How’d you get to be so good at this?””I had a good teacher.””Better not have been Myrnin or I’ll have to kick his predatory ass.””I mean you, dummy.””Oh.

He’s not doing anything he shouldn’t be doing, right?” “Like what?””Like hitting on you.””Ew. No, of course not. He doesn’t see me that way.” Michael shook his head and went back to his coffee.”What? You...

She came awake, stomach rumbling, and opened her eyes to see a plate being held right under her nose. When she reached for it, Shane snatched it back. ‘Nuh-uh. Mine.”Share!’ she demanded.’Man, you are one...

Hey!” Claire called after him, as she leaned her backpack against the wall.”No onions!””Your loss!””I meant for YOU! Not if you want to get kissed tonight!””Damn, girl. Harsh.

Gear up, Warrior Princess. We’ve got some adventuring to do.

I’ve got yours.

Claire stretched out against the wall and kissed it. “Glad to see you, too,” she whispered, and pressed her cheek against the smooth surface. It almost felt like it hugged her back.”Dude, it’s a house,”...

I guess in my beer-soaked mind it would all just magically work out, and she’d be so happy to see me she’d forget about everything else. Because everybody loves having the drunken self-pitying boyfriend banging...

You’ve grown up being special, and this is how most people live their lives…alone. On their own. Undecided. And they get used to that feeling. It’s just new for you.

This won’t stop her from getting elected…Stupider people get elected all the time. It’s America. We love the sleazy. And the crazy.

Who are you calling?” (claire)Pizza hut” (shane)Loser” (claire)

You okay?””Fine.””Your heart’s beating really fast.””Gee, thanks. That’s very comforting that you can hear it.”He smiled, and it was the old Michael, the one she’d first met before all the vamp stuff.”Yeah, I know it...

Myrnin said softly. “And how is it that you do not understand that HERE, in THIS place, this girl belongs to me, not to you?

Michael: ‘Hey, remember when I almost didn’t let you into the house that first day you came?’Claire: ‘Yep’Michael: ‘Well, I was dead wrong. Maybe I never said that out loud before, but I mean it,...

I think I’d fall for you no matter what, Claire. You’re kind of awesome.

Hell,’ Shane spit in disgust. ‘I can’t hit a girl. Here, Claire. You hit her.’ He tossed her the bat.

So, I guess you’re there at your new place. Hope it’s awesome. If it’s not, you’ll make it awesome, because that’s what you do. It’s your superpower.

Damn, there goes my chance for some hot sexy talk.

Stop using him, and start protecting him. I know he thinks he doesn’t need it, but sometimes he does. Sometimes we all do.

I had a good teacher.””Better not have been Myrnin or I’ll have to kick his predatory ass.””I mean you, dummy.

I hardly think there’s any chance of that,” Amelie said. “I doubt you have the capacity.

Does it give you deja voodoo how alike the houses are?””That’s deja vu, and I hate you right now.””For narcing on you to your mom? Wait until you hear what I tell your dad.”From the...

I love it when you talk dirty physics.

No, not you two. Stay here.”Does he just not get how unfair and sexist that is?’ Eve asked. ‘Men.”You really want to go first?”Of course no. But I’d like the chance to refuse to go...

They did seem pretty serious about their mayhem.

In real life, you don’t get a reset, and you don’t get extra lives, and I got the crap pounded out of me.

Oh, come on, just this once,” Eve said. “Protects your neck. As in your arteries and veins?That’s kind of crucial, right?””Thanks for the thought, but it doesn’t go with my shoes.””You’re seriously going to worry...

Little bit,” she said.

I’m so glad you’re okay.””So, how do we celebrate my okayness? It’s my day off. Let’s go crazy. Glow-in-the-dark bowling?””No””I’ll let you use the kiddie ball.””Shut up. I do NOT need the kiddie ball.””The way...

He lives alone and makes his bed? Who does that?

Kind of is, actually.

If you ask me if I’m okay again, I’m going to smack myself in the face just to punish you.

Next time we commit crime, we’ll make sure to include him.

I’m going to have to give him shit for all this,’ Shane said, as he wandered around. ‘He lives alone and makes his bed? Who does that?”People who like things neat?”Its not natural.

Shane? Thank God, somebody sane. Well, sane-ish.

He was a nice guy, middle-aged, a little tired, like most doctors usually seemed to be, but he just nodded and said, “Let me take a look at him. Shane?””I’m not dropping my pants,” Shane...

„…And he doesn’t like you to call him Mr. McStabby, you know.””Have you ever seen him cutting up that meat? He is like an artist with slicing. And that knife is as long as my...

I think it’s interesting.

Hannah leaned against the wall. ‘Mind if I call shotgun?”Since you’re carrying one? Feel free.

Glad it was you and not me,” Shane said, and offered Myrin a hand up. “Any brain damage?””Since the bullet actually passed through his brain, then yes, idiot boy, there’s certainly brain damage,” Oliver said....

What’s her name? Claire, what’s her name?

He broke the kiss and leaned against her, breathing hard. “Good morning to you, too. Man, I just can’t stay mad when you do that.

See?” she heard Shane yell at the kitchen. “She doesn’t stomp around like a cattle stampede!””Bite me, Collins! No bacon for you, either!

You know,’ Shane said twenty minutes later, ‘I’d feel a whole lot better about the two of us if you didn’t think i was the go-to guy for breaking and entering.’She felt a flash of...

What, because I said she had a sweet little butt? You don’t think she does? Hard to believe, since you spend so much time staring at it.

Okay, no, I’m not, but right now let’s pretend I am.

Silver nitrate and water in a super soaker,” he told her. “My own invention. Ought to be good at twenty feet, kind of like wasp spray.”Oh. “You get me the nicest things.””Anybody can get jewelry....

I promise.”And she kissed him, and kissed him, and kissed him, while the sun came up and bathed Morganville in one last, shining day.

I don’t matter here, Shane. I feel like I just don’t matter. Stupid, right?””No,” he said. He sounded so gentle it broke her heart. “It’s how most people feel most of the time, Claire. You’ve...

You look like a Goth factory exploded all over you!” he called as she ran down the hall.”Love you, too, jackass!