91
" You're wrong," I told her. "I lost that faith a long time ago."
She looked at me as I said this, an expression of quiet understanding on her face. "Maybe you didn't, though," she said softly. "Lose it, I mean."
"Lissa."
"No, just hear me out." She looked out at the road for a second, then back at me. "Maybe, you just misplaced it, you know? It's been there. But you just haven't been looking in the right spot. Because lost means forever, it's gone. But misplaced... that means it's still around, somewhere. Just not where you thought. "
― Sarah Dessen , This Lullaby
98
" And so, while the rest of the world went on unaware, drinking their coffee, reading the sports page, and picking up their dry cleaning, I leaned forward and kissed Dexter, making a choice that would change everything. Maybe somewhere there was a ripple, a bit of jump, some small shift in the universe, barely noticeable. I didn’t feel it then. I felt only him kissing me back, easing me into the sunlight as I lost myself in the taste of him and felt the world go on, just as it always had, all around us. "
― Sarah Dessen , This Lullaby
99
" Once she'd loved my filet mignon, my carnivore inklings,
but now she was a vegan princess,
living off of beans.
She'd given up the cheese and bacon, sworn off Burger
King, and when I
wouldn't do the same
she gave me back my ring.
I stood there by the romaine lettuce,
feeling my heart
pine.
Wishing that this meatless beauty
still would be all mine.
She turned around
to go to checkout,
fifteen items or less.
And I knew this was the last go-round,
so this is what I said. ...
"Don't you ever give me no rotten tomato, 'cause all I ever wanted was your sweet
potato. "
― Sarah Dessen , This Lullaby
100
" It's so weird," Chloe said finally, "that it doesn't feel different now." "What?" I asked her. "Everything," she said. "I mean, this is what we've been waiting for, right? High school's over. It's a whole new thing but it feels exactly the same." "That's because nothing new has started yet," Jess told her. She had her face tipped up, eyes on the sky above us. "By the end of the summer, then things will feel new. Because they will be." Chloe pulled another tiny bottle—this time gin—out of her jacket pocket and popped the top. "It sucks to wait, though," she said, taking a sip of it. "I mean, for everything to begin. "
― Sarah Dessen , This Lullaby