Second Chance Summer

by Morgan Matson

“You said you didn’t want to waste your time on people who aren’t going to matter,” I said, and he nodded. “But how do you know they’re not going to matter? Unless you give it a shot?”

A thousand moments that I had just taken for granted—mostly because I had assumed that there would be a thousand more.

And now that I knew that the time we had together was limited, I was holding on to it, trying to stretch it out, all the while wishing I’d appreciated what I’d had earlier.

Mostly, I just wanted to feel his arms around me, solid and true, while I tried to shut out the feelings that were hurting my heart with a thousand tiny pinpricks, which was somehow worse than having it broken all at once.

“The thing is that people only get hurt—really hurt—when they’re trying to play it safe. That’s when people get injured, when they pull back at the last second because they’re scared. They hurt themselves and other people.”

I knew in that moment that things would be forever different—that today was going to be a day that split my life into before and after.

“And that you should always get ice cream when the opportunity presents itself, even if it is close to dinnertime.”

And I’ve realized that the Beatles got it wrong. Love isn’t all we need—love is all there is.