“What you need, what you deserve, is a guy who adores you for what you are. Who doesn't see you as a project, but a prize. you know?”

“I just don't know," I said, my voice sounding bumby, not like mine, "how do you help someone who doesn't want your help. What do you do when you can't do anything?”

“We make such messes in this life, both accidently and on purpose. But wiping the surface clean doesn't really make anything any neater. It just masks what is below. It's only when you really dig down deep, go underground, that you can see who you really are.”

“...You can't unlearn something, even if you want to. You know what you know.”

“My point is, there are a lot of people in the world. No one ever sees everything the same way you do; it just doesn't happen. So when you find one person who gets a couple of things, especially if they're important ones... you might as well hold on to them. You know?”

“Hey, and for what it's worth? Friends don't leave you alone in the woods. Friends are the ones who come and take you out.”

“You want me to give her a key?" the guy asked."I want you to give her a possibility," she told him, looking at my necklace again. "And that's what a key represents. An open door, a chance. You know?”