Quotes From "Boy Meets Boy" By David Levithan

1
But I think we both knew, even then, that what we had was something even more rare, and even more meaningful. I was going to be his friend, and was going to show him possibilities. And he, in turn, would become someone I could trust more than myself. David Levithan
We pencil-sketch our previous life so we can contrast it...
2
We pencil-sketch our previous life so we can contrast it to the technicolor of the moment. David Levithan
Because sometimes you just have to dance like a madman...
3
Because sometimes you just have to dance like a madman in the Self-Help section of your local bookstore. David Levithan
4
I've always known I was gay, but it wasn't confirmed until I was in kindergarten. It was my teacher who said so. It was right there on my kindergarten report card: PAUL IS DEFINITELY GAY AND HAS VERY GOOD SENSE OF SELF. David Levithan
5
I find myself thinking back to something I saw on the local news about a year ago. A teen football player had died in a car accident. The cameras showed all his friends after the funeral–these big hulking guys, all in tears, saying, “I loved him. We all loved him so much.” I started crying, too, and I wondered if these guys had told the football player they loved him while he was alive, or whether it was only with death that this strange word, love, could be used. I vowed then and there that I would never hesitate to speak up to the people I loved. They deserved to know they gave meaning to my life. They deserved to know I thought the world of them. . David Levithan
6
I hate the phrase 'more than friends', " Joni told me one night not long ago. "It's such nonsense. When I'm going out with someone, we're not 'more than friends' - most of the time, we're not even friends. 'More than friends' makes no sense. Look at us. There's nothing more than us. David Levithan
7
In this space, in this moment, we are who we want to be. I am lucky, because for me that doesn’t take much courage. But for others, it takes a world of bravery to make it to the clearing. David Levithan
8
This is what a small victory feels like. It feels like a little surprise and a lot of relief. It makes the past feel lighter and the future seem even lighter than that, if only for a moment. It feels like rightness winning. It feels like possibility. David Levithan
9
Tony knows the names of trees and birds. As we walk around, he points them out to me. I try to record them in my mind, but the information never holds. What matters to me is the emotional meaning of the objects. David Levithan
10
We are young and the night is young. We are in the middle of somewhere and we are feeling everything. David Levithan
11
We could call you an ambisexual. A duosexual. A–”“Do I really have to find a word for it?” Kyle interrupts. “Can’t it just be what it is?”“ Of course, ” I say, even though in the bigger world I’m not so sure. The world loves stupid labels. I wish we got to choose our own. We pause for a moment. I wonder if that’s all–if he just needed to say the truth and have it heard. But then Kyle looks at me with unsure eyes and says, “You see, I don’t know who I’m supposed to be.”“ Nobody does, ” I assure him. David Levithan
12
We switch to another language-- not our invented language or the language we've learned from our lives. As we walk further up the mountain, we speak the language of silence. This language gives us time to think and move. We can be here and elsewhere at the same time. David Levithan
13
O Lord, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of doubt, at least let mewear a Walkman... David Levithan
14
We stay this way until twilight colours the window and the hour calls me home David Levithan
15
He kisses me back with a kiss like a smile. David Levithan
16
The promise of a kiss will carry us forward. David Levithan
17
I once told him that the best way to break up a fight is to step between the two people and start singing ancient folk songs. But I’d never heard of anyone actually doing such a thing. David Levithan
18
My lines all curve. I tend to connect the wrong dots. David Levithan
19
I had never really thought of marriages as things that involved liking. I had just assumed this man-woman arrangement was yet another adult quirk, like flossing. David Levithan
20
I can tell from the glint in her eyes that she’s at least an acquaintance of Dorothy. David Levithan
21
I stop at the tune store, where I'm greeted by Javier and Jules. Half the store is Javier's, half is Jules's–they have entirely different musical tastes, so you have to know going in whether the tune you're looking for is more like Javier or Jules. They have been together for more than twenty years, and today as they offer me cider and argue the blues, I want to ask them how they've done it. To be together with someone for twenty years seems like an eternity to me. I can't seem to manage twenty days. Twenty weeks would be a stretch. How can they stand there behind the counter, spinning songs for each other day in and day out? How can they find things to say–how can they avoid saying things they'll always regret? How do you stay together? I want to ask them, the same way I want to ask my happy parents, the same way I want to go up to old people and ask them 'what is it like to live so long'?. David Levithan