The Christmas Swap Quotes

“A strange thing just happened involving a stranger and my tits… I’m feeling very strange about the strange thing with the strange stranger.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“Our faces are so close together that all I can really see is her eyes. Her pupils are dilated in the low light of midnight, the black almost entirely taking over the green. Right in the corner of her eye, there is a reflection of glittering starlight. I suspect that if I pulled away and looked out at the stars, I would finally be able to see what all the poets of the world have been describing all this time. I would see how the stars stud the darkness like brilliant diamonds, or like scattered moondust, or like the twinkling lights of an unexplored city in the sky. But I don’t look. I don’t take my eyes off Ellie. The thousands of beautiful stars hanging in the velvet sky can get on without me. I’d rather look at this tiny glint of silver in Ellie’s eyes.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“Not that I actually am as open as she thinks. I don’t wear my heart on my sleeve—not really. I rush into new situations with unbridled passion, but I always rush away again just as quickly. I run away before I can get attached or hurt, tucking my heart back under my sleeve as I go.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“There’s no good way to lose someone you care about. I guess the best thing any of us can do is keep holding onto our loved ones after they’re gone and hold even tighter to the people who are still with us.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“The thousands of beautiful stars hanging in the velvet sky can get on without me. I’d rather look at this tiny glint of silver in Ellie’s eyes. The freckles dotted across the bridge of her nose are almost like constellations anyway.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“The world is still turning, and I am still a part of it, even as I sit here alone. I feel connected, yet tethered to nothing. I feel light and free, and once again aware of all the loveliness life has to offer.
I want to do more than just sit here and watch, though. I want to go a step further than simply allowing myself to be carried along by the lovely things happening around me. It is time for me to make good things happen for myself. By myself”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“I normally love being proven right, but this time around the triumph feels hollow.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“It’s like I’m in a pleasantly hazy dream: comfortable, a bit out of it, and wholly unbothered by anything outside my current reality. My entire world is just Ellie and the after-effects of our lovely afternoon together.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“I know that some people would call my cynicism “trust issues.” I call it common sense. I’ve met plenty of people in my life who seem lovely at first but are really anything but.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap

“The stars are twinkling, just as they always are, whether we can see them or not. They have their fixed point in the sky, always. They are completely unchanged by my actions, which is a thought I find far more comforting than any silly poetic ideas I could have about their beauty.”
― Talia Samuels, The Christmas Swap