This Time It's Real

by Ann Liang

I guess my point is that I do believe in love. Really. I’m just not convinced that kind of love could ever happen to me.

“It’s the smile,” he says, eyes flickering to me. “You two have the same smile.”

“So. Tell me about your friends,” I say—to distract her, but also because I’m curious. Because I can’t help wondering how things would’ve turned out if Caz and I hadn’t intervened, if she’d still be left on the perimeter of her friendship circle. It’s a feeling I’m quite used to but that I don’t want Emily to ever experience.

I know there’s this popular mindset of “I’m strong and independent and I don’t need anyone,” but the truth is: We do need people. People who’ll laugh with us and cry with us and make the bad days bearable and the good days better; people who’ll remember what we forget and listen even when they don’t completely understand; people who’ll need us back. It has nothing to do with strength at all, and everything to do with being human.

“Caz, I’d love to be inconvenienced by you. I wouldn’t mind being inconvenienced by you for the rest of my life.”