Jennie

“But it’s tempting to be Cool Girl. For someone like me, who likes to win, it’s tempting to want to be the girl every guy wants. When I met Nick, I knew immediately that was what he wanted, and for him, I guess I was willing to try. I will accept my portion of blame. The thing is, I was crazy about him at first. I found him perversely exotic, a good ole Missouri boy. He was so damn nice to be around. He teased things out in me that I didn’t know existed: a lightness, a humor, an ease. It was as if he hollowed me out and filled me with feathers. He helped me be Cool Girl – I couldn’t have been Cool Girl with anyone else. I wouldn’t have wanted to. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy some of it: I ate a MoonPie, I walked barefoot, I stopped worrying. I watched dumb movies and ate chemically laced foods. I didn’t think past the first step of anything, that was the key. I drank a Coke and didn’t worry about how to recycle the can or about the acid puddling in my belly, acid so powerful it could strip clean a penny. We went to a dumb movie and I didn’t worry about the offensive sexism or the lack of minorities in meaningful roles. I didn’t even worry whether the movie made sense. I didn’t worry about anything that came next. Nothing had consequence, I was living in the moment, and I could feel myself getting shallower and dumber. But also happy.”
― Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl

“You're good, Bobbi-- really, really good. And lately, I've had a hard time believing in goodness.”
― Dean Hughes, Since You Went Away

“My dad says he has doubts all the time, but he doesn't allow them to question that moment when he was nineteen.”
― Elna Baker, The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance: A Memoir

“Al, she feels that David is her only chance for happiness. That may be wrong, but we can't say, 'Choose unhappiness'. We have to offer something more than that.”
― Dean Hughes