Because you have to just go with the flow. Your life is not your own, with people coming in and out all the time. You get mellow because you have to.

Looking at her, I thought again how beautiful she was - even in jeans and a T-shirt, no makeup, she was breathtaking. So much so that it was hard to believe she could ever have looked at herself and seen anything else.

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?

But when you're alone in the world, really alone, you have no choice but to be open to suggestions.

I looked at the sweatshirt again. "'You swim' is a philosophy?" He shrugged. "Better than 'you sink', right?

It's always very pure, that last moment before an ugly, unsettling truth hits someone. The most stark of before-and-afters.

The chances we take, knowing no better than to fall or to stand back and hold ourselves in... protecting our hearts with the tightest of grips.