You're not the kind of person who smiles for nothing, Colie. I have to earn every one.

talk was cheap and useless. Action was what mattered. And me, I was moving. Now, again, always.

call it chicken salad

Your mother won a special reward," she told me, "because everyone had a head in her pictures. We all applauded.

Because you can never go from going out to being friends, just like that. It's a lie. It's just something that people say they'll do to take the permanence out of a breakup. And someone always takes it to mean more than it does, and then is hurt even more when, inevitably, said ‘friendly' relationship is still a major step down from the previous relationship, and it's like breaking up all over again. But messier.

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?

All you could do was take on as much weight as you can bear. And if you're lucky, there's someone close enough by to shoulder the rest.