“We are traveling down a path with no happy ending, and it's too late to turn around.”

“What do you mean, ruined?"From the way Emily swallows slowly, you'd think we were talking about smoking crack. "Compromised. By...by another man.""Oh!" I say, too loudly. "You mean, if the girl's not a virgin, the guy won't marry her?"She nods, her eyes wide, as if being a non-virgin is akin to being an ax-murder.”

“And as I watch him disappear around the corner, i can't help but wonder if this is the exact moment where i officially lost everything.”

“Sometimes people simply believe the things because it's easier that way. But it doesn't make it the truth.”

“Just being near the water makes me ache for it, makes my skin tingle with the desire to run until I am chest-deep and the water wraps around my skin like a satin ribbon, making the worries, the aches, the stress unwind. Sometimes, I wonder if this is how a recovering alcoholic would feel if someone put a beer in her hand. If her body would wage war against her mind as mine does.”

“Why do yo keep doing this?""Because I've wanted to be with you for three years, okay? That's why.”

“You were twisting your wet hair up into a ponytail, and then you saw us, and you smiled....""Then why didn't you-""Because you were smiling for him. And I would have had to have been an idiot to get in between that.”