Lía

“It’s easier like that, isn’t it?”
“What is?”
“Never showing anyone who you really are. That way if something goes wrong, if someone rejects you, then it’s not about you, is it? When you’re yourself, that’s when you’re exposed. Vulnerable. But if you hold back … Losing a game’s always painful, but knowing that you haven’t played your best hand makes it bearable.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“When someone close to you is dying, you can begin to feel wary of their everyday belongings. You've heard horror stories about sorting through 'their things' in the weeks afterwards. You look with mounting unease at your mother's dressing gown, her slippers, her purse hanging, uncharacteristically unemployed, on the bathroom hook...”
― Laurence Scott, Picnic Comma Lightning: In Search of a New Reality

“I don’t want to be work. I don’t want you to feel that I’m work.”
“Somewhere along the way your wires got crossed. Your brain decided that you’re not worth people’s time and effort, and that if you ask for anything, they won’t just say no, they’ll also leave you. That’s not how love works, Elsie.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically

“Not everyone wants you to be someone else, Elsie. And I definitely wouldn’t want you to be George.”
“And why is that?”
“It would be a waste.”
“A waste of what?”
“Of you.”
― Ali Hazelwood, Love, Theoretically