Unwritten Rules Quotes

“It’s a promise,” Zach says. “I didn’t do what I needed to for a long time, but I’m promising now. That I love you. And that I want to be with you.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“Just open it.” In it, a glove, a fielder’s glove. “I had it when we played in Oakland. But I didn’t take care of it right. It just sat in the back of my closet in Miami. By the time it got up here, it was falling apart, so I had to recondition it.” He washed it with soap and a harsh sponge, oiling it, getting someone at the Union clubhouse to rethread the laces, replacing the ones that dried out and snapped. “I don’t know. It’s dumb. I probably should have gotten you something else.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“Just, um, let me finish.” His throat is tight, and the words that came out standing by the ocean next to Morgan, on calls with Henry, feel stuck. He swallows to dislodge them. “I’m gay. I’m seeing someone. It’s serious. I love him.” There’s a pause, a long enough one that Zach wants to get up, leave the room, escape his loft to where Eugenio is probably already asleep. To crawl into bed with him, under the shelter of his blankets, and lie there in the dark feeling him breathe.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“The guy I’m seeing, his parents are religious studies professors. So he probably already knows what they talk about in those classes.” There’s a moment of her looking at him in slight disbelief before she hugs him, her hair in his face, a hard big-sister hug. “We do this training, for when students come out to us. What we’re supposed to say to affirm their identity.” “I have a coach for this. We talked through it a bunch. It didn’t really go like I planned it.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“I missed that. The way you say my name. I just, I miss it so much. I feel like I’ve missed out on so much. And I feel like it’s choking me. That it’s so close I could reach out and grab it, if only I could bring myself to. Do you ever feel like that?” “Only,” Eugenio says, “only all the time.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“I wish,” Eugenio says, and his voice sounds strained, “I wish you cared about yourself, the way I’ve seen you care for other people. I wish you cared about me enough to—”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“And Zach can feel the tattoo of Eugenio’s pulse, the strength of the muscles in his forearms, the way he inhales, shoulders expanding. He has his mask tipped up on his forehead, and Zach almost wishes he were wearing it now so that he didn’t have to see his expression: impassivity mixed with something more heated. Something Zach can’t want, not shielded from the rest of”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“their teammates only by chain link, especially when he remembers the hunger with which Eugenio kissed, the way he looked at Zach like he was worth looking at.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules

“Do you ever want something so much,” Eugenio says, and his mouth is close at Zach’s ear, breath warm on the skin of Zach’s neck, chest pressed into Zach’s shoulder, “it almost feels like you’re choking on it?” Zach doesn’t answer, not out loud, not trusting his voice not to shake like Eugenio’s hands are. Just nods, once, again. “And the closer you get to it, the more out of reach it feels.” “Only,” Zach says, “only all the time.” And that’s when Eugenio kisses him.”
― K.D. Casey, Unwritten Rules