“rules didn’t do that thing with its tongue he liked, and they definitely didn’t keep him warm at night.”

“And that was the unusual thing about me. Unlike pretty much every teen I knew, I liked to be doing the right thing. I didn’t like breaking rules. I didn’t like pushing the envelope. I didn’t like trespassing, or sneaking into cinemas, or buying alcohol or cigarettes. I didn’t even feel comfortable running into a cafe to use the toilet without having first bought a drink. Basically, I didn’t like to do half the things all teenagers did almost habitually.”

“Maybe he didn’t really encourage me to do things, but he didn’t prevent me from doing them either. But after a while, I didn’t do things because I didn’t want him to think different about me. But the thing is, I wasn’t being honest. So, why would I care whether or not he loved me when he didn’t really even know me?”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t drown.” His eyes warm up with his face. I smile back at him. “Yeah, that would’ve sucked.” “Definitely.”

“Right, and the definition of basic stupidity is to keep doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. I’m not stupid. (Xypher)I didn’t say to keep doing it. Move forward with purpose. Examine what went wrong and correct that one mistake. (Acheron)”

“[He] didn’t like to think of himself as vain, but there were definitely times when he wished there was someone on hand to take his photograph.”