Older

by Jennifer Hartmann

I guess that was why I loved too much. I had a lot of loveless holes to fill.

But being jaded doesn’t come with age; it comes with hardship.

Not everyone could scoop up their trauma in two shaking hands and mold it into something worth holding. Her pain was clay, taking on a new form, a new shape. One day, it could become her greatest masterpiece.

“It’s okay to break sometimes,” he said. “You’re allowed to be vulnerable, scared. You don’t have to fight it.”

Trust hung in the air like a delicate thread, connecting us in a way nothing else could. It was the unspoken promise that he would catch me when I stumbled, breathe courage into me when I doubted myself, and guide me through every dark back alley of my past until I slowly made my way to the other side.

You deserve to have someone in your corner, fighting like hell for you. For your honor, your worth. I want to be that person.”

I mean…what if you found out that I fucked your dad?

Lol

‘blush’ and ‘bashful’

pink and pink

Per Tara, nobody ever grew too old for glow-in-the-dark ceiling stars.

Facts

Fight. Fight for you, for your future. Not with fists and kicks, but with what you’ve always fought best with: love. The night I met you, you sat down in a cold lake and said, “You’re welcome.” I said I didn’t thank you for anything and you replied with, “You might one day.” You were right. Thank you, Halley Foster. You’ve made me a better man.

And when something hurt, I avoided it instead of dealing with it. I distracted myself with shiny, pretty things, eager to bury the pain and move forward, focusing on anything else.