Aristotle and Dante Dive Into the Waters of the World (Aristotle and Dante, #2)

by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

You couldn’t cross out desire when it lived in your body.

What is this thing called desire?

didn’t want to be ashamed. And yet, the word “shame” was still a word loitering in my body. It was a word that clung to me, a word that didn’t leave easily.

Instead, he taught me how to dive into the waters of life.

Dante said he’d been waiting for me.

I was depressing myself. I was good at that. I had always been good at that.

But if I carry Dante’s name with me, he will be the torch to light my way in the darkness that is Aristotle Mendoza.

I live in a confusion called love.

I’m a better person—though that may not be saying much.

God, he was handsome. Dante. Shit. God.

I felt as though I were the center of the universe. Only Dante could make me feel like that. But I knew better—I would never be the center of the universe.

I didn’t feel lost as I kissed Dante. Not lost at all. I had found where I belonged.

and you

will know too that you matter more to the universe than you will ever know.

“You’re gravity,”

“And remember that you matter more to the universe than you will ever know.”

And I think that’s true. I did find all the secrets of the universe in your hand. Your hand, Dante.

If we’re lucky. If we’re very lucky, the universe will send us the people we need to survive.

But what we do with the time in between the day we are born and the day we die, that is what constitutes a human life.

And you gave me enough words to rename the universe I lived in.

And though we are only a speck, a

tiny particle, we, too, are a part of that universe.

To live and never to understand the strange and beautiful mysteries of the human heart is to make a tragedy of our lives.

“You’re like the water, Ari. I can’t live without water.” “You’re like the air, Dante. I can’t live without the air.”

“I love you, Aristotle Mendoza. You think I say that too much. But I like hearing myself say it.”

And in that moment, I thought that we were the center of the universe. Couldn’t the universe see us?

“You beautiful, crazy boy,”