“Maybe that’s why his lovers hadn’t worked out so far. Maybe before you got someone who would fight to have you, you had to be ready to kill or die for them first.”

“I know. But maybe that’s what growing up gets you. You get better. You stop waiting for the bad stuff to happen and maybe enjoy the good, you know?”

“He had learned that sometimes, watching someone work or standing beside them, looking at stars or at bugs or at a sunset, was far more communicative than the eternal babble that sprung from his own wayward tongue.”

“That’s where they’d gone right after the train station, where Malcolm (Malcolm!) had poured his bloody heart out and begged Owen not to leave. Bed. There would be time to hammer out the details later”

“For Christ's sake, Ian, he was stealing your cash! I hope you at least wore a raincoat, you feel me?Ian blinked. Why would I want a raincoat, Joel? I was having sex.Joel put his face in his hands, closed his eyes tight, and prayed that when he looked up and opened then Ian would be kidding.He wasn't”

“I thought your boyfriend died?" Nicky asked, and it was actually a good question, and I was somad that I wasn't even embarrassed to answer him."We were three," I choked out. "I had a night lover and a day lover,” I said, and it felt likepoetry, just to say it there in public in the middle of the quad, under the foggy sun. "And they lovedeach other like night loves the day. And then the night lover died, and the day lover and I were naked inthe sunshine, with only ourselves for cover.”

“When you get to that point where you notice a person’s faults, you’ve got to decide if you can live with them or can’t live without them.”