#1 in Teen Fiction

Blaze Ryder is everything Alaska feared. He is eyes and embraces and fallings stars, chocolate and marshmallows, the fizz on soda on the tongue. He is wind and hands and lips on your hair; he is a hundred kisses to hide the bruises, the flowers of summer blooming together. Ink and paper, the smell of old books and cornered nooks. The teens are standing together, so close that their shadows merge into one, and the blood dripping from her hands to the concrete floor.

It's a chaotic love story, really.

* * *

"And you know, some people are good at love, and some of them are good at being in love. They are two different things.

Being in love is the romantic part, sex all the time, midday naps in the sheets, the jokes, the laughs, the long conversations with no pauses, overwhelming thoughts, separation, and anxiety - just the best sides of two people.

But love? Love begins when the excitement starts to fade away; the stress in life sets in, the sex becomes a chore; the tears, the sadness, the arguments come into the picture. The worst sides of these two people are shown.

But you know, after all that, I would still want you in my life, and I know you would want me too. So I love you, and I'm not afraid of loving you," Alaska says into the phone, pouring her heart out.