And to top it off, there’s suddenly this drama with Six. All because of one stupid kiss.

Basically, there’s no aspect of my life right now where I don’t feel in over my head.

We end up stopping at a gas station in Missouri. Six busies herself pumping the gas. Bernie Kosar ambles around the parking lot, sniffing the pavement and stretching his legs. Sarah and I head towards the store to pick up some bottles of water and pay for the gas. About halfway across the parking lot, she stops abruptly.

“So,” she says, “maybe you should go talk with Six.”

I blink at her, taken aback. I glance behind us at Six. If it was possible for someone to pump gas angrily, she’d be doing it. The way she jams the nozzle into the gas tank, it’s like she’s stabbing a Mogadorian. “Why?”

“You two are obviously mad at each other about something,” Sarah says. “Go work it out.”

I don’t know what to say, so I just stand there awkwardly. I can’t tell Sarah what Six and I are arguing about because, first of all, I’m not even entirely sure and, second of all, it sort of involves our relationship. I really don’t want to get into all this right now; especially not when we have more important things we should be worried about.

Sarah is unmoved by my silent protest, smiling slightly as she shoos me back towards Six. “Come on, you two need to be able to work together.”

She’s right, of course. We can’t have whatever weirdness that exists between me and Six bog down this mission.

Six watches me approach through narrowed eyes. She jams the fuel pump back into its home with way more force than necessary. We stand looking at each other from opposite sides of the car.

“We should talk,” I say.

“Sarah made you come over here, didn’t she?”

“Look, I know you don’t really like her—”

“That’s just it, John,” she interrupts. “I do like Sarah. And she loves you.”

I stare at Six, trying to sort this out. “All right, I get that you’re mad at me because we haven’t really talked about everything since going to Chicago. With Sarah around it just seemed . . . weird.”

“John, I’m not mad at you because we kissed and now you’re back with your girlfriend. I thought I liked you, John. You know, as more than a friend. But then I got dumped in that cell with Sarah and saw the way she talked about you. And now every day I see the two of you together. Whatever was between us back when we were on the run, it’s not like what you and Sarah have. Watching the two of you is almost enough to make me believe Henri’s crap about Loric only falling in love once.”