“Why?" I whispered. "Why do you love me?" "God told me to," she said softly. "He told me that you were the one." "When?" "In preschool - when you freaked out just because I got my hair cut."I pulled back from her and looked to see if she was serious.She was.”

“[T.J.] I pulled my arms out from underneath her body and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I love you, Anna.”The surprised look on her face told me she hadn’t seen that coming.“You weren’t supposed to fall in love,” she whispered.“Well, I did,” I said, looking into her eyes. “I’ve been in love with you for months. I’m telling you now because I think you love me too, Anna. You just don’t think you’re supposed to. You’ll tell me when you’re ready. I can wait.” I pulled her mouth down to mine and kissed her and when it ended, I smiled and said, “Happy birthday.”

“Do you know why I freaked out? Because I realized I'd fallen in love with my best friend. The very same person who had just told me she didn't love me. Call me an asshole for overreacting but that's what happened. You're not the only one who is hurting here, Perry. At least I didn't do it deliberately.”

“With a sigh, she asked, “Why do you care if I believe you or not?”“Because if you think I got a leg over with that slag, then the chance of anything sexual with you will be drastically reduced.”Without looking up, she said, “Cadeon, a chance can’t be reduced from zero.”“Gods, I love it when you talk mathy to me.”

“You're wrong," I told her. "I lost that faith a long time ago."She looked at me as I said this, an expression of quiet understanding on her face. "Maybe you didn't, though," she said softly. "Lose it, I mean.""Lissa.""No, just hear me out." She looked out at the road for a second, then back at me. "Maybe, you just misplaced it, you know? It's been there. But you just haven't been looking in the right spot. Because lost means forever, it's gone. But misplaced... that means it's still around, somewhere. Just not where you thought.”

“Have you talked to Lindsay about me?""Not really. But the night of that charity thing, when I was driving her home, she told me I should wait an appropriate amount of time out of respect for Paul Wheeler and then ask you out.""She did?""Yeah. But I told her I was in no rush because I'd already fucked you, so--""WHAT?"He looked across at her and grinned. "Just kidding.”