersom han var min bror, eftersom jag lovat.Ta hand om honom, Connie. Jag litar på dig.”

“När hon kom ut från duschen, påklädd och med blött hår,tittade hon på mig med den där hoppfulla blicken, och jag tittade tillbaka som om jag inte kände igen henne.Helt tom. Jag såg hur hennes blick slocknade. Jag såg hur hennes kärlek till mig dog.Jag hade dödat den.”

“Screw you! You're a crappy best friend!!!”

“It's not all of a sudden," he said, his eyes locked on mine. "It's always.”

“I loved him in a way you can really on do the first time around. It's the kind of love that doesn't know better and doesn't want to - it's dizzy and foolish and fierce.”

“I hoped I never saw him again. If I ever had to look at him again, if he looked at me the way he did that day, it would break me.”

“Hearing him say it now, that is was my birthday present, touched me in the last place I wanted him to touch me. My heart.”

“Firsts were important. But I was pretty sure lasts were even more important.”

“My heart was pounding a million trillion times a minute. I never felt more alive. Anger, sadness, joy. He made me feel it all. No one else had that kind of effect on me. No one.”

“When Conrad Fisher told a girl he loved her, he meant it. A girl could believe in that. A girl could maybe even bet her whole life on it.”

“I don’t know if i’ll ever get you out of my system, not completely. I have… this feeling. That you’ll always be there. Here.”

“Conrad and I were linked, we would always be linked. That wasn't something I could do away with. I knew that now- that love wasn't something you could erase, no matter how hard you tired.”

“He took a step closer. "I don't know if I'll ever get you out of my system, not completely. I have this... feeling. That you'll always be there. Here." Conrad clawed at his heart and then dropped his hand.”

“I decided Conrad was right after all. Ilsa was meant to be with Laszlo. That was the way it was always supposed to end. Rick was nothing but a tiny piece of her past, a piece that she would always treasure, but that was all, because history is just that. History.”

“Make love or make war shug, but make something happen.”

“I go wherever you go,' he says, launching us into the water.This is our start. This is the moment it becomes real. We are married. We are infinite. Me and Conrad. The first boy I ever slow danced with, ever cried over. Ever loved.”

“So are you gonna cry about it like a punk, or are you gonna do something?”

“Happiness is a Slurpee and a hot pink straw.”

“When boy likes you, you say no thank you. You don't kick him on the ground.”

“We are married. We are infinite. Me and Conrad. The first boy I ever slow danced with, ever cried over. Ever loved”

“Necesito que sepas que pase lo que pase, ha valido la pena para mí. Estar junto a ti, amarte. Siempre valió la pena.”

“I punched my hand through the water. I wanted to kick his ass. 'This is between me and Belly.' Smug piece of shit." - Conrad Fisher”