“Thank you.”
Excited about something for the first time since she’d sat in the doctor’s office and heard the wordcancer, Caitlyn stood, picked up her bag, and headed for the security section.
2
At first, Noah didn’t recognize the ultra-thin young woman with short, spiky, pink hair who stepped into the office. Caitlyn had beautiful long brown hair. It’d been something he’d noticed straight away the day she’d walked into his class two years ago. This girl also looked like someone with an eating disorder.
Then she met his gaze with her big gray-blue eyes. ShewasCaitlyn. The old familiar flush of attraction surged through him, but he pushed it aside. What happened to her?
Was the rumor that she’d spent the last semester in rehab true? He would not have thought it of her. He’d also not thought she would be the kind of girl to make false accusations against a man like she’d done to Noah’s friend Keven. A familiar sense of loss hit Noah that Caitlyn hadn’t been the kind of girl he’d thought.
He averted his gaze. At least if she’d been in rehab, she was getting help. Noah’s heart gave an unexpected twist at her sickly appearance. He couldn’t let his sympathy distract him from Keven’s warning about her.
“Sorry if I’m late. I just came from Orianna’s office.” Caitlyn took the seat Joe indicated, which was beside Noah. She didn’t glance his way either. From the corner of his eye, he noticed her slide her hands under her thighs. What was she nervous about?
“It’s nice to meet you again,” Sona said. “Ezreal speaks very highly of you.”
How had Caitlyn managed to get past the reserve of one of the shyest people Noah had ever met? He couldn’t help himself and looked at her again.
“That’s kind of him.” Her cheeks had flushed, the additional color on her pale face making her look more like the girl he’d once cared about. Caitlyn said, “Orianna didn’t tell me much about the project except it’ll be in New York.”
“At the penthouse?” Noah asked, his excitement at the prospect making him speak when he hadn’t meant to.
“What penthouse?” Caitlyn sent him a wide-eyed glance before frowning. She faced forward again.
“Now you’re both here,” Sona said with a chuckle, “I’ll explain. Kayn owns a penthouse there. He purchased it to host events around the North America playoffs leading to the World Championship. We’ve been discussing how to better utilize it. Being in the middle of such a vibrant city and right across the street from Central Park, it would be a great location to take small groups of people for team-building retreats.”
“We’re attending one?” Caitlyn asked.
“No, your group will be coming up with team-building activities for future events,” Sona said.
“Oh.” Caitlyn now sounded intimidated.
“We’ll be hiring a company to run the retreats,” Sona explained, “but we wanted some staff input on activities. Wethought this would be an excellent intern experience, both in the planning and in the leadership elements of the activity.”
Caitlyn glanced his way. In spite of the shadows under her eyes, she still had the ability to pull him in. Her cheeks flushed again, and she shifted her gaze. He did too, irritated he’d looked at her.
“Orianna said it’d be for about a week,” Caitlyn said.
“Five days, so almost a week,” Sona clarified. “Kayn and I have business to conduct in New York and have scheduled appointments over the course of our time there. We’ll be available for some of your activities, but you’ll have responsibilities of your own. We’ll obviously expect reports from when we’re not there. Have either of you heard of gamification?”
“Isn’t that when you apply typical elements of gaming—like point scoring and reward systems—to nongame activities?” Caitlyn asked.
“That’s right,” Sona said. “What do you know about it?”
“Well, the bit I’ve read related more to marketing techniques.” Caitlyn shifted in her seat, moving her hands out from under her legs. “I love the idea of taking something tedious and making it fun. Tapping into our natural desire for competition and achievement is a great way to do it.”
Noah had forgotten how smart she was, but he wasn’t about to be outshone.
“Aye,” he said. “‘Twould motivate people to meet personal challenges. All employees are expected to set job goals. ‘Tis more fun to track the progress when it feels like a game.”
“Exactly,” Caitlyn agreed and then asked Sona, “Is that how you’d like us to focus our time, looking at ways to incorporate gamification into team-building activities?”
“Yes. One of the reasons we’ve chosen employees to do this is because we want people who are immersed in the game ofREKD, as only our own folks can be, to design some of the activities.” Sona typed on her keyboard before picking up a remote and pointing it at the wall. Her computer screen then appeared on it with a satellite map of the area surrounding the New York apartment building. “Not only is the penthouse large, so there’s plenty of room for the retreat employees to spread out, but look at what’s within walking distance.”
From the way Caitlyn scanned the map, wide eyes and cheeks flushed with excitement, Noah wondered if she’d ever been to New York before.
“The city has so much potential. My mind is full of possible ideas already.” Caitlyn’s excitement seemed to chase away the shadows under her eyes, and her face didn’t look quite so gaunt anymore. It took his breath away.
