Variation

“To be flawlessly convincing, you should unblock my number so you can get ahold of me, assuming that’s why you never picked up any of the times I tried to call you.”

“There’s no one else. Never was. Not for either of us. They were all just placeholders.”

“Hudson, do me a favor and at least say goodbye to her this time before you go, would you? It would be a shame for me to go to jail for acting on a decade’s worth of intrusive thoughts when it comes to your demise.”

“So much for not looking at her. And seriously, they’re not allowed to date, and I don’t want to watch you get all angsty over there.”

“You know, Allie’s walls were about six feet high as a teenager, just short enough for me to peek over. I was never foolish enough to think she let me all the way in, not with the way you Rousseau girls keep secrets for each other. But now, those walls are thick as hell and easily twenty feet tall, if not more, which is fine—I know how to climb—but we both know those bricks aren’t all because of me.”

“Oh, and as for Hudson, he’s built like a Greek god and fucks like one, too, so I’m all taken care of.”

“I want an explanation as to why my best friend couldn’t be bothered to show up when I needed him most. You had days before you had to report to basic.”

“But the Rousseau sisters always had the look-but-don’t-touch vibe, and a touch-them-and-I’ll-ruin-you mother, and while I let that torch burn bright and hot before letting it go, Hudson here still carries his, and now that she’s been back in town a couple of weeks? Hudson is the Death Star, and that woman is Luke, about to blow his ass up.”

“I’m done trying to prove myself to you, pushing myself until I break, tearing my body to shreds, done trying to win your approval like it’s some kind of game where you keep moving the goalposts. I’m done. I have loved you, worshipped you, idolized you my entire life, but I no longer want your approval. Whatever I do from here on out is for me.”

“You have to stop dating those dancers. If you can’t tell someone’s working their ass off for you, then they don’t deserve you.”

“I want all of you. No masks. No walls. No more pretending what’s between us is fake when we both know it’s excruciating, and terrifying, and amazingly real. I want more than five minutes.”

“I’m not breaking up with Allie. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever, if I get a say. Letting her go was the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my life, and I’ll be damned if your inability to pull your head out of your ass is going to cost me the only chance I have with her.”

“I’m the one who needs you. I need you, I always have.”

“Would have been a way better morning if I’d woken you up with an orgasm. I do enjoy breakfast in bed.”

“The only ballet dancers I know aren’t people I’d really want to spend time with.”

“Denying you the little orgasm you almost took so I can ruin you with the one I’m going to give you.”

“You’ll come at least twice before I fuck you, Allie. I’m far from silent, and I know how to use my mouth to ensure you aren’t either.”

“I cared about you. That was a mistake I never made again. Sex is fun—necessary, even—and keeping the same partner allows for a certain level of comfort I prefer. But I don’t get jealous because I don’t get attached.”