Vivi

“Will you at least look at me when I'm talking to you?"

"Can't."

"What?" She sounds startled. "What do you mean you can't?"

"Can't look at you."

She hesitates. "Why not?"

"Too pretty."

...

"Why won't you look at me?" she says.

"I already told you why I won't look at you, and you laughed at me."

She's quiet for so long I wonder if she's walked away. Finally she says, "I thought you were joking."

"Well, I wasn't."

More silence.

Then: "Do you always say exactly what you're thinking?"

"Most of the time, yeah." Gently, I bang my head against the door.”
― Tahereh Mafi, Defy Me

“Happy endings can be caught, but they are difficult to hold on to. They are dreams that want to escape the night. They are treasure with wings. They are wild, feral, reckless things that need to be constantly chased, or they will certainly run away.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After

“I like spending time with people I like, I guess. I don’t like very many people.”
“People in books aren’t real,” I pointed out.
He shrugged. “They’re real when you’re reading. That’s close enough.”
― Misha Horne, Comfort Me, Daddy

“It hurts, Jacks.”
“I know, love. I’m going to take you somewhere safe.”
― Stephanie Garber, The Ballad of Never After