It was nice, being able to open up to Ash. Refreshing, even. She wasn't judging me, I knew, just listening with an open mind as I explained.
"Are you close to your parents now that you're older?" She wondered, but I shook my head.
"That would have been difficult, growing up without them," she said sympathetically, but I just shrugged.
"It was, when I was younger," I admitted, "but, I figured out that I could either let it define me, or I could choose to be happy."
"So, you just chose happiness?" She frowned, tilting her head. "It was that easy?"
"Well, it was a little more complicated than that," I explained. "It starts with daily reminders of how much worse it could be, until that becomes like second nature, to appreciate what we've got, rather than what we don't."
She nodded, seeming thoughtful.
"So, happiness is just a change of attitude," she concluded.
"Basically, yeah."
"It must take a strong personality to be able to do that," she told me with a slight smile.
"Nah," I shook my head. "Just determination. And appreciation of the little things."
"Little things," she repeated, as though trying to commit every word to memory.
"Little things, like... new socks," I offered.
"Socks?" She laughed, the sound playing into my soul, like a sort of magic waking something had had been lying dormant inside of me. "I wouldn't have picked you as the sort of guy to get excited over socks."
"I get excited over everything," I defended. "And, anyway, new socks are great, man!"
"Oh, I get it!" Something seemed to click, and her eyes lit up as she caught on to what I meant by appreciating the little things. "You're right, new socks really are great!"
BINABASA MO ANG
Stardust (Complete)
ChickLit2016. I met a boy with a whole universe inside him, his eyes full of shimmering stardust, like windows into his soul, shining so brightly I could barely look into them for more than a second. His body was like a bridge between the physical and spiri...
