Wait for It

by Mariana Zapata

My grandma had told me once you couldn’t make someone love you or even like you, but you could sure as hell make someone put up with you.

Life was unfair and it always had been. It was nothing personal.

Trust felt a whole lot like love. You were giving someone a part of you, if you really thought about it.

Real love was gritty. The real kind of love never quit. Someone who loved you would do what’s best for you; they’d stand up for you and sacrifice. Someone who loved you would face any inconvenience willingly. You didn’t know what love was until someone was willing to give up what they loved the most for you.

But it was also never letting them make that choice, either.

Absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder if there’s nothing there to begin with.

You don’t know anything about love if you aren’t willing to wait for it.

“She wouldn’t be my first, but she’d be the only one who ever mattered. I think she could wait for the time to be right. I’d make sure she never regretted it.”

“It’s like you’re purposely trying to get me to love you, Dallas. I swear to God. You don’t even want me to stick my hand down your pants. You want me to want it all,”

You can’t always wait for someone else to do the right thing when you can do it yourself.”

“Maybe you can take care of yourself, but have you thought for one single fucking second that maybe somebody else might want to take care of you too?”

Life could be brutally short, and happiness was never guaranteed.

“I want you. I want your smile. Your hugs. Your love. I want your happiness.” He paused. “Every single thing.”

“I gave it to you a long time ago, Diana. In little pieces and then bigger pieces, and the next thing I knew, I didn’t have anything left in me, so I hope it’s enough.”

“I always thought you looked like mine, but you sure do fucking feel like you’re mine, too,”