Stephanie Perkins

Girl scouts didn't teach me what to do with emotionally unstable drunk boys.

To: Anna Oliphant From: _tienne St. Clair Subject: So . . . Does that mean I can call you now?

I don't care about anything. But I care about you.

I don't believe in fashion. I believe in costume. Life is too short to be same person every day.

I told him your loins were clearly burning, and he should man up and make a move.""You did

I don't know what I want to do, or who I want to be, or where I want to live. It's like everyone else has their entire future mapped out except for me.

I get out of the car, and I'm blasted by the stench of body odor. Cricket is beside me, and he's talking, but his words don't reach my ears.Because it's my mother.Smelling.On my porch.

Well, bloody noses." I hug his coat tighter. "Those are definitely hot.

So why did he do it?"Cricket rakes a hand through his hair. "For the same reason everyone makes mistakes. He fell in love.

So why did he do it?"Cricket rakes a hand through his hair. "For the same reason everyone makes mistake. He fell in love.

Everyone makes mistakes. The important thing is to not make the same mistake twice.

Andy once clipped a magazine article about how black dogs are always the last to be adopted at shelters and, therefore, more likely to be put down. Which is totally Dog Racism, if you ask me.

Suddenly I register that St. Clair is shorter than Josh. Much shorter. It__ odd I didn__ notice earlier, but he doesn__ carry himself like a short guy. Most are shy or defensive, or some messed-up combination of the two, but St. Clair is confident and friendly and_

Finally, I laugh. Genuine and normal sounding. And then my date says the best thing that he couldpossibly say: __t__ okay. I haven__ been on one of these [dates] in a while either.__y smile triples in size.Josh grins. __ust give me your hand._____hat?___our hand,_ he repeats. __ive it to me.__ extend my shaking right hand. And _ in a moment that is a hundred dreams come true _ JoshuaWasserstein laces his fingers through mine. A staggering shock of energy shoots straight into myveins. Straight into my heart.__here,_ he says. ____e been waiting a long time to do that.

He closes his eyes.Our lips brush lightly."If you ask me to kiss you , I will," he says.His fingers stroke the inside of my wrists, and I burst into flames."Kiss me," I say.He does.

The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.

The way he looked at you? He wasn__ distracted. He was consumed.

The directness of her question throws me. "I don't know. Sometimes I think there are only so many opportunities...to get together with someone. And we've both screwed up so many times"- my voice grows quiet - "that we've missed our chance.""Anna." Mer pauses. "That is the dumbest thing I've ever heard.""But_""But what? You love him, and he loves you, and you live in the most romantic city in the world.