Anika

“My aesthetic is aggressively, unapologetically basic.”
― Sarah Hogle, You Deserve Each Other

“He plucked the book from my hands, inspected the cover. “I recognize this one. Haven’t you read this, like, a hundred times?”
“Twenty, actually,” I said, snatching it back. “Today marks the twenty-first time.”
He grinned. Shook his head.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing. Nothing at all,” he said, jerking his chin toward the book on my legs.
“Read to me.”
"Why?”
“Because you go somewhere else when you read. I want to go there with you.”

We sat there and I read aloud, my back to Brett’s chest. He pulled me a little closer, held me a little tighter. And this time, we escaped together.”
― Alex Light, The Upside of Falling

“You’re implying that I’m not presentable in public unless I have a full face of makeup on.”
“No. I absolutely did not imply that.”
“I suppose I should take three hours to curl my hair, too, right?” I make my voice tremble. I am the victim of horrendous misdeeds. “Because I’m not pretty enough the way I am? I suppose you’re embarrassed to bring me around your family unless I conform to society’s impossible beauty standards for females?”
His eyes narrow. “You’re right. Your hair’s an embarrassment in its natural state and your face is so anti–female beauty that if you go out like that, I’d insist on you walking backward and ten feet away from me. I want you to go upstairs right now and paint yourself unrecognizable.” He arches his eyebrows. “Did I do that right? Are those the words you’d like to put in my mouth?”
My chin drops. He lowers his gaze to a newspaper and flicks the page. He did it for dramatic effect. I know he didn’t get a chance to finish reading the article he was on.
“Actually, I’d like to put an apple in your mouth and roast you on a spit,” I say.
“Go ahead and wear pajamas to dinner, Naomi. You think that would bother me? You can go out dressed as Santa Claus and I wouldn’t care.”
Now I genuinely am insulted. “Why wouldn’t you care?”
He raises his eyes to mine. “Because I think you’re beautiful no matter what.”
Ugh. That’s really low, even for him.”
― Sarah Hogle, You Deserve Each Other

“I tried to keep him at a safe distance where he could only see the decent parts of me and it made us both miserable. I inadvertently let him in to see the ugly parts but instead of running away like I’d counted on him to do, he wrapped his arms around all of that ugliness and didn’t let go.”
― Sarah Hogle, You Deserve Each Other