Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen Quotes

“[Kelly] took a sip from her drink—something in a plastic cup, probably just as uninspiring as my Bud—and glanced back at me with mild amusement. “So, you’re trapped in a party with bad beer and worse music. That explains a lot.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“I pressed the heels of my hands to my eyes. Let the music swell. Let the memory have its minute.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen: A Jim Garraty Story

“She came into my life softly. And then she went.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“I had been there for over an hour—long enough for my Budweiser to go warm, long enough to realize I had made a mistake. It wasn’t just the temperature that bothered me; Budweiser had never been my beer of choice, its metallic aftertaste lingering unpleasantly with each sip.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“It was 1984, unmistakably so—Jordache and Calvin Klein jeans hugged long legs, paired with pastel tees, Harvard sweatshirts, or blouses that shimmered slightly in the dim lighting. Some girls wore their hair big—carefully styled into perfect waves—while others let theirs fall straight and sleek. The guys were a mixed bunch. A few clung to longish late-‘70s cuts, holding onto an era just barely past; others kept their crewcuts sharp, the kind of clean-cut presence that screamed ROTC. Some went for the middle ground—short, conservative styles, neatly in place.
Most of them were either rowdy or lucky enough to be paired off—dancing, swaying in time, or pressed into corners, lost in whispered conversations or half-hearted make-outs.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“The apartment was somewhere near
It was 1984, unmistakably so—Jordache and Calvin Klein jeans hugged long legs, paired with pastel tees, Harvard sweatshirts, or blouses that shimmered slightly in the dim lighting. Some girls wore their hair big—carefully styled into perfect waves—while others let theirs fall straight and sleek. The guys were a mixed bunch. A few clung to longish late-‘70s cuts, holding onto an era just barely past; others kept their crewcuts sharp, the kind of clean-cut presence that screamed ROTC. Some went for the middle ground—short, conservative styles, neatly in place.

Most of them were either rowdy or lucky enough to be paired off—dancing, swaying in time, or pressed into corners, lost in whispered conversations or half-hearted make-outs.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“The tape kept playing—Joel crooning through the rest of An Innocent Man, track by track—but I couldn’t tell you what came after “This Night.” I know the songs were there. I remember the faint hiss between sides, the click of the auto-reverse.

But all I really remember… was her.

The warmth of her skin. The featherlight touch of her fingers moving across me like she already knew what I didn’t have words for. The way her breath caught, not with hesitation, but with grace. That album played on, but in my memory, the rest is quiet.

Only Kelly remained.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“She stepped close—so close I could smell the faint warmth of sandalwood and citrus on her skin—and her fingers moved with an ease I didn’t have. One button. Then another. Then the one over my heart. My chest rose faster with each undone thread.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“So, Jim,” she said, tilting her head just slightly. “You go to school around here?”
I hesitated—just briefly—before nodding. “Yeah. Harvard.”
That got a reaction. Not surprise, exactly—more like mild curiosity, the kind that measured whether I was about to say something interesting or default to predictable answers.
She took another sip of whatever was in her cup. “What’s your major?”
“History.” I exhaled slightly, then admitted, “On a full scholarship.”
Her brows lifted, not in judgment, but in quiet acknowledgment.
“Well, damn,” she said, tapping a finger lightly against her cup. “I should’ve known you were one of those ridiculously smart people.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“I wanted to be braver—wanted to reach for her, close the space between us the way guys in movies did, like it was all instinct and rhythm. But my body didn’t move fast enough, and maybe that was the point.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“But I kept that night. I kept the way she looked at me afterward, the way her thumb traced circles on mine, the way she said “You were here. That’s what matters.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“Somewhere, the radio was playing—WCRB again, soft classical. I didn’t register it at first. I was too busy putting my keys down, toeing off my shoes, breathing into the hush. But then the melody changed.

Piano. Slow. Familiar.


It was Adagio cantabile.

Not Joel’s version, with its doo-wop backbone and lovesick harmonies.

Beethoven’s.

The real thing.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“We woke slowly, still wrapped in each other’s arms, the light pale and diffuse against the bedroom wall. Kelly blinked, smiled faintly, and touched her forehead to mine before slipping out from under the sheets. We didn’t say much. Not about the night. Not about what it meant.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“Then it was perfect,” [Kelly] said. 'You were kind. You were here. That’s what matters.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“She kissed me one more time before we left. Soft. Warm. Like punctuation—something between a semicolon and an ellipsis.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“First Lines: I’ve never been much of a party animal. Probably never will be. It’s not that I have anything against parties or the people who throw them—they’re fine, really. Sometimes they’re even fun, given the right circumstances. But me? I’m the kind of guy who always ends up in the quieter corner, nursing a drink and hoping nobody expects me to do the Macarena.

It’s not that I dislike people. I like them. I like conversations that don’t require shouting over a bassline or decoding through strobe lights. And it’s not like I have an aversion to fun—I just tend to find mine in a good book or a playlist that doesn’t involve a DJ screaming, “Everybody clap your hands!” every fifteen minutes. You could say I’m more of a gather-with-friends kind of guy than a party-animal type, and honestly, I’m fine with that.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“And somewhere in the back of my mind, uninvited but strangely welcome, came a memory of reading Summer of '42 in junior year. I didn’t remember much—just that long, slow ache between a boy who wanted something he didn’t understand and a woman who understood everything too well.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“It’s okay,” she said gently, her voice quieter than the music still spinning behind her. “Let me.”

Her hands rose to the front of my shirt again, her fingers undoing buttons, not like she was undressing me, but like she was offering something. Making it easy for me to stay.

My breath caught somewhere behind my ribs, and I felt my heart beating too hard in my chest. It felt ridiculous, how fast it was going, how loud everything inside me suddenly seemed.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“Kelly’s apartment sat on the second floor of a walk-up in Mission Hill, half a block from a corner deli that still had its neon “OPEN” sign flickering. The banister wobbled when I followed her upstairs, and the hallway smelled faintly like cooked rice and lemon cleaner.
When she opened the door, I stepped into a space that felt like her: warm, a little cluttered, nothing performative. A couch with mismatched pillows. A lamp with a crooked shade. A milk crate bookshelf that had everything from The Bell Jar to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead crammed beside cassette tapes and Playbills. Theater posters curled slightly at the corners. A sprig of dried lavender rested in a glass next to the stereo.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story

“Because you were kind. Because you were here. That’s what matters.”
― Alex Diaz-Granados, Comings and Goings - The Art of Being Seen : A Jim Garraty Story