Parker:“I can’t stop thinking about the Newtons. Nate said that they had faith that their father was at peace, but. It’s not enough. How do you do it?”
Sophie: “Do what?”
Parker: “How do you… care? When you know that people, people that you like, someday they’ll die.”
Sophie:“You know Parker, we never really talk about it, but… if you - lost someone, when you were just a child, then you might put up walls to make sure that you never got hurt again. But trust me, this life is not worth livingwithout the people that make us wanna tear down those walls. The thrill of vulnerability, the danger of opening your heart… it makes us feel alive.”
Parker:“I feel alive when I’m jumping off a building.” [smiles for the first time this conversation]
Sophie:[smiles, looks down for a moment] “Well, maybe that’s why they call it falling in love.”
This conversation is so good. Parker asked Nate, but his answer didn’t satisfy at all. Faith isn’t enough - she knows that, because it hasn’t been enough for her in the past with her brother. And Sophie, wise wise Sophie, she recognizes this and mentions Parker’s brother as a reason why this might be so hard for her. Her voice is so gentle, quiet and calm and confident. Parker looks away when Sophie mentions a loss in childhood but there’s no pressure to actually talk about it. In this whole conversation, Sophie focuses on the present. She doesn’t make any promises about coping after a loss getting easier, doesn’t offer any kind of reassurance about the afterwards.
Instead, she promises Parker that what comes before the loss is worth it. It’s what matters most in life, opening up to others and having those deep connections. It’s something only Sophie could say like this, and it’s just as sad coming from her because she has trouble opening up to others too. So recently she tried with Nate (trusting him with her real name) and he didn’t remember it. She has built up so many false connections that she lost sight of who she even was underneath all of them. But no matter how many times she has had someone and lost them, or even wanted and simply never got - it’s worth it all. And by putting words to what Parker is feeling, by outright telling her that she’s falling in love, Sophie is giving her the support she needs to jump off this building. It might be scary, but it will be worth it. Even if it ends badly at some point, that’s no reason not to take the jump
