“Zing. Major zing.”

“That sucked.""My thoughts exactly.""Maybe we should take tonight off."She rolled to her side just enough to shoot me a nasty look. "Maybe you should get a boyfriend.”

“I thought you liked my insane schemes.""I see value in them," she qualified.”

“You're not being fair," I said."Life isn't fair.""Yeah, and no man is an island. Any other cliches you'd like to share?”

“Don't you remember? We swore never to go to these things without each other.""That was second grade, Lisa.""Like that makes it okay to ditch a pinkie swear?”

“Lisa's friendship was less of a choice than a fact of life. It worked out well - kind of symbiotic, actually. I beat up anyone who messed with her, and she made sure my homework got done. Fair trade, right? Honestly, if not for Lisa's constant nagging, I'd probably still be crouched in our kindergarten sandbox eating glue and playing Neferet demons.”

“I could see his lips forming the word, Hey, baby. Want to party?Yeesh. After a hundred thousand years of verbal evolution, could a guy not produce a better pick up line than that?”