Love is Written

Quirks

My girl has a few odd habits.

Every one of them brings back memories.

She's ticklish. I cornered her once, on a dare, and tickled her, a weakness I'd discovered back in the seventh grade. She collapsed in a fit of giggles, and laughed so hard that she stopped breathing. I panicked, thinking she was an asthmatic, and tried to find a puffer. She regained her composure long enough to ask what was wrong, but when I told her what I was looking for, she lost it all over again.

She's a sleep-talker. We all stayed over together one night, for a mate's birthday weekend. We were in different tents. But a noise woke me in the middle of the night. I pulled my boots on and walked out in my pyjamas to find her fast asleep in one of the foldout chairs, chattering away at empty air. I couldn't bear to wake her, so I stole Andy's blanket and wrapped her up as best I could.

She can't sleep without having sung - or hummed - at least a few lyrics of a random song first. I know, because on that same birthday weekend, I could hear her humming the tune of Demons by Imagine Dragons, and when Jill opened the tent door a few moments later in an effort to catch her singing, she was sound asleep.

There are so many of the adorable little quirks and habits that make up the girl I've come to love.

The way she sucks in a breath after talking for extended periods of time with particular vigour, breathless or not; the way her toes curl when she touches cold water; the way she instantly reddens when someone compliments her.

The little hitch of her diaphragm when she hiccups; the way her entire body shakes when she laughs; the way she bursts out laughing in dead silence; the dents in the muscles of her shoulders; the way she taps whatever she's holding in the palm of one hand when she's nervous.

Even the way her left brow twitches when she's angry.

So many, and it's hard to choose, but I do have a favourite.

See, whenever my girl is concentrating really hard, she does this thing. She can't help it, no matter how much the boys and I tease her for it, she's never grown out of the habit. Once she is really focused on a task, almost nothing can snap her out it. And when she gets like this, she does the cutest little move.

First, she chews on her bottom lip, which of course makes it swell and the colour darken just a little. She'll do that for about ten minutes, and then she snags it with her right canine. After a little bit longer, she licks her lips, and then her tongue just . . . Stays there.

That six millimetres of adorable pink tongue is my favourite quirk of all.