“The things we take for granted. The things we never feel we’ll lose. Not missing the water until the well runs dry, and hundreds more tired idioms and metaphors to build monument to the fact that I was drinking in every detail of Dominic’s body like the precious thing it was, quenching the thirst of years with visions of flesh and beauty. It was impossible to believe, suddenly, that I had ever known beauty and excitement before.”

“My whole body felt light, unguarded. I leaned in without even thinking about it, not too much at least, and kissed Dominic’s lips. I felt him smile against my mouth and it was like the openness of the bridge and the river and the sky and the city got bigger and more infinite as we pressed together, warming each other, happy. So very happy. Ever after.That must be what it feels like, to dream of flying.”

“I never thought people actually woke up the way I did that morning. I always figured it was hyperbole and massive overcompensation to say that you woke up grinning, woke up in a state of contentment and excitement for the smallest things. Even while I was in love formerly, it seemed more like a comfortable thing rather than a giddy, overwhelming happiness. Realize, then, that I had never been joined in a mutual state of infatuation with someone else. My infatuations tended to be unrequited, accompanied by a sense of muted sadness. I sat up at 7:00a.m. without even waiting for the alarm, and kept still there, smiling, looking at nothing and going over yesterday’s conversations, the fevered symphony of emotion ringing forever in my ears.I fell back and actually laughed to myself, reaching for my glasses to slide them on as I stretched out my back comfortably in a lazy, half-waking state.You are in love.”

“This was beautiful, this was us.”

“I wonder if I loved him because I thought no one like you would ever come along.”

“Sleepy, I kissed the juncture of his collarbone, and we said goodnight as my heart ached the way it normally did with the power of what I felt. All combined, it was a magnificent feeling. But it was also a little inexplicable. Somehow, it worried me, the intensity of that feeling. The fear beneath it.”Excerpt From: Nicolaie, Alexandra. “Sublimation.” iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.”

“I had nothing to feel guilty about. I had no one to answer to. I could look back upon my short life with Scott and I could smile. My youth and my happiness, I had once thought bitterly, had been taken from me prematurely, and without anything to fill the void left by their absence. But they were being reclaimed, fought for, declared the property of someone who was brave enough to suffer me, to try and understand me.”