Chapter 20

• You know, in a normal relationship, on the first, third or fifth date, you can end things quickly. You could say, "Stop, we're not going anywhere. Eventually you realize that he wants a serious relationship and kids and a family and a dog, and you like to have a good time, and that's it. You think living in the center of a bustling city and hanging out with friends on the weekends is your ideal life, while he dreams of a country house with a white picket fence and barbecues on the holidays. You just want different things, so you move on with other people without trying to remake anyone. And that's okay; that's adult life.
• Our trio was more complicated. For one thing, there were more voices and opinions, and everyone had to be considered. Also, Aaron and Owen had been a couple for a long time, and I had only recently become a part of that relationship. We were starting down this path and I needed more information about them. They seemed to know everything about me because they had been following me and getting all the information from the Internet. If you asked me what grade I skinned my knee riding my bike, they knew that too. So, I wanted to know what their favorite food was, how they spent their free time, what they read and watched, what their bad habits were, who their parents were, and where their family was. I knew absolutely nothing about them.
• I had hoped we would have days, maybe weeks, to get to know each other, to connect, to figure out what we wanted and where we were going. But it was all over too soon; we had much less time than I thought, but we didn't know it when we moved into a small house in the suburbs of Lancaster just after midnight. It was a cozy place with two bedrooms and a living room, a fridge full of food in the kitchen, cable, and a big TV we never turned on. A night of all-consuming passion and wild lust lay ahead of us, ending in a deafening gunshot. But we didn't know it then...