I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

The clouds above us sink, like whales dipping below water and
resurfacing for air. They draw patterns, submerging us before letting
the light seep through again.
“Life is so full of shadows,” he sighs, removing a book from under the
hoodie. The spine is damaged. The pages are thin and pale but
overflowing with text. “It’s easy to forget that some people prefer the
dark.”
The book mimics the sea in a sense, gray and blue and rather
daunting. He flips through it, each word like a cell, each sentence a
line of muscle.
“On the surface, this story’s about the value of affection over social
class, but at its roots, like most things, it’s simpler,” he says. “It’s
about guiltless affection that is unasked and expects nothing in
return. It’s about not letting that sort of bond pass you by.”
Then, with a disdainful snort, he throws his legs out and lays down,
holding the novel over his head. “I hate this book.”
I can’t help the smile. “Do you?”
“Yeah. Pip’s an idiot.” He puts a hand out like a mocking actor. “‘I
love her against reason and against all discouragement that could
be.’ He sounds like you.” He says it to make me laugh and though it
works, the two of us retain
quickly to where we are. The water and the wind serve as gentle
reminders that our time here is limited. It will end and when it does–
“I think that part of Pip lives in all of us,” he says. “We’re similar in
the end–people, I mean. We all want a little piece of extraordinary.
Unfortunately, most lives go by without anything extraordinary
happening, and even if it does, it’s the ordinary moments that we
should’ve appreciated.”