[New Year’s Eve: Hannah & Jeremiah]
"Loneliness is a feeling, and it isn't always logical," Jeremiah sighed. "And sometimes if you think someone should understand you and they don't, I think it's more lonely than if you don't have someone that you think should." He paused. "Or maybe it's a different type of loneliness, but I feel like it definitely still can be." He was glad he had his family too, for all he hadn't always been. Glad particularly for the father he hadn't known before this year. "Finding my biological father was stressful, but in the long run, it was definitely one of the positive things about this year," he said with certainty. If he hadn't found him, he wasn't certain exactly how the year would have turned out. He certainly didn't think he would be in Repose, or in this moment with Hannah.
There was a smile that curved up the edges of his lips at her proclamation. She was right on all counts, and he hoped that he could do more of all of those things in the next year. "I have been made for beautiful things from the moment I put on my sister's mardi gras beads and danced like Gene Kelly," he laughed. His father hadn't approved, and Jeremiah had learned not to show he cared. "I think.... that I hope you're right," he told her. "I want that one person. And besides, my house is way too large for it to just be me living in it and I need someone to dance with."
"I think if he doesn't like you very much if you're you, then he's the one that's missing out, Hannah, because, and I know I've only know you a few months, but I don't have any hesitation saying that you're an amazing person. And I can't say that he'll like you if you you are yourself, but..." he paused, considering how he wanted to say what he was thinking. "Maybe if you do, you'll feel more comfortable with yourself, and maybe that will help, even if he doesn't. It's your call though, I'm hardly an expert on good sibling relationships," he sighed. His mind floated to the ways he wasn't exactly himself right now, the ways he hadn't exactly been himself for months. And maybe you only ever were a version of yourself with one person that was specific to that person. But there were people with whom he felt more comfortable, certainly, and there were places where he relaxed - almost instantly. And for not the first time he was tempted to be more honest with her, but he didn't want to steal her conversation. "Did you talk to Si over Christmas?" He asked instead. "You said he was easier to understand."