inhale, kevin day.

xii. losing grip

chapter twelve
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The court door slammed shut behind her as Maeve made her way toward the center, she tied up her hair and began putting on her gloves. From where she stood she could perfectly see the others, Kevin sulking on the other side of the plexiglass, Aaron and Nicky sitting back on the bleachers— one rose his eyebrows at her when their eyes met and the other shot her two thumbs up and a beaming grin. Andrew was already in goal, leaning against his racquet as he waited both Maeve and Neil out.

When the latter finally showed up in his full gear, Maeve put on her helmet. She tried to picture how she and Andrew must look to him, the proclaimed team psycho and the ex drug addict who was always angry. They were a joke, and Wymack continued to make them look so.

He slowed as he neared her, looked behind her at the others and then said,"Just you?"

Clearly Kevin hadn't sent out the memo to everyone. She smirked,"Does that scare you?"

Sure, she didn't like Exy, but that didn't mean she couldn't have a little fun.

Neil met her eyes,"No."

Liar, she thought.

She chuckled slowly,"Warmups first. Andrew has oh so joyfully agreed to be in goal, you're not in high school anymore, Neil— time to show me what you're really made of."

She bother didn't asking him what the others had taught him, they'd been coming to the court every day for however long it'd been now. She couldn't find it in her to care about the progression of time these days, it all blurred and nothing really changed in her life except where she spent the night.

Neil fell into step beside her like they'd been teammates for years now, following her every move and doing his best imitation of it. She wasn't impressed and when they were finished warming up, she found herself bored out of her mind. She hadn't even broken a sweat yet, and she was pretty sure that pissed Kevin off because not a second after she stopped moving his fist slammed against the glass.

In one swift movement, her gloves came off and her middle fingers went up.

"Impatient ass." She grumbled as she turned to Neil to say,"Water break."

"I'm not thirsty." He said, seeming to take Kevin's side,"Let's just play."

"How sweet, you're not thirsty." She mockingly smiled,"That's gonna bite you in the ass in the middle of a game."

Maeve walked off the court, taking her time drinking water from the fountain. Neil was there when she turned around and she watched as he basically drowned himself with fast gulps and swallows,"Not thirsty, huh? Relax, not like the water's going anywhere."

He straightened up, but she didn't turn to leave and so he stood, staring at her. Until finally, he asked,"Why didn't you play with us before? Why now and why without the others?"

She leaned against the door, pushing it back with her weight, but not quite letting it open yet,"Why are you so scared of playing on the same court as Kevin? Why are you here despite it? What was that look when they were speaking German the first day you were here?"