Part of Your World (Part of Your World, #1)

by Abby Jimenez

“I met twins on Tinder last week. Twins.” He bounced his eyebrows. I took my shot. “Oh yeah? You got to disappoint two women at once?”

“Liz, on a scale from one to serial killer, how dangerous is this man?

“Don’t let them decide the life you’re going to live. You only get one.”

Why’s there always a nice one and a mean one?” “Because there are two types of people in the world, difficult ones and easy ones, and they marry each other.”

“I’d follow a clown into a storm drain if he had a baby goat in pajamas.”

“You stole the man’s hoodie? That’s a serious crime.”

“Look at that man-trum. Eight thousand nerves in the clitoris and still not as sensitive as a white man not getting his way.” She beamed at me. “I like this

“Just keep her laughing,” Doug said. “When a woman laughs, her eyes are closed more. She won’t notice how ugly you are.”

“My grandma used to say that dragonflies mean change is coming.”

It was like he liked me on eggshells. Like as long as I was running after him, begging him to tell me what was wrong, what I could do better, he was happy.

“I could never relax, I started getting depressed, I had anxiety all the time. I was miserable and I felt totally trapped while at the same time feeling grateful that he was with me, because who else would want me?”

had no idea either. It started so gradually, I didn’t even notice it was happening until it was so bad it was my whole life. It wasn’t until I had a therapist breaking it down for me that I even realized what he was doing. It was like I’d been brainwashed into thinking this was normal.”

“Ali, men are two things. Disappointing and consistent. I believe you.”

“Grace costs you nothing. My grandma used to say it. She especially liked to say it to herself when I was being a little shit.”

You know, reading makes your penis look bigger—don’t quote me on it, the science is really new.”

was in the worst position to be generous, yet he was. And she was in the best position to show grace, and she didn’t. And doing it would have cost her nothing.

“This is how you die in the zombie apocalypse,” she said with wonder. “I always thought it would be an infected zombie bite or exposure or something, but it’s this. You get a caffeine headache on the first day and you lose your will to live and you just lie down and they eat you.”

“Have you ever heard of penguin love stones?” “What?” “A penguin love stone. When a male likes a female, he finds a perfect stone and he brings it to her. If she likes it, she puts it in her nest and that’s it. They’re paired for life.”

Neil was like a Russian nesting doll whose good qualities got smaller the more you uncovered him. But Daniel was the opposite. The more I knew, the better he became.

“I know it hurts,” I said. “But just think, now you’ll know what it feels like for a man with a cold.”

“Did you know that dogs developed eyebrow muscles to better manipulate us?” I propped myself on my elbow. “Really?” “Yup. Wolves don’t have them. Dogs that had more expressive faces were more likely to connect with their owners. So they evolved.” She nodded sideways. “To this.”

“It’s easy. It’s whichever one you can’t live without.”

“You know what’s so dangerous about drowning?” I said, looking up at him. “It’s silent. So unless someone’s paying close attention to you, no one saves you.”

It’s amazing how someone can touch you, even if you only know them for a moment in time. How they can change you, alter you indelibly.

“I love you,” he whispered. “We are together. This isn’t over. And even if you leave, it won’t be over because you’ll take the love with you and it’ll bring you back.”

Love follows you. It goes where you go. It doesn’t know about social divides or distance or common sense. It doesn’t even stop when the person you love dies. It does what it wants. Even if what you want is to not be in love.