chapter fifteen
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Maeve was not thinking about Kevin Day.

Not about him or his long fingers and how he'd shown her another skillful way he used his hands. She wasn't picturing the well grooved lines that ran up and across his stomach or the way she'd practically licked her way all over his smooth skin like he was a lollipop. She wasn't reminiscing his head between her legs, or the many ways he knew to put his mouth to use besides talking. She wasn't, and yet... from the moment she'd seen him earlier that day, she'd definitely been more aware of the hickey on one particular part of her body and how good it'd felt to receive it.

She blinked back the flashes and looked up at the door to her right opening and closing.

What awaited at the end of the hall was six feet and four inches tall, sporting a new haircut she'd definitely comment on later, and she stood up to greet him while displaying a rare smile she couldn't (or didn't want to, for once) fight,"Matty B! About fucking time."

His own smile broke out immediately and he opened his arms, catching her with ease and spinning her around, though he still teased her by groaning as he set her back down on her feet before pinching her side,"Put on more muscle, I see, no worries, Ave, I'll catch up."

She rolled her eyes at his bold lie.

While running kept her lean and on the lighter side, and boxing and lifting weights with Matt helped combat against losing any muscle, she definitely hadn't gained any over their short break. If anything she'd probably lost some and would need Matt's help to regain it again in time to be a decent body on their court.

Kevin, she cursed internally as she caught herself thinking more about Exy than she usually cared to.

     Instead of asking her how she faired during their time apart, Matt decided to bring up a different, safer, topic,"What culture dive will we be partaking in this semester?"

     Matt didn't take languages with her, though he did enjoy tagging along as she watched movies in her latest addition to the multitude of tongues she spoke. He didn't mind reading subtitles for hours on end and she didn't hate the company, only now she wished he would've asked her about her non-vacation.

     She tried to go for casual,"How's a trip to France sound?"

     And he completely saw through her.

     His face scrunched up,"Really? Seven languages in and now you go for French? Your high school teacher cursed you how many times for making him teach you Portuguese as well as Spanish within the timespan of the year?"

"Escarra didn't hate me nearly as much as he claimed he did." She scoffed in remembrance. What truly compelled Maeve to sign up for French after having fiercely ignored the language for so long wasn't something she was keen on admitting any time soon, and so she gave a half shrug and lied,"But anyway, I might as well knock it off the list, right? They say it's actually similar to Portuguese, so it'll be easy to pick up and one less thing to worry about."

Matt looked like he wanted to comment on the last bit of her sentence, but lucky for her that was when he spotted Neil and his attention became momentarily diverted as he marked a path to him and stuck out his hand,"Matt Boyd, I'm a junior this year, and I'm the Foxes' starting backliner. You must be Neil."

Before anyone could say anything else though, Wymack emerged from his office to toss a key ring at Matt's head, who turned perfectly on time to get struck on the cheek.

"Jesus, Coach, good to see you too. When did we move past a simple 'hello'?"

"I could say the same to you," Wymack grumbled in response,"Stomping past my open door like that without so much as a by-your-leave."

"You looked busy." He defended.

"I'm always busy, that's never stopped you pricks from interrupting me before."

"I had to greet my best friend then." Matt shrugged, pausing to flick Maeve's cheek when she handed him the fallen keys and looking around after,"Where are the monsters?"

"Probably razing Fox Tower to the ground as we speak. You met Neil?"

"I was trying." He turned to Neil with a sympathetic look,"I can't believe you put up with Coach this long, how did you survive?"

"I wasn't around much." Neil said simply.

Coach took over,"He's been training with Kevin and Andrew every day, Maeve on occasion when she wasn't busy being a pain."

Matt sniggered while Maeve rolled her eyes,"You're the worst."

"He knows it." Abby tuned in from her own office doorway, she met Maeve's gaze before giving Matt a small smile,"Welcome back, Matt, did you have a safe drive?"

"Safe enough, but I drank so much coffee I probably won't sleep for a week." Matt turned to Neil, but Maeve didn't miss how quickly the two moved on,"Already settled?"

"Coach wouldn't let me move in without you." Neil stated accusingly.

"And I'm basically being held hostage." Maeve added her own dilemma,"Abby drove."

"Take them both and get out of here." Wymack tossed a second key ring their way, one Maeve caught with ease,"I'm tired of their faces."

"Come on." Matt chuckled as he swung an arm over Maeve's shoulder while saying to Neil,"I'll swing you past Coach's place to get your things."

He shook his head,"This is it."

Matt looked from the distressed duffel bag in Neil's hold to the rest of the room for any sign of more of his belongings before shooting a questioning look Wymack's way. "That's a joke, right? You should see how much I crammed into my truck — and how much I had to leave behind — and you expect to last a year with one bag? That thing have magical expanding powers I don't know about or something?"

Maeve held back a snort at his Harry Potter reference, tuned out their little debate about Neil wearing the same outfits repeatedly when he had money and back in when Matt squeezed the back of her neck to get her attention.

"What about you, you got your stuff?"

She rolled her eyes,"Also being held hostage."

He scoffed,"No shit, by who?"

"Andrew's got it in his trunk, don't ask me how so much junk fit in there, think maybe his car's got those magical expanding powers. He wouldn't pick me up when I was done with Betsy because I apparently take too long, as if our sessions aren't fucking timed. So I ran back here and then Wymack wouldn't give me the keys because apparently I run too damn much, as if he doesn't threaten to sign me up for marathons with every breathe."

     "And I will." Wymack cut in,"I thought you were leaving, get out of here already or so help me you'll be running marathons into your eighties, Kingston!"

"What happened to my seventies?!"

He scowled at her,"Every time you annoy me for longer than necessary I'll add another ten years, now get out of my sight before I make you wait for your roommates to move in."

She clutched her keys,"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Okay, enough, both of you." Abby rejoined the conversation again, this time stepping out into the hall with the backpack Maeve had almost left behind in her office.

She tried not to squirm as Abby gave her another once over before planting a kiss on her cheek and sending them off. Matt tapped her chin upward, sending her a reassuring grin as he led the way out to his truck. He kept the chitchat strictly Fox related, mostly shit talking Andrew and the others like he always did, and Maeve smartly stayed out of it.

Their drive was short and though she offered to help Matt unpack his truck, he turned her down, telling her to get her stuff back before Andrew took to upending her bags from the roof, which she didn't doubt he would do that if he became annoyed enough.

And so, with reluctance, she headed over to the door she guessed was theirs by process of elimination and knocked incessantly the way she always did while anxiously peeling back the layer of skin around her thumbnail. When the door opened, she felt relief at seeing Andrew's face for the very first time in her life.

She decided to skip their theatrics and simply held out her hand in silent demand for him to drop his keys into her open palm, going back out to the parking lot when he finally handed them over and getting help from Matt and Neil. They hadn't yet made even a small dent into Matt's things, but he insisted on helping her get all her boxes up to the third floor and she relented only when he agreed she could help them after.

Maeve didn't bring any furniture to the dorms since Allison was extremely nitpicky and insisted on being allowed to decorate the small living space, so it didn't take long to get her things in their dorm before joining Matt in his room that he'd share with Neil and Seth.

She sat by his entertainment center and organized his movies in the way she knew he liked while he went back and forth between unpacking his clothes and checking his phone for messages from Dan.

When he finally stood, she rolled her eyes and got ready to turn down his invitation to go pick her and Renee up. He accepted with an all too familiar sigh, palming the top of her head in an affectionate manner before she left. Maeve eyed the next door down, but rather than approaching it again, she headed further down and out of Fox Tower.