Roan Parrish > Quotes

“Feel so much better when you’re around,” I tell him. “’S not fair you get to be with you all the time.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Don’t you know? Don’t you know how crazy I am about you?” My hands fist in his shirt and I stare into his eyes, blinking slowly. I guess I did know, but I never imagined he might say it. He cradles my neck in his hand, thumb stroking my nape. “I—I love you so much.” He says it quietly, but it’s like a bomb going off.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Like, you know that feeling," I try to explain, "where it's Sunday night and you have school or work the next morning but then it's a snow day and you don't have to go in? You feel like that."

"I feel like a natural disaster?" he teases, but his gaze is intent.

"No," I say, forcing myself to say what I mean. "A relief. You feel like a huge relief."

Rex's eyes go very soft. "You feel like a relief too, Daniel," he says.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Maybe the point of I love you is that it is a tether. A connection so you can find your way back to someone even when shit seems huge and unmanageable on your own. A promise to help just because you care about someone, a promise to help that doesn’t mean pulling away.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Rex?” He freezes and when he looks at me I can see the uncertainty he’s trying to cover up with his motions. “I think you’re perfect. I mean, shit, that sounded sappy, but, I mean perfect in my opinion.” Ugh, how do I explain what I mean? That all those things that he is came together like the perfect recipe. “For you?” he says. “Hmm?” “Perfect for you, maybe?” He looks shy and pleased. All I can do is nod. He hoists me up onto the counter and kisses me silly.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“You like my forearms?
No, not yours in particular. I mean, they're fine. Just, it's a sexy body part.
I totally agree. I just didn't know girls liked them too.
Oh, yes, Daniel. All girls like forearms. Every single one. No really, I've asked all of us and we all agree. We don't even agree about whether or not the long arm of the law should be able to reach into our vaginas, but we agree about forearms.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Tattoos are the scars you can choose.”
― Roan Parrish, Small Change

“The other night, you said that we mean different things when we say I love you. That you don’t know what it means to have someone love you. This is what it means. It means doing things together and learning what each other needs. I give you what you need. You give me what I need. And they’re not the same. And that’s fine. It’s not too good to be true. It’s just good.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Music social foul: no singing a song when another song is playing.
Double music social foul: don't ever fucking sing anything while Pink Floyd is playing. What's wrong with you?”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Niente di tutto questo ha importanza
mentre sono qui al caldo e alticcio, nella terra della flanella e del legno.
All'improvviso, stare nel bel mezzo del nulla sembra la cosa migliore che potrei desiderare.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“E forse questo è il punto.
Forse il punto del TI AMO è che quella frase E' un legame.
Una connessione che ti consente di ritrovare la strada verso qualcuno anche quando le cose sembrano enormi e ingestibili da solo.
Una promessa di aiuto perché ti importa di qualcuno; una promessa di aiuto che non significa ritrarsi in se stessi.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Are you boiling bacon? “Um. Is that wrong?” I say. “Argh! I want to punch you!” Leo says.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Armor’s not dangerous. That’s for survival. It’s weapons you have to watch out for. And you—” He strokes my lips with his thumb. “It’s mostly armor, Colin. And when you’re with me, the armor falls away. Who you are without it… it’s beautiful.”
― Roan Parrish, Out of Nowhere

“And Rex seems interested. He doesn’t seem to think I’m a total geek or a pretentious asshole. Or maybe he just feels sorry for the idiotic city boy who got himself marooned in Northern Michigan, almost killed a dog, and is currently drunk in a stranger’s sweatpants in a cabin made of plaid and flannel.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Then she says something about the universe sending us pieces of our past selves to embrace so we can heal them and I must be drunker than I thought because I don’t follow her at all.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Do you want to watch a movie or something?” I ask, putting my plate in the sink. Rex shakes his head. “Do you want me to go so you can… do whatever?” Rex shakes his head again, a dangerous smile playing on his lips. He stands up and holds out a hand to me.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“There was this wall of ice between us that no amount of sunniness could melt. We had been inseparable before that. I could see him through it. The wall. He was the same as he always was. And he wanted to spend time with me the way he always had. But I was untouchable. He threw himself up against the wall over and over because he couldn't see it. But I couldn't do anything from my side except watch him pick himself up, every time a little more bruised, and do it again.”
― Roan Parrish, Small Change

“It’s like the cartoon physics of awareness: we can’t hurt until we see that we’re supposed to.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“It’s so unfortunate the way people can never look past his truly lamentable looks to see the pure heart that beats within.” I grinned, liking him immediately. “Yeah, well I’m actually blind, so I was able to encounter him without the weight of societal constructions of beauty between us. Plus I totally believed him when he said he was super attractive.”
― Roan Parrish, Small Change

“Words that are meant to comfort but mean nothing.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“You don't hurt people by choosing yourself over them. They hurt themselves with what they think about it. It's not your job to fold yourself up so small that your edges never bump into anyone else. What kind of life is that?”
― Roan Parrish, The Holiday Trap

“It's in the moment that you give up that you realize you could have kept going. It's also the moment it's too late.”
― Roan Parrish, Where We Left Off

“You were as much in prison as anyone I knew there, Colin. Only you created it for yourself. Your father paced out the cell and your brothers fit the bars and you turned the key in the lock and buried it somewhere only you know. And you stared at Daniel through the bars and cursed him for being able to walk out the door. But he’s not the one who did something wrong. All he did was save himself. And you can too. But you have to find that key and unlock the door.”
― Roan Parrish, Out of Nowhere

“the skin like velvet over steel,”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“You can't know this yet. In fact, we rarely know it until it's too late to need to know it, but you are going to be just fine.”
― Roan Parrish, The Holiday Trap

“The problem is that even if you don't touch, even if you keep things back ... the feelings are still there. Because love doesn't live in kisses and flowers and first dates. It lives in your mind, in your heart.”
― Roan Parrish, The Remaking of Corbin Wale

“He had sunk into his love for Corbin with the inevitability of gravity. At unexpected moments, he would see Corbin and be caught breathless at the insistence of his need. When Corbin reached for him, he felt that need like magnets finding their way close enough to snap together.”
― Roan Parrish, The Remaking of Corbin Wale

“The handwriting in the letter is the neatest I’ve ever seen. It looks like an old-fashioned love letter or something, every loop perfectly formed. I guess you have a lot of time to practice penmanship in prison.”
― Roan Parrish, Out of Nowhere

“They became convinced that I thought I was better than them when the truth was that I just knew they would never like me if they knew who I really was and what I really wanted. Love me. They would never love me.”
― Roan Parrish, In the Middle of Somewhere

“Oh, yes, Daniel. All girls like forearms. Every single one. No really, I’ve asked all of us and we all agree. We don’t even agree about whether or not the long arm of the law should be able to reach into our vaginas, but we agree about forearms.”
― Roan Parrish , In the Middle of Somewhere