Third Wheel (Elton Hall Chronicles Book 3)

by Sarah Fischer

  “It’s just cold feet,” Mindy said, shaking her head at me.

  “No, it isn’t,” I assured her. “I want different things now.”

  “Like what, another man? Are you cheating on Rob? Because he deserves better than that,” Mindy insisted.

  “I know he does. We’ve been on a break for the past few weeks. I told him I needed some time to figure out what I wanted, and maybe experience new things but…”

  “I’m sorry. I will not sit in this room and listen to you saying you cheated on Rob. That man would do anything for you,” she shouted, walking up to me and pointing her finger in my face. “He’s one of my best friends too.”

  I stood up as I saw red. “You’re not listening to me! I said that we were on a break.”

  “I noticed that, I also noticed you haven’t confirmed that you aren’t seeing another man,” she stated, and then grabbed her purse and stormed out of the house.

  My mother sat down on the couch next to the chair and looked at me. “Are you seeing someone else, Christie?”

  “No, I’ve been spending some time with a boy I met at school, but we aren’t together, and we aren’t having sex.” No, that would be next weekend, but she didn’t need to know that part.

  “I can appreciate that you want some time to figure things out. Marriage is a big commitment. But I don’t think you’re going to figure anything out if you’re seeing other boys. I think it would be best if you just went to school and came home. If you want, some of your friends can come here.”

  “I’m sorry, are you grounding me? I’m nineteen.” I was completely shocked.

  “No, I am simply giving you a suggestion. As you said, you’re nineteen and can make your own decisions.” With that, she got up and walked to her room, closing the door behind her.

  I sat there for a little longer until I heard my dad moving around in his office. Trying to avoid a fight with my father, I went into my room and closed the door, hoping to get a little homework done. I had a test coming up in my statistics class and I wanted to go over my notes. Annabelle and Violet hated this class, so I was initially a little nervous about it. But it didn’t seem too bad so far. Then again, the class just started.

  About halfway through my notes, I took a break and turned my phone on. There were about twenty text messages from my mom and Mindy. Frankly, I was a little surprised. I had expected a whole lot more. But once I was done deleting those, I noticed that I hadn’t gotten anything from Rob. Maybe he hadn’t seen it yet, or just maybe he was respecting my wishes and leaving me be.

  I sent Annabelle a text telling her that everything was fine and was about to toss my phone on my bed when I realized I missed a text.

  Shane: What’s goin’ on? Did u dream bout Friday yet?

  He had sent it three hours ago. That was long enough to wait.

  Christie: Nope. Too busy with hw.

  I waited a few minutes to see if he’d respond and he did, almost immediately.

  Shane: Good call. Get it done with so we have longer to spend 2gther.

  Christie: U only won 1 night.

  Shane: Yes, but u didn’t specify wat 1 night means. I see it as 5 pm until 5 am.

  Christie: That seems like a long time.

  And it did. How much sex could you possibly manage in twelve hours? I wasn’t going to be able to walk the next day…or for the next week.

  Shane: That was ur fault. U gotta specify the terms b4 u agree. Didn’t ur bf teach you that?

  I rolled my eyes, frustrated with this conversation. I never should have mentioned Rob to Emma, especially now that we were broken up for good.

  Christie: I don’t have a bf. We’re done.

  He didn’t respond for a few minutes and I stared at my phone. I hated waiting for messages. We both know you are looking at your phone, thinking about what you’re going to say. Just get on with it.

  Shane: Works for me. I guess I’ll teach you a thing or 2 now.

  Christie: Oh, so ur my boyfriend now?

  My heart raced as I sent that to him. Is that even what I wanted? Did I want to jump from one relationship to another? Wasn’t the whole point of this for me to experience new things? I bit my lip, waiting for some kind of response from him.

  Shane: Not yet. But after fri, I’ll ruin u 4 any other man.

  I smiled, glad he wasn’t jumping into the relationship.

  Christie: That sounds like big talk. Hope you don’t disappoint.

  Shane: I never do. Sleep tight while u can.

  I tossed the phone on my bed and turned back to my homework, trying to contain the grin on my face and the butterflies in my stomach. Before Shane came around, I couldn’t remember the last time I felt like this. With Rob, everything was predictable and normal. We went to dinner and a movie, kissed in the car a little, and then he dropped me off at home. If my parents weren’t home, he’d come in and we’d fool around. But there was no excitement. With Shane, I didn’t know what to expect whenever we were together, and I liked it that way.

  ***

  Monday was a pretty busy day for me. I had statistics first thing in the morning, accounting, and then an ethics class. I carried all my books with me and tended to work on the homework in the library in between classes. But today, we’d be doing a lot of quiz review in stats.

  After about fifteen minutes, I was bored. I had studied this last night, and I felt pretty confident that I knew it. At least, in theory, I knew it. So I took my list out and crossed off the movies and doing something illegal. I was going to count going to the street race as illegal. Plus, I figured I’d probably go to another one, so I’d be doing two illegal things. Look at me, quite the overachiever.

  Still, the list felt a little empty. No one wanted a bucket list with eight things. Ten seemed more appropriate. I needed to come up with three more things to do. Now that I didn’t have the deadline of getting engaged in November, I decided to make the deadline the end of December. This way I could start the year a little more experienced and unique. I thought about it for a little while before settling on my last three.

  4. Find a hobby besides shopping

  5. Find a marketing internship or job

  6. Meet some new people

  Happy with my list, I looked it over and started thinking about ways to accomplish it. Maybe I’d look to see if the school had any Zumba classes, maybe I could learn to dance, or at least try to get some rhythm, and work out at the same time. I also probably should go see the career center about the internships. I’m sure they could point me in the right direction to start looking.

  I made a note in my planner to talk to the career center and drag Annabelle with me to Zumba. If I was going to look foolish, I wanted someone to laugh with. My professor was introducing the final topic for the quiz, so I put the sheet away and returned my attention to the board.

  The rest of the day went pretty smooth, and I met up with Annabelle and Jason for dinner. There I broached the Zumba class.

  “So it’s every Thursday night. I think we should go.”

  “Maybe not. I don’t dance, like, at all,” she insisted, looking a little horrified.

  “That’s why we should go together. I can’t dance either. We can stand in the back and look like idiots together, and maybe we can learn a couple moves for Homecoming. Violet will come back and won’t recognize us at the dance.”

  “But Violet can dance. She probably won’t notice.”

  “Good, then maybe she won’t make fun of our regular dance moves,” I suggested, smiling big. “Please, I want to check it out, but I don’t want to go alone.”

  “Fine, I’ll give it a try. But no promises for next week.”

  “I’ll take it,” I said, thrilled that I had convinced her. The rest of the conversation went over Homecoming. It was in two weeks and we still didn’t have a theme. The executive board just couldn’t agree, and Annabelle was getting a little anxious. Her type A personality desperately wanted to plan.

  “What about ‘Fall in
Paris’? Paris has really recognizable landmarks and it’s beautiful. We can hang fake leaves from the ceiling like the mirrors you guys did last year, and we can set up a big photo op with the Eiffel Tower. Then you can serve croissants with chocolate and coffee in cheap china. We can also hang some white Christmas lights from the ceiling to pose as stars,” I suggested.

  Annabelle’s face lit up. “Have I told you lately that I love you?” She took her phone out and started texting madly. I looked at Jason, who watched her lovingly.

  “I guess she likes the idea,” I said to him.

  “Yeah, good call. But if I were you, and the e-board agrees with this idea, I’d try to get her butt to at least five Zumba classes.”

  I nodded at him. “I like the way you think, mister.” We talked more about different ways we could decorate as Annabelle made the decision that this had to work because it was too good of an idea.

  Chapter 8

  Tuesday was my chill day. I only had one class and then the EET meeting. The class went fine and then I headed to EET. We voted on the Fall in Paris idea and it won almost unanimously. So now we just had to decorate. I sat with Annabelle as she helped to set up groups to take over different aspects of the dance. Once the groups were set, we got into decorations pretty hardcore, and it was up to us to work on painting the Eiffel Tower.

  Like my mom, I had some painting talent. It wasn’t as impressive as hers, but it did help to calm me. I sketched out the different bars along the legs of the tower and found myself experiencing a bit of peace. Maybe this was something I should look into doing. Or, maybe it was something I should talk to my mom about doing together. It might help with all the animosity building in my house. I stopped painting and made a note in my planner to look up some beginner classes for us to consider.

  Wednesday came pretty quickly and I was pumped for my quiz. Well, pumped was a weird word. I was ready for it, and ready for it to be over at the same time. I finished the quiz within twenty minutes and then put my head on my desk to relax a little. My professor didn’t like people leaving early, because it distracted the other test takers. However, this time, our professor called my name and asked me to bring my test up to her.

  I stood up on nervous legs and walked to the front of the class. Did she think I was cheating or something? Professor McMann took my quiz and quickly graded it while I stood there and watched. As she flipped through the pages, I saw a whole lot of checks and a smile broke out on my face. It was nice to see I did know what I was doing.

  She wrote 98 on the top and showed it to me, before putting it in her bag.

  “I’d like you to stay after class so I can discuss an opportunity with you.” She smiled and dismissed me to go back to my seat.

  My mind raced with possibilities. Maybe she’d want me to TA next semester, or tutor. I wasn’t the biggest fan of other people, but then my list popped in my head. It would be a good way to meet others. So I resigned myself to give whatever opportunity she presented a chance. As the class filed out, I stayed in my desk, waiting for the room to empty. Finally, the last student turned their test in, and Professor McMann came up to me.

  “Miss Peters, I’ve been watching you fiddle around in class, do other work, and text these past few weeks. However, when you turn your work in, it’s almost all correct. I was eager to see your quiz because I had a theory about you.”

  “I didn’t cheat, if that’s what you mean, Professor,” I insisted, suddenly deeply offended.

  “Oh, I know. I watched you finish your test with impressive speed. Your head stayed down, your hands on your desk, and your eyes didn’t wander. No, you just seem to have a knack for this class and numbers. What are you studying?”

  “Business with a specialization in marketing.”

  “Perfect. The firm I work for offers an internship every year to one of my students who I feel shows promise in the field. We focus on marketing and how well different types of marketing plans are doing profit-wise for our clients. It seems to fit in your wheelhouse.”

  “Actually, that sounds great. Thank you for the opportunity,” I babbled, shocked she was considering me.

  “I will make a decision after your projects are turned in two weeks from now, and after your next quiz. Keep up the strong work and I can honestly say you’re one of my leading candidates. However, don’t take this as a chance to slack off. Just because you do well on one quiz doesn’t mean you have the position,” she warned, giving me a firm look behind her red glasses.

  “No, I understand. I’ll definitely work hard on this,” I assured her, nodding like a bobblehead.

  “Great, I’d recommend researching product marketing plans and ways they can be monitored for success.”

  I agreed and thanked her again before running out of the class. I had plenty of time before the project was due, but I felt the need to get a jump start. We had been let out of class early because the quiz hadn’t taken the whole period, and even with our little talk, I still had a lot of time before my next class.

  So instead of the library, I went to my car and grabbed a blanket. Annabelle liked to study outside, and I was in the mood to do the same. It was a nice day and I was dressed to sit outside comfortably. I was wearing black jeans with rips in the knees, a purple loose tank top blouse with a cream oversized sweater on top, and brown ankle boots.

  I picked a spot under a tree and took my computer out to get some research done. Luckily, the school’s Wi-Fi reached this far, so I was ready to go.

  After about an hour, I seemed to be really cooking, and had several sheets of paper filled with notes. I lifted my arms in the air and stretched a little as someone fell down next to me and slid under my arm.

  “Hey, beautiful,” Shane greeted, wrapping his arm around my waist.

  “Hey, what’s up?” I asked as he leaned in and gave me a kiss.

  “You looked hard at work. I wanted to make sure you took a little break.”

  “Aw, so considerate. What do you want?” I asked as he broke out into a big grin.

  “Nothing, I just saw you and wanted to see what you were up to. Is that a crime?” He picked up my notebook and started looking it over. “Okay, looks like a good start. I could give you a hand if you’d like.”

  “You know about statistics?”

  “Yeah, I’m not just a metal head. I’m here for mechanical engineering. Math is a big part of that. I’m good with more than just engines.”

  “And here I was thinking you were only good with your hands,” I muttered, grabbing his fingers that were slowly sliding up my thigh.

  “Well, that too.” He squeezed my leg and grabbed my laptop.

  There we sat for another hour, going over different possibilities, different equations, and several different marketing methods. Other than the occasional hand slip, Shane was a big help. He started rattling off facts, formulas, and suggestions almost too fast for me to write them down. It was strange. Earlier, at the street race, I thought I’d seen him in his element. But here he was, talking to me about math as if it was his other passion. Watching him fiddle with his car, it’s easy to forget his dad is literally a brain surgeon. There were two sides to this guy and it was almost endearing that I got to see them. I wondered how many other girls he brought into both of his worlds.

  “So, just a question,” I began as I was packing my notes up to head to my meeting. “If you love cars so much, why are you here for engineering? Why not go to a trade school to be a mechanic or something like that?”

  “I’m Asian. My parents gave me two options, doctor or engineer. Frankly, it was nice of them to give me the choice. Not all my friends got that chance. I figured, if I was doing mechanical engineering, then there would be a crossover with cars and engines.”

  “So at the end of the day, you found a way to make your parents happy and to keep yourself happy.”

  “Well, yeah, I guess you could say that.”

  I stood up, nodding, and slid my bag over my shoulder, seriously considering thi
s. I needed to find something like this compromise at home. Mom was barely speaking to me and Dad was on her side, so he only spoke when it was necessary. It was driving me crazy.

  “See, I’m having an ethical dilemma right now,” Shane explained to me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

  “Oh yeah, what’s that? Are you thinking of changing your major to something more related to cars?”

  “No, I’m going to graduate with an engineering degree and get a job at some impressive firm and race my car on the weekend. When I have some money saved away, I’ll open my own garage.”

  “So what’s the dilemma then?”

  “I feel like I should carry your books to class or something, but that is a really girly bag,” he told me, pointing at my floral tote.

  “Are you not secure enough in your manliness to walk with a girl to class and carry her bag?”

  He stood up a little taller and grinned at me. “No, I’m secure. I just know that people will think the bag looks better on me than you.”

  I rolled my eyes and slammed the bag into his gut. He grabbed it and slid it up over his shoulder.

  “Violence is not the answer. I thought you were a flower child.”

  “Sometimes you’re infuriating,” I told him as he slung his arm around my shoulder and we began walking back to the castle.

  “True, but at least I’m not boring.”

  Shane gave me a quick peck on the cheek and handed me my bag as we got to my next class. Just before he walked away though, he leaned in and whispered in my ear.