“Sorry, Tommy,” Newt muttered in his ear. “Could’ve been a bit more gentle.”
“She’d been hunting for an indescribable thrill, a feeling she remembered from nights out with her friends, but she’d misunderstood where the feeling came from. It wasn’t about drinking and partying in some dingy club. It had been about the people. The constant laughter they shared, too high on each other to care that they were being obnoxious. Group trips to the bathroom like a small army unit, where the mission objective was helping each other squat over filthy toilets without their dresses touching the seat. Belonging.”
“I wondered how we looked to the rest of the world. Young and silly, probably. I often had the distinct feeling that strangers watched us with annoyance, teenage girls with cotton candy lives. They could think that—that we were frothy and carefree. Would they ever guess how strong we were from carrying each other?”
“Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter.”
“I don t have the heart to leave shattered pieces where they lay.”
“Three ciders deep, we swam between telling each other what our friendship meant, how much we loved each other, and comparing our taste in girls, despite me never having actually tasted one.”
“Put up your sword. If this young gentleman Have done offence, I take the fault on me...”
“Ein Andenken , sagte der Junge. Von einem Mädchen wohl? Nein , sagte Krabat. Von einem Freund, wie es keinen mehr geben wird auf der Welt. Das weißt du bestimmt? , fragte Juro. Das , sagte Krabat, weiß ich für Zeit und Ewigkeit.”
“Making friends in your forties is hard. Keeping friends in your forties is hard. Basically, friendship in your forties is just hard.”
“That s why we make enemies of our friends as soon as they start to drift, he thought, cos that way they get stuck with all our flaws, unlike when they re shared. Maybe brief friendships are best. If you pull out in time, the vices are all theirs.”
“Good friends, I shall always remember your kindness. If ever you are in trouble, you may come to the Castle of Lea. Its walls may be battered to the ground before harm shall befall you.”
“We fall asleep in my bed, a tangle of three. It is the sweetest feeling, to be nestled between the two of them, their smiles fading into sleep, their arms enfolding me and each other. This is the antidote.”
“Though we were fearfully weary by the end of the third day, our quarrels were still spirited and our friendships firm fixed.”
“I pray that you are always surrounded by people who celebrate your happiness as much as their own. I also pray that in your difficult times, when you feel like crashing and burning, you will always have that one friend who will hide the matches.”
“Spencer asked why he warranted an embrace from Winston rather than the standard soul shake. Rabbi, that n_____ got stories to tell, but the fucked-up thing is, he so deep in the life, he can t tell them.”
“I want to be surrounded by souls who speak the language of music, who hear the unspoken words in a hug, who see the pain in someone s eyes, who feel love, flowing from a touch, a smile. I want to be surrounded by souls for whom, words, are but a mere option.”
“That laughter, thought Ciri watching swarms of black birds flying eastwards, that laughter, shared and sincere, really brought us together, her and me.”