Stacey Jay

“We'll go down to the stream behind the house with a bottle of wine and none of our clothes and remind each other that--even in the midst of so much goodness--there are delightful ways to be wicked. And we'll swim and laugh and kiss, and the stars will shine, beautiful and bright, but Ariel will always shine brighter.At least for me.”

“And then she turns to look at me with the same look in her eyes, and I melt the way I always do. I am the luckiest man in any world, a soul transformed, pulled back from the abyss and blessed with love more powerful than evil or death or time or space or any of the rules."I love you," I whisper.She smiles. "Two thousand and twenty-four," she says, and then she kisses me. And it is still the best kiss.”

“There is only one thing solid enough to hold on to and it is her. I love her. She is my other half, my second chance, the only way in the world I could have learned to be more than a monster. Her weakness showed me my strength, her faith made me believe, her love made me whole. I will never forget her, and I wont let her go.”

“She is so beautiful. Perfect. Mine.No. Not mine. I am hers.”

“Forever," I echo, and for the first time, I know that forever is a promise I can keep. I will love her forever, until the world crumbles and this memory is the only thing keeping me sane.”

“My chest aches, but not with fear or sadness. With hope. With love. I love her. I love her, and it is better than anything else I can remember. "You found me.”

“I sigh into her and give up the fight. My fingers thread through her hair, pulling her closer, knowing I'll never get enough of her. She intoxicates me, but not in the way that leaves a man senseless. She lifts me up like a breath of sweet air, like sun on my skin, like...god.No, not god. Like the idea of god, the one I imagined when I was a boy.”

“It’s only sixteen ninety-five," I say with a flutter of my lashes."You’re serious."I prop my hands on my waist and stick out a hip, striking a pose worthy of a supermodel. "Look at me. Don’t I look serious?"She collapses into the chair outside the dressing room in a fit of giggles so cute they make my insides fizz. "No! You must be stopped," she says."Why?" I strut down an aisle of yellowed lingerie, swiveling my hips, batting bras with flicks of my fingers. "I will be the king of the disco. I will be—" I spin and strike another pose. "An inspiration."She sniffs and swipes at her eyes. "The real Dylan would die before he’d be seen in public in something like that.""The real Dylan is boring." I brace my hands on the arms of her chair and lean down until our faces are a whisper apart. "And he’s not one fourth the kisser I am.""Is that right?" Her lips quirk."You know it is."Her smile melts, and her breath comes faster. "Yeah. I do.”

“There's something weird about that guy," she whispers as she slips into the car, bringing an unexpected smile to my face.Ah, Ariel. Some might say she has poor taste, but I cant help but be flattered.Take that, knight in shining armor. This lady prefers the knave.”

“She swallows, then adds in a horrified whisper, "I wanted you to make Jason Kim bleed. A lot."I blink, surprised. And pleased, though I know I shouldn't be. I'm supposed to be turning Ariel away from her dark side, not indulging her taste for bloodshed. But then, I didn't really believe she had one. She seems so good to me. At least, most of the time. When she isn't trying to commit murder/suicide by driving a car off the road or proclaiming her undying hatred.”

“Think your mother will let me drive you to school tomorrow? Now that we're all friends and united by a belief in the careful use of contraception?"My cheeks burn, the memory of my mother's mortifying behavior distracting me for a moment. "Yes," I mumble. "I think so.”

“The only thing better than kissing Ariel is waiting to kiss her, those moments of delicious anticipation when I know she's about to sweep through me and empty me of everything but light and desire.”

“God, I love you," I whisper, and come crashing back into my body with a suddenness that makes me gasp. I don't know what's more shocking--that I've called on the god I don't believe in, or that the lie I told felt so much like the truth.”

“She wraps her arms around my neck, pulling me in tight, and I swear I feel my soul brush against hers. I expand beyond the boundaries of Dylan's body, out until I am the waves crashing on the beach, the sun shining in her hair, the wind that sweeps over our skin. I am everything and nothing and exist only because this girl presses her heart to mine.”

“I stay where I am, watching as she lies down on her belly and scoots under the bed beside me. I imagine how different this would feel if we were both on top of the bed instead of underneath it, how easily something childlike could grow adult possibilities.”

“What are you doing here?" she demands."I--I..."I want to touch you. I want to curl into bed beside you and see if you can teach me to dream something that wont make me wake up screaming.”

“I want to woo you with food now that I've wooed you with words, song, and the magic of my interpretive dance.”

“He laughs. "Having a hard time resisting me after that dance?""That dance was..." I pretend great interest in my thumbs as I send the video file to my email and close the phone up. "Irresistible? Sensuous? Seductive?""Nauseating?”

“There’s always been sadness hidden at the core of Hitch, but it’s never been big enough to taste. Occasionally, I’d get a whiff of it, salty on the wind, but it never pressed in between us like it does now, threatening to drown us both.”

“I am not much of a mind to touch”

“The myriad of flavors explode on my tongue, shimmy through my mouth, slap my taste buds and call them filthy bastards, and I love it.”

“We believe the only truth is a truth discovered. Not told.”

“My motto for fashion: If you can’t afford to make an elegant statement, make a ridiculous one.”

“Never underestimate the allure of the Goodwill.”

“...real teenage boys aren't like characters in the books you read. They smell funny and are obsessed with video games and say dumb things. They're still learning, just like you.”

“There's no need to shout. The truth is as loud at a whisper as at a scream.”

“She blushes like a rose in bloom, though I ripped her up from the roots long ago.”

“It was like watching an angsty hormone-fueled train wreck and firmly cemented my resolve to be at least twenty-five before I considered getting hitched.”

“Get me meat. Lots of it. Meat on meat”

“Fear can force obedience, but it can never transform a heart.”

“Seven, ten, fifteen, eighteen years old and still there is nothing finer than a blank sheet of paper, the white promise that the world can be what I make it. A magical place, an adventurous place, a possible place. Erasers take away the mistakes. Another coat of paint to cover them up. Black and red and purple and blue. Always Blue.”

“She will fight for light, and he for dark, Battling through the ages for loves sweet spark. Wherever two souls adore truly, you will find them, lo, The brave Juliet and the wicked Romeo.”

“He is a romantic, a dreamer, and never afraid to play the fool. He is fearless and reckless and brave and I love him for it. Desperately.”

“We’re people who knew older versions of each other too well to ever see the new person standing in front of us.”

“Shakespeare’s enduring tragedy did its part to further the goals of the Mercenaries—glamorizing death, making dying for love seem the most noble act of all, though nothing could be further from the truth. Taking an innocent life—in a misguided attempt to prove love or for any other reason—is a useless waste.”

“Smells like homeless man's crotch. Not that I've ever been up close and personal with a homeless man's crotch, but...”

“One human life, a human heart freely given--it's the greatest gift anyone can give.”

“We're soul mates," he says. "We are forever. Our kind of love cannot be destroyed.”

“Despite the love songs humankind churns out like butter, true lovers don't come together every day. As the Mercenaries ply their trade--destroying hope, crushing compassion, inciting war and violence--soul-mated pairs are becoming an endangered species.”

“Soul-mated pairs are becoming an endangered species.”

“Is there anything hotter than a cute guy who is also armed and dangerous? I think not.”

“I know you've been through hell, but you didn't let it eat you up inside." He pauses, hugs me a little closer. "And I know you make me think the hell I've been through was worth it . . . if it's what made me recognize heaven when it jumped into my car.”

“What is he planning to do with that quarter? Hurl it at my face and hope to put an eye out? With Romeo anything can become a weapon─love, trust . . . loose change.”

“Real love has little to do with falling. It's a climb up the rocky face of a mountain, hard work, and most people are too selfish or too scared to bother. Very few reach the critical point in their relationship that summons the attention of the light and the dark, that place where they will make a commitment to love no matter what obstacles-or temptations- appear in their path.”

“Love doesn't want people to stay ignorant and frightened. Love doesn't value obedience over all else. Love doesn't judge and find some lives--or loves--more valuable than others. Love doesn't use people and throw them away. Love stays, and makes you stronger, even when the person you love is gone.”

“I love you. I want to do everything with you. I want to marry you and have kids with you and get old with you. And then I want to die the day before you do, so I never have to live without you.”

“No. I don't care if I'm not the first." His head tilts and his lips move within a whisper of mine. "As long as I'm the last.”

“Is that love, do you think?" he asks, sounding genuinely curious. "Being crazy about someone no matter how much they hurt you?”

“Now the thought of forever makes me tired. Frightened. Sad. What is forever worth? When love is so fragile and even one human life so long?”

“Because the part of me that remembers what it was like all those lifetimes ago still cares for you .. loves you.”