It's easy to fall in love with someone when you believe their touch is magic and their words were meant just for you. It's easy to love someone who smiles at you in class and who holds your hand in the hallway. It's so easy to love the idea you created in your head of someone, but when you finally realize that their touch was toxic and their words were ******* knives you'll see that what you thought love was is actually pain and you'd do anything for it as long as they called you beautiful at the end of the night. Smiles can be deceiving, baby girl, and sometimes when he grabs your hand it's not because he loves you but because if you got away he'd have nothing left to control. Don't let anyone spit poison in your mouth unless they're willing to spend all night in the emergency room with you when you try to rip it out of your veins to stop the burning in your throat and the aching inside your heart.

I'll be the first to admit that I cried when you left. I cried for three god ****** weeks. I'm surprised my cheeks aren't permanently tear-streaked and red, and I'm sure my pillow is still damp. You broke my heart when you hung up the phone that night, and although I said you were the only one for me, today I saw a cute boy in the book store who smiled at me like I was the only girl there. And even though my heart is in a million pieces on my apartment floor, I'm willing to glue it back together if it means you will stop bothering me in my nightmares.

I jumped out of a plane to find out if falling from thirteen thousand feet high would feel the same as falling for you. I guess it might of if I hadn't pulled the parachute, because I would have shattered on the ground like I did when you left and took everything I thought I was with you, but this time I found the ground and I was able to walk away in one piece.

I never understood why they called it 'falling in love' until you kissed me. I must have lost my balance somewhere along the string of 'you can trust me' and 'I'll never hurt you's' because I fell and I couldn't find somewhere steady to catch myself. But then you slammed the door when you left and I hit the bottom and I shattered on the kitchen floor and I realized that falling means breaking and 'I love you' has an expiration date.

I set myself on fire because you said you needed light, and I could feel it crawling up my skin, you left your marks on me like the fire, burning through my throat like all those shots we took when you decided you didn't want to breathe anymore, and when you decided you didn't want my heat anymore you let me burn to ashes on the ground.

Don't build a life around someone who doesn't have the intention of putting a good base down. If he slams the door when he leaves it will pull walls down with him and you will be buried in the remains of what you thought was true love, but turned out to be empty promises and bad wallpaper. And if you ever the boy who broke your heart walking down the street, hand in hand with another girl, don't resent her. She never knew the way he held you when you cried or the way he laughed when you did. She might have the same arms holding her on bad nights, but she doesn't know how much it hurt to be crushed by him and to have to learn how to live without his laugh. Don't resent her because she doesn't know. And I know it seems like such a good idea to have pizza every day for two weeks, but believe it or not, you will get tired of it and want to ***** at the thought of pepperoni. Pizza will not solve every problem you've ever had, but calling your mom on a Sunday night just might. Don't spend money you don't have. Credit cards are cool until you are piled high in debt and you have to live off of ramen every night. You'll get tired of that too. It's okay to cry, and it's okay to kiss the boy at the party because you miss him, but don't fall in love with him because you can see a resemblance in his eyes. Fall in love with him because he holds your coat and purse when you go to the mall. Fall in love with him because he finishes your sentences, but don't fall in love with him because you're lonely. That's not love.

It took me two months to fall in love with your laugh, your smile, your eyes. Two months to fall for your stories about high school and the way you talk about your mom. Eight weeks was all it took to be completely captivated by everything you were. The way you walked, the freckles on your arms, the deep breaths you took when you were focusing as hard as you could. And I swore that you were heaven shaped into a man and that if I could just pretend that you would stay forever, maybe it would be true. But just like my dad told me when I was little, good things never really last and boys who look like they can give you the world would rather hold oceans and mountains before they'd ever dream of holding you. You couldn't give me the world but I hope you at least take the sand with you when you go.