Talia Vance

“I reach across my bed, half expecting to be greeted by Blake's green eyes and warm smile, but grab only folds of comforter. I am alone. The realization is met with the same ache I've felt since leaving Blake. It isn't disappointment exactly. It's more visceral than that. I don't want to be one of those girls who think they're in love with a boy just because they hooked up. So there. I am not in love with Blake Willliams. I just miss him is all.”

“What bizarre planet have I landed on? So Haley settles for a single kiss, and I lose it to the first guy to ask me out, after falling for some crazy theory involving my lucky bracelet?”

“Let me be frank," Joe's voice pulls me back. "You seem like a nice girl. So why the hell are you chasing down a rat bastard like Blake?" I smile at the description. "I thought you were his friend." "Can't help liking the son of a bitch." He squirms in the seat, trying to find a comfortable position. "Pardon me for saying so. You don't seem like his type." What is that suppose to mean? So I'm not dumb, snobby or slutty ... Oh.”

“The only thing that's changed is the way Blake looks at me.And it takes my breath away.Blake's eyes glow in the firelight. But it's the flames behind his eyes that make my whole body run hot. I can feel myself blush as he brings his hands to my cheek, branding me with his touch. "Brianna Paxton." He lets his fingers rest against my skin, stroking just beneath my chin. "You are even more beautiful than I remembered.”

“Writing for publication is an odd hybrid of intimate self-exploration and public exhibitionsim.”

“You always have choices, Brianna. No one can take that from you. You're the only one who can decide how this ends.”

“You want him so much that half of me wants him too.”

“What do you think you're doing?"..."What does it look like, Blake? I'm obviously having wild sex on a cement bench with my best friend's boyfriend fifteen feet from a yard full of people.”

“It's so much easier to be ignored when no one's noticed you to begin with.”

“You didn't strike me as stupid, but I guess first impressions are deceiving.”

“I'm like an abused puppy, so desperate for attention that it's almost a surprise when I get belted in the gut.Again.”