Open Road Summer Quotes

“His eyes are somewhere between gray and blue, and his hair is somewhere between brown and blond, and I am somewhere between hostile and attracted.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“If we could capture feelings like we capture pictures, none of us would ever leave our rooms. It would be so tempting to inhabit the good moments over and over again. But I don't want to be the kind of person who lives backwardly, who memorializes moments before she's finished living in them. So I plant my feet here on this hillside beside a boy who is undoing me, and I kiss him back like I mean it. And, God help me, with the sky wrapped around us in every direction, I do mean it.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“You are the only person who can build emotional barriers, but you're also the only person who can topple them. Other people can't knock down the walls you've built, no matter how much they love you. You have to tear them down yourself because there's something worth seeing on the other side.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“I think it's the bravest thing in the world - to run straight at love, even knowing how badly you could get hurt.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“I want to reach back into my history with a grade-school pink eraser, scrubbing away my decisions like mistakes on a math test. To bad I drew my mistakes in ink.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“I dig the toe of my shoe into the dirt. “It’s complicated.”
“Is it? Most complicated things in life are actually pretty simple at the core. We put so much extra nonsense in the middle that we can’t even see how easy it really is.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Laughter feels like our flotation device -- it won't pull us out of the storm, but it might carry us through, if we can just hang on.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“It's an understandable impulse, to be on the floor when everything is falling apart, like you just want to feel the solid ground beneath you. When you're on the floor, there's nowhere farther to fall.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Strawberry milk,” I say, eyeing him as we head toward the counter. “Really.”
He turns to me. “Do you have something to say about my snack selections?”
“Nope.” I fall into line behind him. “I just didn’t realize you were a middle-school girl going to a slumber party.”
“And I,” he says, plunking his strawberry-fest down on the counter, “didn’t realize you were a soccer mom justifying her chocolate craving with the fact that raisins are a fruit.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“This is the currency of friendship, traded over years and miles, and I hope it's an even exchange someday. For now, I do what all best friends do when there's nothing left to say. We lie together in all the darkness, shoulder to shoulder, and wait for the worst to be over.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Because I've recently learned, in a very painful way, that life is short. And I don't want to waste my time with anyone who would make me feel...happy enough." He pauses,searching my face. "I'd rather duke it out with someone who makes me feel everything.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“He's the 'him' in every sentence that really matters; he's the 'he' in every song.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“It takes a long time to learn someone. It takes a long time to see a person as a whole spectrum, from worst to best—from the mismanaged heartache that lands them in AA to the pancake dinners, from the hurtful things shouted in a dressing room to the huge-hearted strength that only a best friend can understand. Once you get there, it’s forever.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“This past year has been a lesson in letting go and holding on, and I don't know what to make of it. I guess I do know this: find a best friend, and hang on tight.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Stop documenting the moment for a second, he told me. Just be in it.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“I swear his looks are pure Darwinism. If he wasn't so cute, someone would have killed him for being annoying by now.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Dee says that phrases in songs are like beads in a necklace – they should stand on their own, but they make the most sense together.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“So, how'd you know about this place?"
"One of my buddies is from Baltimore area - I texted him."
"Saying what? 'Hey dude, know any secluded places?' He probably thinks you're a serial killer."
"I think I said 'romantic and private'.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“What?" I ask.
He looks startled out of his thoughts. "What do you mean what?"

"I mean, just then," I say, "that look on your face. What were you thinking about?"

"I was thinking...that if I were going to kiss you, now would be a good time. Fireworks and all. Typical songwriter, always looking for poetic parallels.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Like a wounded soldier
Trudging the old road home,
But I ain’t the old me,
And I walk this path alone.
I’m battle-worn, I’m battle-torn
With these scars inside my chest,
Kept up that happy face for you,
To hide that I’m a mess.

But I gave you every ounce of fight in me,
And I have no regrets.
If I was going to lose you,
At least I lost you to my best.
But it felt so wrong,
So tangled up in blue,
Like that old Dylan song,
Like I don’t know who I am,
Now that you’re gone.

But I lived through the pain.
Now I see the other side.
Now I know that life’s too short
To shut myself down and hide.
I’m battle-torn, but I’m battle-born.
These scars are part of me.
I got nothing left but what I’ve learned,
And I’ll use that, and you’ll see,

I can still give every ounce of fight in me,
Till I have no regrets,
Because if I’m going to lose someone,
I’m gonna lose her to my best.
And I’ll be strong,
When a hard rain’s a-gonna fall,
Like that old Dylan song,
You’re the reason I stand tall,
And that will never be gone.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“I vaguely remember a story about a woman who looked back while fleeing a broken city. She turned into a pillar of salt. A harsh fate, but I got the point. You can’t look back when you’re escaping disaster. You can’t hope that someone will come after you, either.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Straining to hear, I can make out something acoustic. Coming from...the backyard?

I glance down from my bedroom window and feel my jaw fall open. Matt Finch is standing below my window, guitar strapped across his chest. I pull my window up, and I expect the song from that old movie - the one about a guy with a trench coat and the big radio and his heart on his sleeve.

But it's not that. It's not anything I recognise, and I strain to make out the lyrics: Stop being ridiculous, stop being ridiculous, Reagan.

What an asshole.

The mesh screen and two floors between us don't seem like enough to protect him from my anger.

"Nice apology," I call down to him.
"I've apologised thirteen times," he yells back, "and so far you haven't called me back."

I open my mouth to say it doesn't matter, but he's already redirecting the song.

"Now I'm gonna stand here until you forgive me," he sings loudly, "or at least until you hear me out, la-la, oh-la-la. I drove seven hours overnight, and I won't leave until you come out here."

(...) "This is private property!" My throat feel coarse from how loudly I'm yelling. "And that doesn't even rhyme!"

The guitar chord continues as he sings, "Then call the cops, call the cops, call the cops..."

I storm downstairs, my feet pounding against the staircase. When I turn the corner, my dad looks almost amused from his seat in the recliner. Noticing my expression, he stares back at his newspaper, as if I won't notice him.

(...) "Dad. How did Matt know which window was mine?"
"Well..." he peeks over the sports section. "I reckon I told him."
"You talked to him?" My voice is no longer a voice. It's a shriek. "God, Dad!"

He juts out his chin, defensive. "How was I supposed to know you had some sort of drama with him? He shows up, lookin' to serenade my daughter. Thought it seemed innocent enough. Sweet, even. Old-fashioned."

"It's not any of those things! I hate him!”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“When his eyes land on me, something about his expression changes—like he recognizes me from somewhere, too. I look back, appraising him quickly. He’s kind of beautiful, in an understated, comfortable-looking way—the kind of guy who doesn’t mind seeing a rom-com with you and gives you his hoodie when you’re cold.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Oh, you know I'm only human;
I bend and fall and break
You cut me and I bleed
I'm a mess for you to make
So forget the words and give me deeds
My heart was yours to take.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“I’ve been arguing on the side of a dirt road with a petulant singer who’s wearing a guitar on his back. This entire scene is a mess, and maybe we’re a mess, too. But it’s still him and still me, and there’s still that feeling of possibility—the one that sparks like a Roman candle inside me as his lips touch mine. And it’s a start.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“From beside me, Matt says, "I think I've got your number."
"I wouldn't give you my number."
He smiles. "No, I mean...I think I've got you figured out."
"I knew what you meant.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“Girl, you're as hot as your temper,
And you won't let me through.
But I think you would be good for me.
I know I'd be good for you.
Oh, but then that night at the lake,
You said we'd be a mistake.
But you're wrong there, honey.
I'm a chance you wanna take.

Do you want me to beg you?
Do you want me to say please?
Then this song is the rest of my pride, girl,
This song is me down on my knees.
Just give in, give in to me, girl.
I'll give you everything I've got.
I won't give up, give up on you, girl,
Till you're giving me a shot.

So go on, pretend you can fight it,
Walk away like I'm not in your head.
Brush me off like I never cross your mind
At night as you lay down in bed.

Till you're giving me a shot.
C'mon, girl, give me a shot,
One shot.
I'll give you everything I've got...”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“It's been the longest time
Since I've been in this place,
Where I spend my whole day
Hoping I'll see your face.
Then I script things to say,
And maybe what you'd say back.
You don't know it yet,
But, girl, it's a fact

That I can see us
Staying up late,
Talking all night,
But I guess I'll have to wait.
'Cause it's brand-new,
Yeah, I know we just met.
I want to be there with you,
But not just yet.

Girl, you've got that look,
Like you're hard to impress.
So I'm bumbling with words,
'Cause my mind is a mess.
You were out of the blue
And you caught me by surprise,
With a slight smile, that long stare,
And a challenge in your eyes

I could feel all this
In that single look,
Like you could see my soul.
You could read me like a book,
And I think it's something.
Though I know we just met,
I'm gonna get there with you.
You just don't know it ... yet.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“And just like that, we're on our way to everywhere”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer

“After all, the night sky is a mess of stars -- a million fireflies crammed into infinity. But the mess becomes a map once you know how to use it.”
― Emery Lord, Open Road Summer