“Bruises on the soul hurt even more than bruises on the leg and take longer to heal. Maybe the trick is to try to avoid smashing into stuff so much. And then to be kind to ourselves as we slowly heal.”

“I smashed his hand as hard as I could with the Wiffle bat."Ow!" he screamed.Carson was rubbing his red palm, inspecting it for damage. "That hurt," he shrieked. "You really hurt me.""Right back at you," I said. "Good-bye Carson."He frowned, massaging his hand, the big baby. "I just wanted to end this nicely.""Yeah?" I cocked the bat up to hit him again. "Well, this time you don't get what you want.”

“Sorry," I said..."Sorry for what?" He glanced over at me."For whatever I did wrong," I said."Did you do something?"I shrugged, "Why are you not talking to me?""I'm just driving." He moved his hand from the gearshift onto my leg. "Do you like snowmobiling?""I love it," I said.He shot me a look. "Have you ever gone snowmobiling before?""No," I said.He smiled. God, I hate his smile, I love it so much.”

“Do you think we're being robbed?" I whispered.He nodded gravely, then crawled over to my closet and opened it."Did you want to borrow something more formal to wear for the robbery? I'm not sure I have anything in your size.""Shh," he whispered. "Don't you at least have a tennis racket or anything?""You think they came here looking for a doubles partner?"He turned quickly and gave me a look, then whipped a Wiffle bat out of the mess."Wow," I said. "You jock-type people really are single-minded, aren't you? Uh-oh, we're being robbed. Let's play ball!""It's for a weapon," Carson whispered."You're gonna hit them with a Wiffle bat?""What else you got?""Um...A pillow""Exactly" ... "Stay behind me," he whispered."Can I just say that I never knew this about me before, but weirdly enough this whole protective he-man thing actually turns me on.""Josie.""What," I asked."Shut Up."I grabbed my pillow, just in case, so to speak, and tiptoed behind him around the mussed-up bed. "Maybe we should just hide in the closet."He turned around, rolled his eyes and kissed me. "Shh," he repeated.”

“I don't care who kissed you first, as long as I kissed you last - George (If we kiss)”

“It's just one of those things, like some people don't sink when they go in the pool, some know how to throw a ball so it goes toward the person holding the mitt. I have no idea how people do those things; I'm good at schoolwork. That works out well because it frees up my time for my hobbies, like lying on the couch eating M&M's.”

“Sometimes sluttiness is a sign of intense longing.”