If You Would Only Like Me

I don't read much mainstream fiction, but on the advice of a close friend, I'm currently reading Boy's Life by Robert McCammon.  Here's a single paragraph from it . . .

I had been in the presence of Chile Willow only a short time, but what is time when a heart speaks?  My heart was speaking to Chile Willow in that moment, as she bathed my cuts and gave me a smile. My heart was saying If you were my girlfriend I would give you a hundred lightning bugs in a green glass jar, so you could always see your way.  I would give you a meadow full of wildflowers, where no two blossoms would ever be alike. I would give you my bicycle, with its golden eye to protect you. I would write a story for you, and make you a princess who lived in a white marble castle.  If you would only like me, I would give you magic.  If you would only like me.

The innocence of youth combined with the first stirrings of love . . . This paragraph takes my breath away!

~Riot.Jane