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"They are"

"So you’re saying none of them are in love?"

"No, I’m not Okay, let me rephrase Love doesn’t exist anyeneration You see how et tired of being with their spouse because they’re no longer in ‘love’ with them, or they ‘love’ soo away You’d always love the people want and pretend they find"

I studied her for a second and asked, "How could you grow up around people like your parents and co up around therew up around perfect couples All of the to have that someday"

"And?" I proed "And then I found out it didn’t exist anymore"

"Just like that? One day you just randome After a while she finally said, "I had that I was sure I had what they had I was positive I was in love And then I found out horong I was one day After that, I stopped looking at the world through love-clouded glasses, and started seeing relationships for what they were They look perfect on the outside, and inside, they’re just a disaster"

"Is that relationship what happened to make you push me back?"

She shook her head and rolled her eyes before scooping up another bite "It was a long tio I pushed you back because it wasn’t hard to see you wanted soive you because I don’t believe in it"

"And yet, here you are On a date with me, and you talked about future dates in the car"

"Well, it’s not like you and Kira gavetone "But after everything I told you before tonight, I know you already kno I feel about an actual relationship So I’ for this to turn into soaze stopped on an elderly couple, and I leaned in toward Kennedy Grabbing her hand, I nodded my head in their direction "Look at them The couple in the corner"

Her eyes drifted past , I looked at the pair too Both had white hair and were perainst the table There was a bowl of ice crea his wife a bite before taking one for hi her hand across the table, and their fingers were curved around each other’s like they’d spent the last sixty-plus years never letting go of each other

Looking back at the girl I was holding on to, I spoke softly "I knoant that someday; there’s no way you can’t want it too"

"I used to," she adain "But it just doesn’t exist for us any ti back into the fa of food in my hand I’d just dropped Kennedy off at her condo, and even though the rest of the night had been great, I couldn’t stop thinking about the beginning of our conversation at the ice cream shop

"Little Chachi!" Brian called out fro ht? Don’t you have better things to do than coht?"

"I just dropped Kennedy off"

"Who?" he asked distractedly before telling the guy he’d been working on that he could pay up front and giving him a rundown of after-care instructions

"Moon," I said when the guy was gone and I was in Brian’s station