And like my dad always said, the first step is always the hardest... by Sarah Dessen

And like my dad always said, the first step is always the hardest.

Sarah Dessen

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Categorized in : Firsts Steps Dad

She was so emotional, on the verge of tears. This was what I'd wanted to prevent with all those quick disappearances, the tangledness of farewells and all the baggage they brought with them. But now, looking at Deb, I realized what else I'd given up: knowing for sure that someone was going to miss me. What happened to goodbye, Michael in Westcott had written on my Ume.com page. I was pretty sure I knew, now. It had been packed away in a box of its own, trying to be forgotten, until I really needed it. Until now.

emotional farewell goodbye

Once she'd loved my filet mignon, my carnivore inklings, but now she was a vegan princess, living off of beans. She'd given up the cheese and bacon, sworn off Burger King, and when I wouldn't do the same she gave me back my ring. I stood there by the romaine lettuce, feeling my heart pine. Wishing that this meatless beauty still would be all mine. She turned around to go to checkout, fifteen items or less. And I knew this was the last go-round, so this is what I said. ... "Don't you ever give me no rotten tomato, 'cause all I ever wanted was your sweet potato.

princess kings sweet

A second later, when he looked up at me, we were face to face, and again, even under these circumstances, I was struck by how good looking he was, in that accidental, doesn't-even-know-it kind of way. Which only made it worse. Or better. Or whatever. "Yup", he said, as if there'd been any doubt, "you're in there, all right." "I was warned, too,"I told him, as he stood up. "I just saw that sculpture, and I got distracted." "The sculpture?" He looked at it, then at me. "Oh, right. Because you know it.

sculpture doubt way

Who knew three dots could make such a difference? Like everything else, a love or a wish or whatever, it was all in the way you read it.

differences three wish

See for me, it’s immediate. Silence is so freaking loud.' This seemed either deep or deeply oxymoronic. I wasn’t sure which.

loud silence-is silence

I didn't want to leave things the way we had, unresolved, ... and tried to tell myself he cared about me enough not to look elsewhere for what I wasn't giving him.

want giving looks

Don't be a fool. Don't give up something important to hold onto someone who can't even say they love you.

giving-up love-you i-like-you

He wasn't what I'd thought he was; maybe he never had been. I was... by Sarah Dessen

He wasn't what I'd thought he was; maybe he never had been. I wasn't what I'd thought I was, either.

You can't act like you care about someone but not let them care a... by Sarah Dessen

You can't act like you care about someone but not let them care about you.

cares-about-someone like-you care

You're wrong," I told her. "I lost that faith a long time ago." She looked at me as I said this, an expression of quiet understanding on her face. "Maybe you didn't, though," she said softly. "Lose it, I mean." "Lissa." "No, just hear me out." She looked out at the road for a second, then back at me. "Maybe, you just misplaced it, you know? It's been there. But you just haven't been looking in the right spot. Because lost means forever, it's gone. But misplaced... that means it's still around, somewhere. Just not where you thought.

expression long mean

But something, somehow, had made all these paths converge. You couldn't find it on a checklist, or work it into the equation. It just happened.

checklists path made

How fast were you?" Wes asked me. I said, "Not that fast." "You mean you couldn't... fly?" he said, smiling at me.

said mean

If he'd been any other boy, and this was any other world, I would have kissed him. Nothing could have stopped me.

other-worlds kissing boys

Why don't you ever wait a second and see what I'm planning, or thinking, before you burst in with your opinions and ideas? You never even give me a chance.

giving ideas thinking

You should have seen your face," she said, her breath hot in my e... by Sarah Dessen

You should have seen your face," she said, her breath hot in my ear. "Sa-woooon.

should-have ears hot

If there was a way to recognize something you'd never seen but still knew by heart, I felt it as I looked at his face. Finally, someone understood.

faces heart way

I turned and looked into the gas station, where Wes was now paying, as the man who'd driven us looked on. "That's too bad," I said. "It's okay, though," she assured me. "Someday I'll show you an extraordinary boy, Macy. They do exist. You just have to believe me." "Don't worry," I said. "I do.

men boys believe

I know you guys have some sort of weird thing going on, with that game you play and everything—" "It's called a friendship.

guy games play

This felt right. Not just leaving, but how I was doing it. Without regret, without second guessing. And with Wes right there, holding the door open for me as I walked out into the light.

regret light doors

She bought seeds and raided nurseries and mulched and composted and spent full days with her hands full of earth, coaxing life our of the dry, dull grass my father had spent years pushing a mower over.

father hands years