Wednesday, September 19, 2007
♥ Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Thought I'd give you all a short excerpt from a book I definitely love.
I'd thought it might be like in my dreams. but it wasn't. Running came back to me, as easily as anything else that had once been everything to you. The first few steps were hard; it took me a second to catch my breath, but then I found my pace, and everything fell away, until there was nothing but me and what lay ahead, growing closer every second. Wes.
By the time I reached him, I was breathless. Red-faced. And my heart was thumping hard enough in my chest that at first, it was all I could hear. He turned around just as I got to him, looking surprised, and for a second neither of us said anything as I struggled to catch my breath.
"Macy," he said. I could tell he was shocked by my running, by the very fact that I was standing there in front of him, gasping for air. "What-"
"I'm sorry." I put my hand up, palm facing him, and took another deep breath. "But there's been a change."
He blinked at me. "A change." he repeated.
I nodded. "In the rules."
It took him a second: he had no idea what I was talking about. Then, slowly, his face relaxed. "Ah," he said. "The rules."
*Yes."
"I wasn't notified," he pointed out.
"Well, it was pretty recent," I said.
"As in..."
"As in, effective right now."
Wes ran a hand through his hair and I saw the heart and hand slip into view, then disappear again. I had so much to tell him, I didn't even know where to start. Or maybe I did.
"Macy," he said softly, looking at me closely. "You don't have to-"
I shook my head. "The change," I said. "Ask me about the change."
He leaned back on his heels, sliding his hands into his pockets. "Okay," he said after a second. "What's the change?"
"It's been decided," I told him, taking another breath, "that there's another step to winning the game. And that is that in order for me to really win, I have to answer the question you passed on, that night in the truck. Only then is it final"
"The question I passed on," he repeated.
I nodded. "That's the rule."
I know, in the silence that followed, that anything could happen here. It might be too late; again, I might have missed my chance. But I would at least know I tried, that I took my heart and extended my hand, whatever the outcome.
"Okay," he said. He took a breath. "What would you do, if you could do anything?"
I took a step towards him, closing the space between us. "This," I said. And then I kissed him.
Kissed him. There, in the middle of the street, as the world went on around us. Behind me, I knew Jason was still waiting for an explanation, my sister was still lecturing, and that angel still had her eyes skyward, waiting to fly. As for me, I was just trying to get it right, whatever that meant. but now I finally felt I was on my way. Everyone had a forever, but given a choice, this would be mine. The one that began in this moment, with Wes, in a kiss that took my breath away, then gave it back, leaving me astounded, amazed, and most of all, alive.
The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen.Oh, well. Now that's a big spoiler.
I would gladly love to scrutinise and analyse this excerpt and the book rather than Shakespeare and his thees and thous and whimsical fancies.
Sigh.
This excerpt might not seem to be anything for you, but if you read the whole book, this would have been the perfect ending of chapter twenty-one.
And chapter twenty-two'd be what you want to happen to Macy and Wes.
