“I let her catch me. I like it when she catches me. But last summer, she stopped chasing. It sucks.”

“Still I pulled her into a hug, because I knew she let me off the hook on purpose and yeah, I'm a guy and I love my mom. So shoot me. I'm man enough to hug her without feeling like a mama's boy.”

“A laugh jumps out of my mouth, surprising me. I can’t even remember the last time I laughed and it puts me on edge. I suddenly want to do the same thing to her. Let her see how it feels to teeter on that cliff.”

“She played me. I totally got hustled by Kira. And I like it.”

“It was strange. That little zing that went through me when she looked up with those big green eyes. It was at that moment I wondered why girls ever needed me - The Hook-up Doctor, I mean. If they had all the power she had in those eyes, they could have anything they wanted.”

“I grab her arms and pull her toward me. Now she has her arms wrapped around my waist and we’re chest to chest. She’s laughing and I almost want to laugh with her. For a second it feels real and okay. The knot in my gut loosens and I’m not scared to breathe.”

“I was totally aware of that one spot [where she touched me] more than I'd been aware of anything in my whole life.”