Do you think you wear a mask?’‘I’m wearing one right now.’ Valentino smiled softly. ‘We both are.’‘It’s a sad thought.’‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But sometimes I wonder about the alternative. Imagine if we had no secrets, no respite from the truth. What if everything was laid bare the moment we introduced ourselves?

I knew I couldn’t trust my illogical heart, and that meant I had to do everything in my power to stay away from him so I wouldn’t have to.

You can’t avoid the inevitability of death. It comes at you one way or another, and takes us all to the same place in the end. To apologize for it is to apologize for the sun shining or the rain falling. It is what it is.

Do you ever take a holiday? Like, do any of you just wake up and think ‘Today feels like a pyjama day.’? or is it always, ‘Today is a good day for murdering and stalking.’?

Maybe you’re not so bad after all.’He leant across the seat, jabbing his finger in the air. ‘If you tell anyone, I’ll deny it. I have a reputation to uphold, you know.

The whole point of being a good friend is being in the darkness. I’ll be your light, until you can be it yourself again.

There's no love as real as that of a girl and her best friend.

There is beauty everywhere; even in the dark, there is light, and that is the rarest kind of all.

I guess no one can be painted with just one brush. There is light and shade in all of us, pain and hardship, and some of us rise from it while others are darkened by it.

And you’re kind of like a snowflake.’Oh, Jesus Christ.He masked his fleeting surprise with a quirked eyebrow. ‘Excuse me?’‘Nothing,’ I said quickly. ‘I didn’t say anything.’‘No, no,’ he said, rounding on me so his face was too close, his eyes too searing, his smile too irritating. ‘I’m a snowflake, am I?

It was an uncomfortable feeling, staring into the darkest moments of someone’s soul without them knowing.

Imagine if we had no secrets, no respite from the truth. What if everything was laid bare the moment we introduced ourselves?

I would go into the darkness with you, but you won't come into the light with me.

People who make time for the sadness in your life, not just the joy, are worth keeping around.

She pulled me into a hug and I squeezed her so tight we lost our breaths."I love you, Soph." She pulled back from me, her eyes wide and searching. "I'll see you really soon.""I know," I said, forcing my smile. "And I love you too."She tapped my nose and dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper."We're the real love story here, you know that, don't you?"I wiped a tear from my cheek. "I know that, Mil. I've always known that.