“You want a drink?” he (Brady) offered.“My friend’s getting one.” She gestured toward Susan, who approached.“Your date?”“My-no! No, I’m not—” God, did he think she was a lesbian? Boy, talk about seduction fail.”

“Anyway, back to the kids.""Well, one is a girl who looks about your age, and there's a boy." She grinned as she stood. "He's a hottie."A tiny piece of egg caught in my throat. It was seriously gross to hear Mom talking about boys my age. "Hottie? Mom that's just weird.”

“Do you want a drink?” “You mean synthetic blood,” she said after a slight hesitation. “Yes, that would be nice. A sociable gesture.” “I’m all about the gestures. Bubba, you, too?” “Yes, ma’am, I reckon so,” he said.”

“I'd get out of here," he said. "Go someplace where no one knew me. Start over. Go to Paris like you did or go to — I don't know — Prague. Somewhere." He looked toward the window, like he could already see himself gone."Oh," she said, because it hurt that he was thinking about that when she was thinking about him. She narrowed her eyes. "What's stopping you?"The boy looked down at the book of fairy tales. "Nothing," he said.Lila wanted to be the one to stop him.”

“Susan, nonetheless, wanted to know why she was having such a dating problem. Dusty said, "I think your problem is that you think everyone else is a freak except you, but everybody's a freak- you included- and once you learn that, the World of Dating is yours.”

“I think your girlfriends getting Jealous," Luce said, gesturing at the pair."Which one?" He asked."I didn't realise they were both your girlfriends.""Neither is my girlfriend. I meant, which one did you think was my girlfriend?”