Irene

“their fingertips casually touching, in the way of people who were entirely comfortable around each other. She almost seemed to be an extension of him, and he, of her. There is love here, she thought. In the end, she decided, with some amount of disappointment, that none of them were involved romantically.”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“Then we shook hands. And all that crap. It made me feel sad as hell, though.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“No,” Sam said. “We’ve never...It’s more than romantic. It’s better
than romance. It’s friendship.” Sam laughed. “Who cares about romance
anyway?”
― Gabrielle Zevin, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow

“I believe that everything happens,” she said. “Period. Or full stop, as you would say. That’s it. Things happen and we have to learn to live with them, as long as suicide is off the table, that is. If we can find meaning in them, fine, but even if we can’t, we still have to live with them. The meaning is an afterthought, an anesthesia. Happens is the only word in that statement that’s empirical. The rest is whatever helps you sleep at night.”
― Coco Mellors, Blue Sisters