I always liked this passage

I wrote this something like a year and a half ago ... man, closer to two years ago. It was part of the original project. It still stands as I wrote it then.

Hope is a frat boy, a trickster, a party boy pounding a Natty Ice while slapping your shoulder and yelling “Yeaaaah!” into your ear. Hope cheats, steals and lies. But he has the sweetest face.

Hope tells you to take one more drink – of whatever. “Don’t limit yourself,” Hope says. Hope himself is sipping from that same bottle, backwashing. Hope uses too much gel. Hair-care products make for a happy Hope.

Hope is fun. He presents the possibilities to you, offers them up tied with a splashy, frayed bow. “Check this shit out,” Hope says. “Fuck it,” Hope tells you.

And you want to follow Hope. He looks good, really, especially with his shirt off. There’s always room for you in Hope’s Volvo station wagon. It’s bright red, a stick, a sunroof and a great sound system. “Play DJ,” Hope says, and you do.

Sometimes Hope will hold your hair the morning after. He might make you tea, smooth the bedcovers. Sometimes Hope will stroke your forehead with a cool, dry palm. He might even kiss you with warm, giving lips. Hope is lightest before the dark dawn.