Holly Riordan

I am not going to send texts that probably won’t get a response. I am not going to put effort into our relationship when you won’t do the same.

Just because you were close when you were kids, that doesn’t mean that you are going to stay close as adults. 

Stop thinking about what would happen if you had a second chance with them.

Don’t ruin her night. Don’t disappoint her. Give your girl what she deserves.

You deserve someone who won’t instinctively run away when things get hard. Someone who won’t abandon you when you need them the most. 

If someone you love hurts you, you shouldn’t automatically forgive them because they hold a special place in your heart.

It is hard for me to think of myself as someone worth having around, as someone who deserves real happiness.

I have been taught not to settle. I refuse to lower my standards with love. With friendships. And with my career.

I want to text you, but I am going to try to hold myself back. I am going to try to keep my standards high. I am going to try to keep you in my past. 

Three years. Three years of hand holding and beer drinking and the best sex I’ve ever had before the blood, the bruises, the beginning of a nightmare. 

I never feel relaxed. I never feel safe. I am always on the edge of my seat, worrying about what will happen next.

You are not too broken to find the happiness that you lost somewhere down the line.  

Caring too much and being too nice and getting too invested does not make me weak. 

Instead of planning out traditional dates that includes dinner and a movie, they will take you on hikes, to the racetrack, and to tattoo parlors.

You hate yourself for getting your hopes up. For reading too far into the way they looked at you or the words they texted you.

You are allowed to take a day off. You are allowed to press snooze on your alarm. You are allowed to give yourself a break. 

If you were given the death penalty, what would your last meal be?

There are going to be times when I close myself off. When I pretend that I am fine. When I don’t want to talk about what has been bothering me. But I will try my hardest to remember that we are a team.