"Like my stomach if going to rebel against the rest of my body, my heart is about to leap out of my chest, and my brain is going to implode all at the same time," Gabriel said in a rush.
It was odd, being urged to tell someone everything that was wrong. He'd spent so many years just saying that he was fine and waving things off. It wasn't like anyone had ever really asked. Only his teachers very sparingly, and he'd never wanted to worry his mother. And he had especially not wanted his mother to know that in his early teens he had fascinated about someone coming along and telling him that his family wasn't his family and that he belonged somewhere better.
He wanted to say so many things to dismiss this, but his stomach lurched each time that they crossed his mind. "I'm not used to being honest," Gabriel said after a long silence between them.