“I've just got to keep going and hope that one day, it starts to feel not quite as bad as it does now.”

“Well,” Adam said, leaning back and sighing, “I’ve got that out of my system now. I can leave you alone for the rest of the day. I always say, if you kiss the girl at the start of the date, it takes the pressure off.” “Oh, really, is that what you always say?” I said.“Always. It’s my golden rule. I’ve literally been saying it since…since I met you again in Princeton. Well, I suppose it came a bit after that. I’vedefinitely been saying it all morning.”

“When you've got a real boyfriend, everything stupid is okay, and everything scary feels safe.”

“Hearts don't really get broken, but if you practice too hard with them, they can get quite hurt. It feels like they won't get better, but they do.”

“Maybe I just left it too late, and things changed too much for us to go back to where we were.”

“When we talk now, we both know we've lost something, and I can feel us trying to fake it and make up what's missing. The faking makes me sad, and the sadness makes the faking harder to do.”

“I didn’t want to give him anything. I was quite happy without boyfriend trouble.”