Status Updates From Fall Semester

Maren’s brother singing The General by Dispatch is giving me such a strong flashback to high school

Malcolm imagined that he could be Maren’s bridge—carry her across this flood that threatened to drown her. Afterward, she could move on from him without a backwards glance, and Malcolm, even as flawed and ugly as he was, would have served a higher purpose. It was not the worst outcome he could imagine for them—even if it would pain him to watch her walk away into her future while he remained pillared in the mud.

They are SO IN LOVE

“Mark,...” he began again, nodding respectfully. “I care for her more than I can say. I just doubt my ability to give her what she needs,... to make her happy.”
Mark studied him a moment.
“Do you want to know what I think?”
“Absolutely,” Malcolm said, honestly.
“I’d say you shouldn’t doubt your ability to do what you’ve already done,”

He rly set it up so he’s also gonna be there when Maren has the meeting with the overly “friendly” guy she’s working with........whew

The look of recognition—for it was recognition, not pity—in his eyes touched a sore spot inside her. She felt laid bare. At first, it frightened her for him to see her pain, but when he didn’t flinch or pull back from it, it simply soothed her. It made her feel more brave than she had felt in a long while.

They are so in love I am going to weep???????

Still, she didn’t want to put it away. Not yet. The thought of doing so just depressed her. She had put away so many other things recently, shelved so much of hope and dreams and desires. Her crush—what she felt—belonged to her, no one else, after all. Not even Malcolm Vashal. She just wouldn’t open herself to the shame of letting anyone else see it.

“If a little name calling is your worst, then your villainy leaves much to be desired,” he said, wryly.

Maren’s last thought of the day was of how good it felt to pray for Malcolm Vashal.

Malcolm found the human tendency to talk to animals a moronic practice, but in the three years he’d had Ricardo, he found that some moronic pastimes were warranted—even necessary.