Jason Myers

“There has to be blame and there has to be reasons and there has to be answers and if nobody can adequately accept the blame and give a sufficient reason and provide an answer, the love, no matter how strong it is, the family, no matter how tight it is, the life, no matter how good it is, will always buckle, then snap, then drown completely under the pressure of itself, the reality of the mistrust, and the weight of its own history, because if there are no answers, the blame and the guilt become stronger than the love and those two things together become a force that no amount of love can ever break down and overcome.”

“With Me, I want the Bank of America to know that I'm fucking alive.”

“There’s “Bloodstains” by Agent Orange. “Rise Above” by Black Flag. “Streets of San Francisco” by the Swingin’ Utters. “Gimme Danger” by Iggy and the Stooges.”

“If you’re such a shallow person that a goddamn bumper sticker can sum up your beliefs, then Jesus Christ, are you even worth fighting for in the end?”

“This country life doesn’t look so bad from the window. It melts your heart. It warms your soul.lets you think about the possibility of quiet and how quiet is beautiful when seen through the proper lenses and mind-set.”

“We hole up in my room with Chinese food (crab Rangoon, kung pao chicken, wonton soup).”

“What the fuck is love anyway?Is it a phone call the next morning?Is it picking up a hundred-dollar-meal tab?Is it flowers on the fifth date?Or is it sleeping on the wet spot?”

“It's nice to live in that world inside your head that abides by your little idealist wishes, ya know, where everyone is straight up about their intentions and never uses people or lies about anything. But seriously, that ain't how this shit works, and the quicker you get that and stop throwing these rushed judgments onto people who are living a life that you have no fucking clue about what it feels to live, then you'll actually be ready for the shit that's gonna get tossed your way. Once you get that people are always gonna let you down and hurt you in some capacity, that's when you actually start to cultivate something real with them.”

“It was so surreal. We're on the road and a split second-BAM-we jump a median-BAM-we jump a curb.And then there was this house.And these sounds.Splintered glass.Broken bones.Severed veins.And that's all I know.The decisions that we make.”

“On the one hand I think he's a stupid,conceited prick, unrelenting in his disdain for anyone who dares to challenge him. Completely and totally selfish. But on the other hand he does seem to care about some things. He seems to be somewhat understanding, out to make sure that everyone's having a good time. He's confident, not cocky, and there's a difference. It seems like he has these masks he puts on, then changes them in an instant. Part of me thinks it's just maybe who he is, this sociopath who can turn on a dime. But then another part of me wonders if maybe it's all just a game, like a real-life play where he changes his part whenever he sees fit. Some big-time plan to keep people from ever getting too close, or wanting to get close. That everything in front of him is just one big fucking game.”

“All I ever wanted was to pick apart the day, put the pieces back together my way..”

“You do the shittiest things to the people you love the most. That's just the way it is. You always hurt the people you care about the most.”

“But the thing is, my slate will never be swiped clean--this will never fade into the background and become some sort of learning experience or bump in the road. The shit that happened in my life and this book is real. And because I finally woke up to that whole realization much too late--the realization that life really happens and there is always a consequence for your actions--I lost everything in some sense, but in a weird kind of great way, if you flip it all around, I may have gained the most important thing of all: the truth. I can live with that.”

“It's like you dug a hole and threw me into it with you, and this is the only way I can get out of it!”

“Nothing makes sense anymore."I start sweating."Everything spun out of control.”

“That's why I get mad when I watch this show," he says. "It's simple, dude. Everything is way too simple.”

“All of that work and all of that time just for nothing, and maybe that's how things have to be sometimes.”

“I'm afraid to.Claire moves the pillow to her side of the bed. "Afraid to do what?"To sleep. I'm afraid that if I fall asleep, I'll lose this feeling. I'll start dreaming and everything good that's just happened will mean nothing.”

“Fuck everyone's apologies. I'm sick of hearing them. No one is sorry about anything. None of us care that much to be sorry about anything.”

“Everything has fallen apart.Claire stops laughing suddenly and takes a drag. She says, "Shit, Travis. Like anything was ever put together in the first place.”

“I wish I could take back the horrible things I've done to people. I wish I could go back in time and make things right, because even though I've been trying to, I might be making everything worse.”

“It's weird. I never knew how much I had to hate about myself until I had the time to think about it.”

“But nothing lasts forever. This city is changing for the worse. Sure it's getting bigger and it looks nicer, but the novelties are disappearing. The culture is fading. This isn't progress, kid. It's neighborhood genocide. You think about that.”

“He'll get what he deserves one day." Leaning even closer to me, Natalie whispers, "We all fucking will.”

“I'm not that. You of all people should know that. You should know that I would only destroy those good things about her. "Or maybe you're just scared," she says.”

“Dude: What do Pink Floyd and Dale Earnhardt have in common?Me: The wall was their last hit.”

“Maybe if I leave again, I'll be able to forget about everything.”

“Everything I tried to put back together. Everything I tried to build back up. All of it begins to break apart. Just like that.It cracks and it falls and it shreds into a million fucking pieces and when I open my eyes, it's just me and it's just Chris.”

“I want to go back."Why?"Because it's the only thing I know.”

“...but even though it feels awesome to be back with her, to have her next to me silhouetted by the stars, there is still a certain emptiness here, and something still feels a little bit off.”

“Sometimes not telling people anything is a good thing.”

“I saw your truth and I wanted you to stay,And for the first time ever, I found comfort.”

“You don't confront people about things that are out of your control. You bury it inside and you move the fuck on. That's how you deal with shit. It makes you stronger. That's why I'm not weak like my mother. Laura."What?"We're all fucking weak.”

“That's how this world works. To get a lot, you have to at least give a little. You have to make a concentrated effort to let it be known that you'll do whatever it takes to get ahead."Pause.My father takes a drink from his beer while I stare at him. Smirking, continuing, he says, "Once you accept this fact of life, you'll be able to do whatever you want to do and have anything you want to have.”

“It's nice to feeling happy," he says. "There's nothing else like it.”

“And Kyle says, "It's like when I'm with her, all the shit from my past doesn't even matter. Nothing does. I don't think about anything but her.”

“It's really starting to get to me and I'm not sure how to handle it because I can't remember ever letting anything get to me before. I can't remember ever feeling this fucking vulnerable.”

“And Cliff goes, "It just makes you wonder."About what?"About what we could get away with if we wanted to."My throat tightens. Cliff says, "Probably all kinds of stuff."I feel nauseous. Smiling, Cliff says, "Probably anything.”

“Don't you think you can right your wrongs, Laura? That you can make things better by trying to get back to everything you lost?”

“Travis, you don't even know what you're talking about. This is complete bullshit. You can't just come back and wave a wand and try to make everything the way it was.”

“It's just that I've never seen you care about anything in your life.'I zip my fly.And Michael goes, "I mean, I've watched you spend your while life not feeling bad about anything you're ever done.”

“Yo, dude. That shit might be cool on Saved By The Bell but not in real life.”

“Guy: What has nine arms and sucks?Me: What?Guy: Def Leppard.”

“Do you guys ever feel like you're locked inside a car that's moving really fast?"What kinda car?" Chris asks. Like a fucking red Monte Carlo with a black racing stripe cutting through the middle of it, and there's some superintense Fantomas shit jolting from the car speakers, like Mike Patton and Buzz Osbourne just completely losing it, but no steering wheel. The car doesn't have one. And the car is so out of control, right? It's swerving all over the road, and you're crying, pounding your fists against the window trying to jump out of it, trying to bail from it, and then all of these people start popping up on the road, like your parents and your sister and your friends, and the car is playing human dodgeball with them. It's trying to not run anyone over, but it's not slowing down, either, and then some junkie babe pops up in the middle of the road and the car destroys her, leaving her mangled body in its burnt rubber path, and then it keeps on going and going even though it can't maintain anything close to the same speed.”

“Inhale. Exhale.”

“my grandma has fake teeth but her smile is real”

“Sometimes life is a constant battle against the nostalgia of a time that can never be real again.”

“If you don't believe in the things you're doing, the answer isn't fooling yourself into thinking you believe it. If you don't believe in what you're doing, then you just shouldn't be doing it.”

“There are so many attention whores out there, prostituting for people's acknowledgment”

“As much as I want her by my side forever, I think an even more terrifying prospect than losing her is me standing in the way of her full potential.”