Mona’s Reviews > Part of Your World > Status Update

I looked back at Daniel, and he shrugged. “I’m not an asshole. It’s my favorite thing about myself.”

Because sometimes family isn’t what you’re born into. Sometimes family is found. And I’d found mine in Wakan. I’d found mine in him.

“This hurts so much,” I said. “I can’t breathe without her. I just want it to stop.”
Doug peered out into the yard. “Maybe it’s not meant to stop. Maybe this is supposed to make you strong.”
“It’s not making me strong. It’s killing me.”

The power she had over me terrified me. But it also gave me clarity. There is a peace in knowing the one thing you can’t live without. It simplifies all things. There was her, and then there was everything and everyone else. And only she really mattered. It was easy to know it. I just wished she knew it too.

“You know what’s so dangerous about drowning?” I said, looking up at him. “It’s silent. So unless someone’s paying close attention to you, no one saves you.”
He brushed my hair off my forehead. “I see you. I would save you if you were drowning.”
It was sweet, but he wouldn’t. Because I wasn’t drowning here with him. I was drowning two hours away from here, alone.

Part of me hoped he wasn’t attached. Why have us both get hurt when it ended? But the other part of me hoped he liked me back. The other part of me was desperate for him to like me back. Because the only thing more terrifying than never seeing him again was for this to be one-sided.

I didn’t even realize it until just now. Looking at his open face, feeling his warm arms around me, something inside of me screamed MINE.
But it wasn’t fair to make him mine. Because I could never be his.

God, I liked talking to her. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d liked talking to someone this much. I liked seeing her more, but this was a close second for sure.

I felt like the chasm between us had just deepened. It was like every time I thought I was leveling up, I realized I wasn’t even close.

I had a quick second of what-if. What if the chemistry was gone or the attraction didn’t feel the same, or I’d built her up in my head and she wasn’t like I remembered?
And the second I saw her, I knew I hadn’t imagined a thing.