The other side of this is one of the most wonderful and surprising moments of joy, however: sooner or later one of the people you walk on eggshells around, one of the people you’ve written off as one of the people you’re just going to lose when the news starts to spread — she will roll her eyes at you and say “honestly, Taylor, enough with the ‘roommate’ nonsense, just call her your girlfriend.” And after your heart finishes its dance, everything will go back to the way it was before. But not quite.

It’s not enough to make up for the struggle — and it’s really only the surprise it is because the struggle is so grinding relentless. But in the end the people who love you for who you are count so much more than the ones who love their imaginary version of you; if only it were easier to figure out who was who.