Jennifer Close > Quotes

“Sometimes she missed people before they even left her, got depressed about a vacation being over before it started.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“In college, twenty-nine had seemed impossibly old. By now, she'd thought, she'd be married and have kids. But as each year went by, she didn't feel much different than she had before. Time kept going by and she was just here, the same.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“You never want to be the first one of your friends to get married. If you are, just resign yourself to the fact that your wedding will be a shitshow. Most people are still single, open bars are a novelty, and no matter how elegant the wedding was planned to be, it will end up looking like a scene out of Girls Gone Wild.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“When a friendship ends, people don't always give it the same amount of thought that they do relationships ... most of the time, friendships end in a different way - slowly, and without declarations. Usually people don't really notice until a friend has been gone for a while and then they just say they grew apart, or their lives became too different.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“The thing is that you don't meet someone until you do ... and the older we get, the harder it is. And maybe not all of us will meet someone.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“In college, 29 had seemed impossibly old. By now, she'd thought she'd be married and have kids. But as each year went by, she didn't feel much different than she had before. Time kept going by and she was just here, the same.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“I just think you can't be so quick to be so sure of other people's situations. Examine your own situation. You also have a lot of choices. It's not always easier for other people. It doesn't work like that.”
― Jennifer Close, The Smart One

“She worried that maybe they'd been dating too long to end up together. It was like when you tried to jump off the high dive and if you did it right away, you were fine. But if you stood there looking down, thinking of all the bad things that could happen, you were doomed. You would just climb back down the ladder to the safety of the ground.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“The neighbors are neglecting their exotic birds.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“They followed because it was all they had ever done; they followed because it was all they knew how to do.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“I hated that the Metro was carpeted, and that it was so far underground—you felt like a mole by the time you got down the escalator—and I hated that you had to swipe your card to get in and out of the station. I hated that you couldn’t eat or drink on the train, and I especially hated that everyone obeyed the rule, like they were afraid they’d be arrested for sipping a cup of Starbucks on their morning commute.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Harrison was standing next to the dorm building, checking his Blackberry. She watched him from behind. How was she supposed to be okay just hating him and then loving him on alternate days. What if it never stopped?”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“It wasn’t that I didn’t understand it, this jealousy, because I did. It’s just that it was hard sometimes to watch a group of grown people act like seventh graders trying to sit next to the coolest kid at the lunch table. Honestly, it just made you feel sad because you always thought people would outgrow this, thought that adulthood would be different. And it wasn’t.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Isabella, you miss the essence of a boy. That’s all.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“And like most big families, they were loud and secretly thought they were funnier and a little more special than everyone else.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“If jobs could be taken away so easily, maybe it wasn’t worth investing so much of yourself into them…”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“She could feel herself getting sentimental, which she always was. Sometimes she missed people before they even left her, got depressed about a vacation being over before it started.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“I've never been on a date before," Isabella said to Mary as she got ready that night.
"You've been on plenty of dates," Mary said.
"No," Isabella said. "I've been out to eat with boys who were my boyfriend, but that's not dating. That's just parelle eating.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“There are fall days in October that are so beautiful they take your breath away. The sky is blue and the sun is strong and the air is finally the tiniest bit crisp. Most of the East Coast is already bundled up in their winter coats, but we get to appreciate the last of the sunshine.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“No,” Isabella said. “I’ve been out to eat with boys who were my boyfriend, but that’s not dating. That’s just parallel eating.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“Ken was Mary's new boyfriend, a nice guy who made all their friends comments, "Oh, there he is. That's what she's been waiting for," as if finding your perfect match was a guarantee as long as you were patient enough.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“The fights they had now were much worse. Isabella had never fought like this with anyone before. With Ben, she had all-out, drunken marathon fights that lasted for hours. She was sure the neighbors thought they were crazy.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“If a televised hug could affect an election, weren’t we all just really screwed?”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“... the way we race ahead, like if we changed enough things in our life, everything would be fine…”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Here's what I still hate about DC: the way that nothing is permanent, the feeling that everything and everyone you know, could (and does) wash away every four or eight years. All of these important people, so ingrained in the city - you can't imagine that this place could exist without them. But one day they're gone and everything keeps moving just the same.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“Harrison knew how to date. He made plans to go to dinner at restaurants where they could drink margaritas and hear each other talk. He took her to movies and then to a diner for grilled cheese. He always paid. He called when he said he would, and held the door for her. The first night she stayed at his apartment, he woke up early and came back with two cups of coffee.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“Abby watched his feathers blow in the wind, and she watched as the peahens followed with all of their strength. They followed because it was all they had ever doen; they followed because it was all they knew how to do.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“You can see it on their faces as they walk down the street. You can spot the new people from the way they smile at the monuments, how they stare at the White House as they pass outside the gates, feeling thrilled and thinking, I’m here, I’ve made it. That’s what I see, mostly, when I walk around now, which is for the best, because it’s not easy to stay annoyed in the face of so much optimism. It’s hard to ignore that much hope.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls

“It seemed to Abby that the peacock was strutting, showing off his feathers to an invisible audience in the night. It didn't look like he was worried about the peahen. He looked selfish and self-absorbed, like he knew he was beautiful. Abby watched his feathers blow in the wind, and she watched as the peahens followed with all of their strength. They followed because it was all they had ever down; they followed because it was all they knew how to do.”
― Jennifer Close, Girls in White Dresses

“We all laughed, but what I really felt was a sense of claustrophobia, something that had been happening more and more. It was like the city was getting smaller the longer we were there. It was incestuous, the way everyone knew everything about people.”
― Jennifer Close, The Hopefuls