“God, I like you so much. I like you when you lash out. I like you when you come up with a thousand reasons to hate me.” He cocks his head to the side. “And when you run to my house to tell me all those reasons. And even when you put up so many walls that even God can’t break them down.” He grabs my chin between his thumb and forefinger, his eyes razing me on the spot, blown out and wide and seeing me—always seeing me—right through to my core. I open my mouth to speak. To say, I love you. You can break my walls down. But then Cliff traces his thumb over my bottom lip and says, “I like you
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