“I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh, and, Mais... Thank you.”
She looks over her shoulder, meets my gaze, nods once, and then she’s gone. Just like that.
“You’re late.” Maisie scolds as I climb the steps to where she’s sitting near the top of the stadium seating.
Today she’s wearing black pants that fit her like a second skin and a soft pink crop top that I have no doubt, if she were standing, would show off nearly half of her lean stomach. Her hair is tied back in a loose pony, some strands having escaped, blowing gently across her face in the breeze.
Denying how incredibly beautiful she is, is about as pointless as saying the sun isn’t bright. Not that I would give her the satisfaction of admitting that out loud.
“Coach operates on his own schedule. As an athlete yourself, you should know that better than most.” I collapse down into the seat beside her, absolutely fucking exhausted.
“Pretty sure I watched you leave the field almost an hour ago.”
“So thatwasyou watching me.” I smirk.
“I wasn’t watchingyou. I was waiting.”
“For what, nearly two hours now?”
“Practice finished early, and it made no sense for me to walk all the way back to my dorm, only to turn around and leave again. Figured I’d get caught up on some schoolwork while I waited. Not that I owe you an explanation.”
“Didn’t look like you were getting much work done to me.”
“Let’s just get this going. I don’t have all evening.” She groans, cracking open the notebook sitting in her lap.
“For the record, I didn’t keep you waiting intentionally. We had a brief meeting after practice and then I had to take a shower.”
“Which is appreciated.” She gives me a look of disgust, like she can still smell the sweat that clung to my skin just a few short minutes ago. A practiced response, one I have learned to expect from Maisie Rose.
“So where should we start?” I stretch my legs out in front of me, well, as far in front of me as I can, given how narrow the walkway between rows is.
“Cognitive tests are listed first, so I figured we could just start there. According to the syllabus, there are eight sections to be covered. I thought we could begin with short-term memory since again, it’s the first section listed.”
“So basically, you just want to go down the list in order.”
“I think it makes the most sense. That way we’re following the natural progression of the tests to be conducted.”
“Works for me.” I shift, trying to find a comfortable position in the less-than-comfortable seat I’m sitting in. They certainly do not design these stadiums for comfort,though I can’t remember the last time I was in the actual stands and not on the field. “So, how do we do this?”
“Why am I not surprised that you didn’t actually read the syllabus?”
“How do you know I didn’t read it?”
“Because if you did, you’d know exactly what to expect as it’s all outlined there.”
“Well, clearly, you’re on top of things, so how about you just fill me in really quickly and we can get this over with.”
She stares back at me for a long moment, those intense blue eyes of hers staring holes into my face as her jaw works, like she wants to say something that she’s trying really hardnotto say. For some reason, this takes my slight smirk and twists it into a full-on smile.
I don’t know why I find her anger so appealing, but fuck me, I do.
Taking a deep inhale, she blows it out slowly before speaking in a much calmer tone than I expect. And weirdly, I find myself disappointed at her self-control.
“First, I’m going to start by reading off a list of words. It will be your job to remember as many of the words as you can, in the same order in which I read them. The goal is to see how many words you can retain in the correct order before you get one wrong.”
“That’s it?” I hitch a brow, thinking it certainly can’t be that easy.
“That’s the first part. Then we move on to actual images—shapes and colors that I’ll show you, and again, you’ll try to remember each one in the order in which you see them. Last are sounds. Which—”
