“I could hear the boy cheering in the back seat and Justin had a huge smile on his face, his dimples standing out. I squeezed my eyes shut. Maybe I lacked the necessary testosterone levels to be enjoying this.”

“Justin: "Say hi to Paul Thompson for me," he added.Madeline: "Garrlgh," I gagged. The corner of his lips curled up.Justin: "What was that?"Madeline: "That was vomit creeping up the back of my mouth when you mentioned Paul's name.”

“I wish I could catch the words and reel them back in my mouth to safely store away in my Shut the Hell Up, You Idiot file.”

“We’re all meant to lean on something. Or someone.' I smile. He frowns. He surprises me and grabs the pen out of my hand. He starts writing something down in his neat block letters. He slides the journal back to me. 'I build walls around myself. I lean on those.' I don’t need to ask him why. Everybody builds walls—it’s for protection. I scribble quickly. 'Maybe you should break the walls down once in a while.' 'I’ll just build them up again', he writes. 'But maybe you’ll add a few windows the next time around. Or a door?”

“It was a little awkward walking behind his mom when, about eight hours ago, I had been rolling around on the floor with her son with my shirt pulled halfway up my back.”

“I rolled my eyes. "He's talking to himself. My vote is he's crazy." He thought about this. "Maybe he's normal and we're the crazy ones. Maybe everyone should talk to themselves. Maybe we're all just afraid of what we'd say.”

“Justin: "Girls like compliments, don't they?" Madeline: "I think everyone does if it's sincere. Not just girls.”