After DC told me I fit the qualifications of someone he'd murder, I never wanted to speak to him again. So I probably shouldn't have blamed him for something he didn't do, against someone he couldn't stand. It sort of cheesed him off...
Okay, this i...
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Elyse handed me a menu when we got to the table and I settled into the seat next to her. DC was pulling out the chair on my other side when Perry cleared his throat loudly from across the round table. He tapped the empty spot between himself and Paisley pointedly and shot Dorian a look I didn't even know how to begin to decipher.
Elyse fake-coughed into her napkin and turned her head away, raising her eyebrows at me in question. I tried to be subtle when I shrugged, as DC abandoned the seat beside me for the one that had obviously been saved for him. Which left me feeling, well, awkward with an empty chair to my left.
"Their chicken club sandwich is really good," Elyse said, tapping the menu that she'd slid in front of me to change the subject. I breathed a grateful sigh and cast my eyes down to see where she was pointing. I pretended to be engrossed in my food options for a long moment, while conversation resumed around me.
This was awful. It was worse than bad. I couldn't be any more out of place or any more uncomfortable about it if I'd tried.
"So, Jeremy," Elyse started, leaning her elbows onto the table like she was about to begin an inquisition. Which made me think that somehow she'd begin her mission to find out what was up with DC's attitude, or whatever, right now. And, okay, I got even more uncomfortable. My shoulders tensed. But she finished with, "Why have I never see you at school?" And I breathed again.
"Oh," he ducked his head. I glanced away from my menu in time to catch the self-conscious reaction and it made me think that he didn't like attention any more than I did. "I graduated."
My eyebrows rose, I hadn't been expecting that. Neither, apparently, had Elyse. She tilted her head and asked, "How old are you?" She asked it like she was accusing him of something, and I guessed it was her tone of voice that caused Perry to snort in laughter.
Elyse tensed and I thought Perry would be better off ignoring her than setting her off, because he was probably within kicking range from the way they'd positioned themselves and she'd played enough soccer in her life to know how to aim a good kick. Unfortunately for him, I didn't think Perry had any self-preservation skills.
"Eighteen." Jeremy was honest to God blushing as he answered, which just seemed to make Perry even more amused. "I just graduated last year from Talbert."
Which explained why neither of us had ever seen him outside of DC's band rehearsals, as Talbert High was a school district over.
"Oh," Elyse nodded. "I know a girl who goes there." I saw Paisley roll her eyes from the corner of mine and tensed, hoping that Elyse hadn't seen it. The two of them would definitely be on each other in a moment if it came to that, I had no doubt. I didn't think I'd ever met two people with worst temperaments.
Except Savannah Reed, but I tried to never think of her.
"So how did you meet these guys?" Elyse asked, motioning between the group. Perry leaned into the table then, mirroring Elyse's stance to perfection, his elbows propping up his chin as he looked solemnly back at her. She narrowed her eyes at him, frowning, and he copied her expression.
