"I mean, I’ve seen him loads of times. He’s Pine Valley High School’s star hockey player, and we’re a school where hockey isn’t that big of a deal."
"I guess, when I think about it, a lot of things this past year only happened in my head."
"I didn’t think I was really stealing them. Mrs. Johanson saw me take a water one time, and she didn’t say a word."
"I mean, he’s gorgeous. He has this dirty blond hair, and he keeps it shaved on the sides of his head."
"She’s graduated to the halfway house, and she’ll be able to leave as early as this week."
"I guess I’m good with living with her, but can I come back to Deek’s the next time?"
"If you don’t, that’s cool. That meant you’re blessed."
"We’re going to be the best koala-loving friends."
"We weren’t going to tone down our awesomeness because of their insecurities."
"Meds, therapy, and a dead junkie mother will do that to you."
"He was a fucking animal once my skates hit the ice."
"It was like I was being slammed into the glass by five guys all at once."
"But this woman, this reaction wasn’t just physical."
"Everyone in the room would learn. I was about to claim her in a big fucking way."
"You didn’t say a word in the car. Are you having second thoughts?"
"I woke, and the night flooded back over me as if I were watching an erotic sci-fi film backwards."
"When my body says retreat, I’ve learned to listen."
"I need an extraction. I need my clothes. And I’m pretty sure I need ice for the vajajay."
"My upbringing wasn’t normal, and that statement was an understatement."
"Ever been so scared that you were paralyzed?"
"I was trying not to think about Cut, about what PT he’d need, about everything that had nothing to do with Come Our Way."
"Blood, calm down. Mind, pause. One thing at a time."
"I was almost crying here. 'Date him. Love him,' I was gushing. 'Marry him. Have his babies. But if he hurts you, I will let Melanie run him over with a car.'"
"Recognize the chaos. Know there’ll be chaos. Look straight and try to find your tunnel."
"She hit it right on the mark. She was right. Was she? I didn’t know anymore, but I had walls up and issues to deal with, and we’d not even touched on the amount of therapy it would take to blow them down."
"I knew it wouldn’t make any sense to him, but I’d long given up hope that some people would understand."
"I don’t remember any of the girls I fucked from back then, or in my one year at college. I see you now. I want you now. Why’s that such an issue for you?"
"Chad doesn’t know you. You don’t know me. I would like to know you."
"I have to take meds to pay attention. To focus. If I don’t, it’s a whole chain reaction. I can’t focus because I’m noticing everything."
"You can’t function. You can’t read cues right. Basic things about when to laugh, when to speak quietly, when to read a room—I can’t do any of those things when I’m having an attack."
"Like a herd of cattle are stampeding over me, and I can’t ask for help or raise a hand for someone to grab."
"When someone is asking, when you’ve made yourself vulnerable to them, opened yourself up for judgment, and you then have to wait if they’ll ‘get it’ or if they’ll dismiss it."
"The regulars like what you’re doing already."
"I live with this. You just got a visitor’s pass, but trust me, you don’t want a permanent residency."
"We were loading onto the plane, heading to Seattle for a game tomorrow night."
"I could do a bunch of self-reflection lately."
"But would I struggle at some point? Without a doubt."
"I wanted to let him sweep me up in his arms."
"People like me never got what we wanted. We never could."
"That's how it felt. Even the fucking air had been surging me toward him, and I'd been sweating trying to hold back, trying to remember what I was doing again?"
"Maisie's smile turned sweet, and she linked her elbows with mine."
"I might as well roll over and bare my belly."
"I had made my decision. Sitting here with them, seeing the love between Maisie and Otis, seeing that JJ was happy being single—I wanted to do what would make me happy."
"I felt safe with him. I couldn’t remember ever feeling safe with anyone."
"It was warming to someone who'd only ever been cold."
"I was fucked. I just didn’t have it in me to care."
"I wanted to let him choose, and he chose me."
"I think I’m willing to give up the river for you."
"Most people have walls. That’s how they cope in life... People like me, we’re in the river."
"My mom was a junkie, and I got looked at the same way. Don’t mean a thing that I never touched drugs. That I was never like her, ever."
"I’ve come to realize that things are different—"
"Let’s go to the park, pick up old dog poop, and put it on Cassie’s car."
"They’re treating you like you’re a criminal, and you did nothing wrong. Nothing."
"Being safe, that’s what ‘home’ people are. They’re safe, but they’re boxed in."
"This was out there. Anyone could look it up, and they’d know my story."
"It’s not normal. I mean, it is, but it’s not."
"I’m not a person who thinks anyone deserves anything."
"You’re the only one who is entitled to everything good that’s coming your way."
"I need to stop hiding and I need to be okay sharing my story."
"I thought about the guys who come to Come Our Way, and never. I’d never regret winning that."