“Lacrosse!” She bolts upright, eyeing him with a suddenly intent gaze. “That was you?! Last year! The championship game! You scored the winning goals! I /knew/ I knew that name from somewhere!” Helios lays back his ears at her, and she glares mildly. “Don’t look at me in that tone of ears, Mr Escapee. I do not need you to bring me friends.”
Insolently he licks his nose at her, and she glances back up at Stiles. “You see how I am abused here, taken advantage of. He did that to you too, obviously.” She tilts her head a little to the side. “Who’s your best friend?”
Stiles smiles, almost sheepishly, ducking his head as Summer suddenly realizes who he is. He didn’t even realize there was a thing for him to be recognized for, but there it is. “Yeah, yeah, that’s me, number twenty- four for Beacon Hills. The championship game was—somehow like…I don’t know, it was a fluke.” And he’d been terribly assaulted after that, but Stiles left that bit out. Discretion and the better form of valor.
“I hear that’s a thing cats do. I’m probably gonna insult him, here, but always kind of more of a dog person, me.” He’s still rubbing Helios’ ears, if the cat’s in reach, his other hand still holding the ice to his knee. “My—oh. Scott McCall. Number eleven if you pay attention to the Lacrosse team. Co-Captain. Or…maybe he’s just captain now that Jackson moved to London, I have no idea.”
He’s blurting out agreement, excuses, names, and information in a steady stream she can hardly keep up with, mostly because her mind is going in at least two different directions at the moment: lacrosse team and animal clinic. It takes a second before she can match the name to the face — the dark, Latino-looking boy in the clinic, the one who has an inexplicable edge of wildness to her other senses.
“Seems like that would be determined when the new season starts,” she ventures. Helios has ignored Stiles’ assertion of being a dog person, and is catfully attempting to turn him into a cat lover, purring hard enough to vibrate his guard hairs and whiskers and occasionally licking the petting hand.