Funny Story

He is so obviously pleased that I can’t help but feel a crush of affection for him.

Unless it was major depressive episode.”

“That was snobby,” I say. “The comment about the odd jobs.”

He shrugs. “You didn’t mean anything by it.”

I didn’t. But Peter, I can now admit, definitely had.

“Things go smoother if you don’t let people get a rise out of you,” he says. “If you give them control over how you feel, they’ll always use it.”

exactly the kind of person he can’t handle being with, and he’s exactly the kind who could destroy me,” I explain.
“Honey.” Ashleigh touches my hand. “That’s how it works. That’s love.”

Now I realize I’d just been slotting myself into his life, leaving me without my own.

his family always treated birthdays like huge personal successes rather than markers of time.

hey think they’re being the bigger people right now. But they don’t get to be the bigger people. For the next few years, they have to live with being the assholes.”

“but being on the water always does feel like what I imagine church is for some people.”
“I get that,” I say. “Out here, you’re small and there’s no one else around, but you’re not lonely. It’s like you’re connected to everyone and everything.”

You can’t force a person to show up, but you can learn a lesson when they don’t.