The Twelve Days of Dash and Lily

by Rachel Cohn

“It’s the paradox, isn’t it? The people you know the most, the people you love the most – you’re also going to feel the parts of them you don’t know the most.

“I remind myself that I don’t need to know everything, that there will always be essential rooms within us that will be unknown. I loosen my idea of him, and he becomes recognizable again.”

Sometimes we don’t want to be found right away. If we step away, it’s because we need to be found on our own terms.”

All these people in your life expecting you to act like an adult, and then getting mad when you take a stab at independence.

Boys never say what you want them to. It’s probably the only lesson I’ve learned in life.

He’d never looked more alone to me than in his own house. A prince with no kingdom.

he’s a wobbly pair of dentures,

“Challenge him to a duel!” the man in the wheelchair groused at me. “Yeah!” the corduroy man choked out. “Nail that weasly bastard. He always steals my goddamn applesauce!” “Fine,” I told them. Then I turned to Thibaud and said, “I challenge you to a duel.”

Nine. I was not going to waste my shot. Ten.

I understood that reference

Someone had forgotten to give our pistols their Viagra.

“In the name of all that’s good and Lily!”

From somewhere in the darkest depths of my soul, I unearthed the phrase, “Sugar, you’re going down!”

The truth doesn’t have to advertise itself. All the truth needs to be is true.”

As I read once in a bathroom stall, For a good time, call Edgar.

The point is that I really don’t want you to break up with me. In fact, what I’d like is for us to do the opposite of break up with each other.” “Break into each other!” Boomer offered. Both Lily and I shivered in horror at this wording. I figured that was a good sign.

“This song is the worst!” Lily said. “There’s no one I’d rather share it with than you!” I swore.

The only problem with taking something back? It’s still inside there somewhere.

I wasn’t missing. I was lost.

I might ignore the people in my life, but I would never disregard my responsibilities to my fur babies.

said. Add to my list of mental woes: My moods could swing violently from sulking to delirious with the right infusion of sugar.

“Dash’s family is toxic.” “That doesn’t mean he is.”

“First of all, it’s not fair to expect Dash to be psychic about what you really want from him.

any male who automatically knows how to tick off all the items on your female wish-fulfillment list is too good to be true. It’s not natural to their species, and you should find it highly suspicious if he does.

This is one of those moments when you get to decide who you want to be. It’s like an awkward, uncomfortable growth spurt, but one that ultimately moves you in a definitive direction. Are you going to be someone who takes charge of her feelings and her actions, even if the outcome might hurt, or someone who lets herself be unhappy simply because she won’t ask for what she wants?”

“I see now the danger in letting you be so overprotected. It taught you to overprotect your heart.”

“Dad wants to be here. That’s the risk I have to take. Choose him. Old people like us have these hard growth spurts, too.”

“People who want things to be perfect are always impossible to please. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying.

“It’s the thought that counts, then.” “Ah, but have you ever tried counting thoughts? They are extraordinarily hard to wrangle.”

“Here’s the thing about love,” Mrs Basil E. replied. “You get a last chance. And then, when that doesn’t work, you make yourself another last chance. Then another. Then another. You keep going until your last chances run out.”

you are but a romantic sapling. I am a sequoia, so you’d be well advised to listen to what I have to say.”

She’s also a sapling. But that’s the beauty of your young love – you can learn to be trees together.”

“It’s funny, because they look like they’re in the shape of letters!” “Yes,” I said. “They are in the shape of letters. They’re a clue.” “But why would you spell a clue out in reindeer poo?” “It’s not reindeer poo ! I made cookies.”

“Boomer. You are not to say ‘Your nuts are so hard right now!’ to Lily. Do you understand?” “Maybe you should write it down and I can just hand it over?” “Good idea.”

With the stealth of a chimney dropper, I tiptoed from the theater. I turned my phone back on and sent out a group message. It’s a wonderful life.

People never say no when you’re carrying a clipboard,” he assured me.

How did you get past Benny, kid? (Answer: Kids don’t give a shit about clipboards.)

Because at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter whether the story’s true or not. What matters is the care that’s been put into the story. The love. If something is pretend, that usually means someone has taken the time to build a story for you to live in. And building stories takes a lot of work. And, yes, there will come a time when you’ll see the story isn’t true. But the intentions behind it? Completely true. The love behind it? Also true.”

She looked like someone who believed I was real.

What an idiot Santa is for flying around alone. Because who would want to travel the world without another person’s heartbeat beside him?

“There will always be a part of us that’s on a chase, but there has to be another part that knows where our home base is. Our North Pole, as it were. Even if it doesn’t really exist, we can still get there if we agree that it exists.

I want to fix it, and I know I can’t. But what I want to do is rewrite the whole ...

there is a messed-up kind of beauty in the way we can all bend over backward to make life seem magical when we want to.

I think that reality has the distinct potential to completely suck, and the way to get around that is to step out of reality from time to time and find something a little more enjoyable with someone you completely, unadulteratedly enjoy.

“I think that maybe by pretending, we find out more about who we really are.

“Anything we want. Any way we want our story to go. This is not the time for reality. Reality can return in January, if it has to. But now – the city is ours for the making.”

“I’ll say it again right now if you’d like. In fact, let me let these strangers know.” I started addressing the people pushing by us. “Sir, I love Lily. Ma’am, I happen to love Lily. I love Lily – I love Lily – I LOVE LILY! I am a Santa-dressing lovelorn fool for Lily! If loving Lily is a crime, then proclaim me guilty as charged! Shall I go on?”

Yesterday, arguably the best day of my life not including any Star Wars movie opening days,

“Am I ruining the moment by overtalking it?” “Yes. Let’s talk it out silently.”

“Why do you love books so much?” It wasn’t a hostile question, like I was jealous of those firm, colorful spines that beheld so much wonder between their . . . pages. I was genuinely curious.

Librarians were like Mary Poppins to me. They always knew how to match a book to my mood or to whatever I was going through at the time. I could always find peace in books.”