How To Be The Best Third Wheel

Original Edition - Tip 40: Don't Break Down Because of your Cousin

After getting ready for bed, I make my way to my bedroom where I'll be staying with Eliza for the next week or so. I guess my room was really the only option considering Brooke and Bree share a room and Illa's bedroom can pass for a storage closet.

I open the door to see Eliza walking around and observing the pictures on the wall and the little knick knacks around my room. I don't mind it, so I ignore her and proceed with fixing the covers on my bed so that I can go to sleep.

Reaching optimal hours of sleep is honestly the only thing that keeps me from sleeping through the day. I literally can't go through a day without taking a nap if I don't get 8-10 hours of sleep. All I'm saying is that I'm not the type of person to go to sleep at midnight.

Suddenly, Eliza spins around and blurts out something randomly. "So you and James seem pretty happy together, huh?"

I raise my eyebrows and nod in response. "Uh, yeah."

Uh yeah? Oh my gosh what kind of a response was that? Of course we're happy together! If we can both act stupid but still stay together, I suppose things are going pretty well.

"That's good. At least you're happy...even though you did break the girl code." She forces a somewhat psychotic looking smile and takes a seat beside me on the bed. Was she a cheshire cat in her past life?

Her words leave me speechless. My mind has yet to comprehend what she said, but her last words were coated in a sort of poisonous substance that made me feel like I was stung. Her forced smile makes it even worse, as if underneath that façade she already has a plan to jump at me.

I hesitate. "Girl code? What girl code?" I ask, trying to keep my voice as casual as possible. Oh but you know where she's getting at.

"Y'know, you're not supposed to date your friends' exes." she explains, twirling a piece of her long hair around her index finger.

I laugh. "You guys dated when you were thirteen!"

She shrugs and shifts on the mattress, probably trying to think up a defense for herself. "Still. We were each other's first love. I mean, I'm totally over it, but I just wanted you to know that you broke the rules."

First love. That's the one thing that she thinks she can use against me. Sure, they say that first love never dies, but I don't believe it for a second. The people who made that up are probably 6 feet under by now. We hold a stare that seems to last forever, eyeball to eyeball, nobody uttering a word.

But of course not speaking is too much of a challenge for me.

"Okay? Sorry?" I try to hold an eyeroll and a laugh as I can't even begin to process the amount of pettiness in the room, radiating off of Eliza.

"Oh I'm not mad. So don't worry about it." she says, completely brushing off her threatening tone from earlier. Although she tries to play it off cool, I grit my teeth knowing that she's faking it all.

It was stupid of me to think things could be different this time, that Eliza would go back to her old self and we'd be best friends again.

In reality, the Eliza I knew is gone.

And I don't think she's coming back anytime soon.

She slips into the covers and slides a sleeping mask on top of her eyes. "Night cousin." she chirps, before facing in the opposite direction, drifting to sleep.

Deciding to forget about her, I lie down and pull the covers over my chest. It doesn't matter that she was  trying to guilt me out of dating James, because all I plan to do is go to sleep and forget everything she said.