Happily Ever Afters

by Elise Bryant

It was empowering to create a world in which I was the center, the prize, the one desired.

And my tight curls look good eventually, but it’s basically a part-time job to get them there.

And I thought it would be easier. I could just wash it and go. But a wash-and-go, I’ve learned, does not involve simply washing and then going.

“Other people’s opinions of me aren’t really my business. And I think that situation says more about them than it does about me. So I’ve let it go.”

You can’t learn without critique.”

“Being an artist means other people consuming your art and, uh, having opinions about it.

I used to get mad at Dad for working so late, always being on his phone, but I have to remind myself it’s for a good reason. He’s taking care of us—trying to give Miles and me the childhood he didn’t have.

I try to do this cute little laugh, but then it catches in my throat and I start coughing, loud and phlegmy, like someone who smokes a pack a day.

Lol

Why do his words get to come out all flawlessly Times New Roman, and mine are, like, Wingdings?

when I’m around him I feel like I just crawled under a big pile of blankets on a cold night.

That’s really the point of romance as a genre, I think: girls—women—asking for what they want, without apology.”

But I think there’s something to be said for making art just to make you happy. Not to win awards or impress others or get the attention of your parents who can be a little clueless at times. But art for art’s sake. Art for yourself.”

But what I know now is that I’m done taking up less space than I deserve.

And that is the greatest risk, presenting something that you love and asking others to love it too.