“A girl can dream."His eyebrows rose. "Is that what you dream about? Being a monster?""Not exactly," I said, frowning at his word choice. Monster, indeed. "Mostly I dream about being with you forever.”

“Mostly I dream about being with you forever.”

“What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?”

“His lion and hippo legs twitched. I wondered if netherworld monsters dreamed of chasing rabbits.”

“I felt, that night, on that stage, under that skull, incredibly close to everything in the universe, but also extremely alone. I wondered, for the first time in my life, if life was worth all the work it took to live. What exactly made it worth it? What's so horrible about being dead forever, and not feeling anything, and not even dreaming? What's so great about feeling and dreaming?”

“I can't stop thinking about you," he whispers. He moves in, closer, lips pausing inches from mine. Wraps his arms around me, pulling me into him. I let out a quick gasp of air. "I dream about you," he murmurs, eyes grasping mine."You don't sleep," I choke, feeling a delirious passion coursing through my veins."I dream about your smile. About touching you. I dream about being with you. Like this.”