“Real is better, The truth is better. Painful but better.”

“And then we're at that moment when you both go and get what you want or you both go back. The moment when you say, Stuff being scared; what's on the other side is better. That moment when you inch closer to each other little by little, till your skin starts and ends in the same place. Till your faces get so close your lips start and end in the same place, too. Till you taste milk shake and salt and sugar days and the world spins and the stars sound like harmonicas.”

“When wanting collides with getting, that's the moment of truth. I want to collide.”

“I hear people talking about the feeling they get when they pain stuff in illegal places. Leo says he gets this fast-moving fear swinging through him, running from his heart to everyplace under his skin. I pain to get the thoughts in me out. I paint so it gets quiet under my skin.”

“I've got this special way of getting the truth out of Dylan.""How?" i ask."I kick him in the balls.""That's pretty special,”

“... I ask, 'Do you think Dylan's telling the truth?'Daisy checks her face in a little mirror, then hands it to Jazz. 'You want me to find out?''Let's not ruin it by calling them liars.''...I won't ruin it. I've got this special way of getting the truth out of Dylan.''How?' I ask.'I kick him in the balls.''That's pretty special.”

“I think back to the night Leo talked to me from the floor, telling me he didn’t like sleeping because that’s when he dreamt. Telling me because in the dark it felt like we weren’t awake, weren’t even real.”