Page 72 of Third Wheel

Krista flipped her head, making her curls bounce.

“I know that. I just needed to tell you that Mom was bugging me about gettingyouhooked up to a nice girl again the other day after she met Tad.”

Ice hit his heart.

“You didn’t tell her…”

His sister glared at him.

“Of course, I didn’t. It’s not my thing to tell. But you need to tell her, and soon, because I’m not lying for you. I told her I thought you were seeing someone.” She rolled her eyes at his groan. “You’re going to have to tell them, eventually. Exactly how long did you think you could keep this all a secret?”

Definitely at least a little longer. Until he found the exact right way to tell them. Part of him almost wished Kristahadtold their mom. At least then, the Band-Aid would have been ripped off, and he would know what the reaction was.

He put his hand to his chest, which was starting to hurt, right where his heart was.

Krista’s expression softened, and she stepped forward, putting her hand on his shoulder.

“They’re not going to reject you.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Even if they don’t, I don’t want them feeling ‘sorry’ for me because my life is going to be harder or thinking I’m just going through a phase or changing how they see me…” He gulped in a breath of air hard. It felt like his chest was constricting.

“Of course, it’s going to change how they see you, the same way it would if you quit your job and announced you were going to do something else entirely.” She rubbed his upper back. “That doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing.”

But it could be.

“Mom could decide it’s great, and Dad could hate it. And then Mom would defend me. They’d end up fighting about it.”

“Zach, it is not—and never has been—your fault when they fight, even if the topic they’re fighting about is you,” she said sternly.

The pain in his chest said it didn’t believe her.

“You know, it’s actually pretty egotistical to think that everything is about you. You always do this.”

“What do you mean?” He turned his head to look at her incredulously. What did he always do?

She shook her head at him.

“When Mom and Dad separated, you were convinced it was about you.”

“I was?” He didn’t actually remember that. He barely remembered his parents’ separation. He’d only been five when they’d separated, and they hadn’t been separated for very long.

“Yes. Because the last fight they had before Mom kicked Dad out was about where you were going to go to kindergarten. Youthought you’d done something wrong for weeks. Right up until Dad came back home. But it was never actually about where you were going to school.”

“I… I don’t remember.” But his chest was hurting more than ever. Was this what a heart attack felt like?

Probably more like a panic attack.

Apparently the backrub was over because Krista took the opportunity to smack him on the back of the head instead.

“Ow!”

“Not. Everything. Is. About. You.” She punctuated each word with a slap, even as he ducked away, putting his own hand on the back of his head for protection.

“Stop it!”

“Admit that not everything is about you!”

“Not everything is about me!” Saying the words should have been easy, but instead, he felt his stomach twist inside him with nausea.I do know that, right?

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