\u201cI think I was ten when I first saw her,\u201d she whispers. \u201cShe\u2026 she smiled at me. It was bright outside, and she smiled at me because\u2026 why did she smile at me?\u201d The girl trails off, oblivious to the soft and uncertain hand hovering over her shoulder. \u201cI can\u2019t remember,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think,\u201d the other one starts, \u201cyou know, I think that\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut is it?\u201d she asks hoarsely, turning to face the other girl for the first time. \u201cWhat if I never remember who I am? What if I never find out who I am? What if I never know? What then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThen that\u2019s what happens!\u201d she hisses. \u201cThen you\u2019ll be who you are! Your memories don\u2019t define you, and what others say sure as hell don\u2019t either! Look at me!\u201d She grasps the girl\u2019s shoulders and her eyes turn softer. \u201cLook at me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She blinks harshly, willing away the tears pooling up in the bottom of her eyes, almost welling over. Anger swells at the bottom of her throat, pouring out in hot, choked sobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCrying isn\u2019t weak, love,\u201d she says, pulling her head into her chest. \u201cCrying is what makes you so strong. And even if it was a weakness,\u201d she leans in, letting her long hair drape over the girl\u2019s back, shielding her from the cool night air, \u201ceven if it was something terrible, I still wouldn\u2019t care, love, I never would.\u201d
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI think I was ten when I first saw her,\u201d she whispers. \u201cShe\u2026 she smiled at me. It was bright outside, and she smiled at me because\u2026 why did she smile at me?\u201d The girl trails off, oblivious to the soft and uncertain hand hovering over her shoulder. \u201cI can\u2019t remember,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[38,33],"class_list":["post-170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-friendship","category-romance","tag-based-on-a-song","tag-young-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171,"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170\/revisions\/171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bellesbooknook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}