How To Be The Best Third Wheel

Original Edition - Tip 43: Have Some Knowledge on Common Topics

UPDATE? YES.

BUT FIRST OF ALL...(cause I'm that annoying chick who can't wait to spill the tea...the news...the other things I can't think of...)

we. got. shortlisted.

For the Wattys. Um. K.

It's only two weeks until Christmas.

Where did the time go? I feel like all of the events from the past month could easily fit into a montage for an upbeat One Direction song. Preferably, "Kiss You".

November flew by so quickly that I honestly can't even remember what happened, other than the stress from all of my classes. Oh yes, Eliza, Eliza the crazy cousin of mine who I was convinced would take over my school and develop a social hierarchy.

So, um, that didn't happen.

What actually happened was nearly the opposite. After the first week of her being new to our school, another new girl showed up, and with regular teenagers moving onto the next new thing, Eliza became pretty much unnoticed. She ended up hanging out with me and my friends, and for the most part, my boyfriend.

And unfortunately, she's still living with us. One week turned into a whole lot more because of a sketchy contractor that claims they were supposed to arrive in mid-January.

Yes, I was kind of paranoid that she would try to steal my boyfriend, but by now, she seems to be keeping her distance from the borderline. The girl made no other friends, so can't I be nice to her and be a good Samaritan during the holidays?

Well that's what I'm telling myself as I frustratingly sip my Matcha Milk Tea with Tapioca Pearls, while I trail behind James and Eliza, who are laughing at some stupid joke. You can tell how tense I actually feel at the moment because I have swallowed 50 percent of the tapioca pearls, forgetting to chew them (and almost choking) because of the focus on the pair in front of me.

"Lara, could you hurry up a bit? You're walking a bit slow today and we need to make sure to get Seb that Lego set before they run out." James calls, looking back at me.

"C'mon Cuz, we don't have all day, and the people at the mall are getting crankier by the second." Eliza follows.

"I'm one of them." I mutter beneath my breath.

"Huh?" She looks at me questioningly.

"Oh nothing."

James huffs before spinning around and marching towards me. He grabs my right arm and links it with his left, then starts speeding forward again, dragging me in the process.

"My arm is gonna break off!" I whine, speed walking to try and match his pace.

"Well this is what it takes to get you to walk faster." he responds with a straight face.

"You guys can't hold it against me! I have short legs! It's not my fault that God chose to make you two into freaking giraffes!" I argue.

Eliza laughs while James shakes his head. Still, I can see the smile that he's trying to hide. I wiggle my arm out from his, and take his hand instead, which is warm to my cold hand.

We're walking around the mall as "Last Christmas" plays in the background, and the plan was for Eliza and I to do our Christmas shopping together this weekend. To be perfectly honest, she's been pretty nice to me lately...at least, when James is not around. Not that I'm blaming the fella, but when he's around, I practically turn into dust.

Once more, I get ignored when there's a guy involved. This time, it's weird that I'm the one feeling left out, considering I'm the girlfriend.

As much as Eliza has seemed to chill out on the "I'm going to steal your boyfriend" act, I can't help but feel uncomfortable whenever they take part in friendly conversations. When they do talk, I notice that what they have is nothing similar to what James and I have...so what is there to be jealous about? I've always disliked the way clingy girlfriends act, basically treating the person as if they own them. I'm certainly not like that, but why do I feel so insecure?