“Why was he smiling? Oh crap, I had drooled on him. Or maybe farted? Please, anything but a fart!”

“Never make an important decision with your pants down.”

“Haven’t I proved to you yet that I don’t give a damn about your missing parts?”

“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?”

“the eyes see faster than the hand moves”

“With every single fiber of her soul, she wanted to be With every single fiber of her soul, she wanted to be”

“Jake, anyway, and somehow that seemed far, far worse. The couldn’t”