The Upside of Falling

Read to me.”

“Why?”

“Because you go somewhere else when you read. I want to go there with you.”

And with all the downsides of love, you managed to show me the upside,”

It’s not our fault for not giving them a reason to stay. It’s their fault for not finding one.

I’m guessing you want to be the prince?”

“Only if you’re the princess.”

I knew a lot about love. I knew there were two kinds: 1) real love and 2) fictional love. The real kind was what I thought my parents had, pre-divorce. The fictional kind was what I’d preferred since.

Love was destructive, dangerous.

It was like, if love couldn’t exist in reality, at least it was alive in fiction. Between the pages it was safe.
The heartbreak was contained. There was no aftermath, no shock waves. I mean, there’s a reason all books end right after the couple gets together. No one wants to keep reading long enough to see the happily ever after turn into an unhappily ever after. Right?

“I think I’m in love with you,”

I love you too,

I was thinking more of a twelve.