Page 22 of Tripped Up

“Tito’s and Sprite, please, too,” I tell Tina. “She wants a cheeseburger, no tomato or ketchup, with a side of barbecue sauce, please.”

Elsy glares at me. “I’m perfectly capable of ordering for myself.”

“I know.” I turn back to Tina. “Same for me, but I’m good with ketchup.”

“Burger sounds good,” Chuck says. “I’ll have the same.”

Henry nods. “Yeah, same here.”

Elsy elbows me directly under my rib cage. “Move over. You’re taking up too much space.”

In response, I move closer to her until our thighs are plastered together from hip to knee.

Her eyes narrow as she aims a lethal glare my way.

Heart racing, I grin back at her, unrepentant.

She picks up her fork, her hand curling around the utensil like it’s a spear. Or maybe a shiv. I wouldn’t put it past her to stab me in the junk with the tines. Hurriedly, I scoot away to give her some breathing room, and she puts the fork back down.

“So your name is Elizabeth?” Henry asks her. “Like, your real name.”

She scowls at me, when he’s the one who asked the question, and I lift my eyebrows at her.

“My name is Elsy,” she says evenly.

“But he called you Elizabeth.”

“He has problems with his memory,” she snaps. “He knows I don’t like it and does it anyway.”

My entire body tenses. Is that what she thinks is happening?

“I thought you liked it,” I whisper. “It’s our little game.”

“No, Wyatt,” Elsy says, a hint of steel in her voice. “I’ve never once liked it. In fact, I seem to remember telling you not to call me those names. Multiple times.”

“I thought it was—it was a game. Like the way you…”

She shakes her head. “It’s not a game to me.”

Swallowing, I meet her eyes. “Okay. I won’t do it anymore. Elsy.”

“Thank you.” She crosses her arms over her chest, drawing my eyes down again. It takes everything in me to focus on her face.

“So,” Henry shouts, clearly ready to change the subject. “You’re friends with Mitchell in New Orleans, and clearly you know a Dragon, and you’re wearing a signed Grizzlies jacket. Who the hell are you?”

Elsy shrugs. “I’m just a girl from Ohio.”

“At least you didn’t go to Ohio State,” I mutter.

Having attended Michigan for three and a half semesters, I still take the greatest rivalry in sports seriously. It’s in my blood. My dad was a Michigan man, my sister took the lacrosse team to the national championship twice in her four years, and I loved my time playing hockey there. It’s not my mom’s fault she went to Nebraska on a cheer scholarship and couldn’t be like the rest of us.

Gallagher shakes his head. “She’s friends with my sister. I promised Viv I’d keep an eye out for her.”

“And I told you, I’m fine,” Elsy says, turning her glare on him. “Viv, Bex, and all the rest of them don’t need to worry about me.” She sighs. “At least you don’t play Boston for another few weeks. The last thing I need is Al and Jake getting all aflutter.”

My eyebrows dart up. “Who?”

“Al is my future brother-in-law,” Gallagher says with a laugh. “His brother is dating my sister.”