Page 5 of He Falls First

Allison snorts. “I can’t say I do…”

“Ally,” Cora says, nudging her. “This feels like a good time to bring up what we talked about.”

I stiffen. “What have you guys been talking about?”

Cora turns back to me. “Well. Speaking of Aaron…”

“Speaking of all your exes,” Allison adds.

“Right. Speaking of your love life and your work life and your caring-about-work-outside-of-work life…”

Allison jumps in again, like this is an act they’ve been practicing. “We know you’re tired of being treated like a pushover—especially in your love life.”

I shift uncomfortably. Where did this come from? “Yeah, so?”

“You know the way you fought for Harper’s toy? We’ve seen you do it before. Like at work, you go to bat for everyone—Harper, Gabrielle, even those snooty board members who act like PowerPoint is a high form of art.”

“It’s why Gabrielle raves about you like you’re the greatest executive assistant who ever lived,” Allison says. “Yet, when it comes to your own life, you’re like a doormat at a dirtbag convention. Remember Derek? The guy who thought monogamy was a type of wood?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I wince at the sour memory. “He was a mistake—a very repetitive mistake.”

“Exactly,” Cora continues, squeezing my shoulder gently. “You’ve got the assertiveness of a CEO when you’re fighting other people’s battles. But when it’s time to stand up for yourself? You’re more like an unpaid intern.”

“Unpaid and over-caffeinated,” Allison adds with a smirk. “We just want to see you apply some of that Summers steel to your personal life, too.”

“Perhaps my spine only solidifies in defense of others,” I muse, half-jokingly. “It’s selective ossification.”

“Then consider us your calcium supplements,” Cora quips. “Time to fortify that backbone.”

“What exactly did you two have in mind?” I eye them. “Because if you’re planning a takeover of my dating profiles again, I’m going to have to pass.”

The last time they did that was a disaster. I gave them access to my dating apps after we determined that my picker was broken. Cora took out every line that made me sound “too nice,” and Allison turned my love of spreadsheets into innuendo about “staying organized, right down to my sorted spice rack.”

“This is beyond your dating profile. It’s a strategy to keep your heart whole.”

“Whole hearts are so last season,” I say. But they aren’t buying it today.

“You have a pattern, Elizabeth,” Cora says, her voice soft yet firm. “You fall for guys hard and fast, and then you’re left picking up the pieces when he doesn’t—”

“Fall down the rabbit hole after me,” I finish for her, nodding slowly. “So what? I should play hard to get?”

“More like ‘He Falls First’,” Allison chimes in, practically bouncing on the couch cushions with excitement. “You don’t let yourself fall unless he’s already tumbling head over heels.”

“Like a pledge?”

“Exactly!” Allison claps once, sharply. “The ‘He Falls First’ Pledge.”

“Sounds like a fairytale,” I mutter, but there’s a flutter of hope in my chest. Maybe this could be the spell that breaks the curse.

“Or just common sense,” Cora adds, reaching out to squeeze my hand.

“Swear it,” Allison says, holding up a palm like she’s swearing me in on a Bible. “No falling unless he’s fallen first.”

“Nuh-uh, I’m not doing this alone,” I say, looking between them. “You’re both single, too. Why don’t we all swear it?”

“Ooh! I’m in,” Cora says.

Allison’s more skeptical. “Uh, do I have to? I don’t exactly have Lizzy’s problem…”

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