Opposite of Always

“Don’t be afraid. Take chances. And when those don’t work out, take more.”

So the earth rotates around the sun, right? And it would be super weird for it to start happening the other way around, right? Like, suddenly the sun starts revolving around the earth—

Except that’s sorta like what loving someone is all about—

You’re moving along life, doing your thing, managing your priorities and commitments—

And then suddenly you meet THE ONE.

And you fall completely out of the orbit you’ve been spinning in.

And now you’re doing laps around this new world.

And you’re hoping gravity can sustain you.

But there’s no way of knowing if it can until you realize it can’t.

Guess it’s all an orbit of faith.

She breaks her phone trance, glares at me. “You sure about that?”

“One hundred and twenty percent,” I offer.

She groans. “I hate when people do that.”

“Do what?”

“Say more than 100 percent, as if that’s really a thing. Plus, if you really wanna emphasize your commitment, why not go all in on the hyperbole? Why not say 900 percent or 5,383 percent? I mean, at least be creative with your terrible math.”

IRL, there are no video-game power-ups for broken hearts.

But this is something.

It’s not nothing.

“That’s life, though. You have problems. But you keep trying. You fight for the things you love.”

I just realized winning wasn’t a particular strength of mine, and so I gradually grew accustomed to its antonym.

But it doesn’t matter.

When we’re together, how could anything else matter?

I was too busy wanting someone who I couldn’t have. Who never wanted me back.

“Don’t be afraid. Take chances. And when those don’t work out, take more.”

“Uh, okay, well, I’ve always loved reading. But there aren’t a lot of books about kids like me. And I just think every kid deserves a book that looks like them. So . . . you can laugh now.”