“You know the kind of rumors spread about you, kid?” the taller one asked.
“Can’t say I do.”
“A lot of us never thought we’d see you get past college level. When you fell off? What was that?”
“Had to take a break, but I’m here now. Honestly, I never thought I’d make it to one of these.”
“Believe it, kid. You got a lot of eyes on you,” the shorter guy says. “Whatever your first offer is, don’t take it. Hold out for something better.”
“No pressure, huh,” I said lightly.
“Hit all the p
hysical stuff hard enough, and they don’t give a shit about the rest,” the shorter one said. I laughed a little. If that was advice, I wasn’t taking it.
“That’s what I’m here to do.”
“And, we’ll be watching,” the taller one said again. I knew they were. That meant I had to kill it.
I waited to feel something, even when I was up and had to do my first evaluation. We weren’t playing, but the field was the one place I’d never had to be nervous because this was what I did. I could play. My body knew how to move, and it hadn’t failed me yet. It sure as shit wasn’t going to start today.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Veronica
Tiffany cursed from across the table, taking her glasses off and rubbing her eyes.
"You okay?"
"Yeah," she sighed. "I'm just not sure I'll be able to get this done before it's due." She had been tapping furiously at her laptop, pausing every so often to swear and delete everything she had just typed.
"Isn't it due next week?"
"With work and my other classes, it's going to be tight. I don't want to swap quality for finishing it fast. I don't know why this is so difficult."
I watched her start over. We were at my place. Sometimes I worked better with a study buddy. Usually, she wasn't so stressed out, though. I figured it was just balancing work and school that was getting to her. It was hard. She had a lot on her plate, and I worried sometimes that she'd hit burnout and never recover. She was writing a paper for one of her economics classes, so it wasn't even one I could look at and help her put together.
"How about starting with something else? Or tackling the easiest part first."
"I should get this out of the way first."
"If you do that, you'll never get to anything else. Do something simpler first. No, you know what? Let's take a break," I announced. I got up and walked into the kitchen. I started on making us both cups of coffee; I knew how Tiffany liked hers. Sweet and white, maybe it would help. She took it gratefully when I came back to the dining room. Her laptop was shut and books closed.
"Better?" I asked as she took a sip."
"Let's see in about ten minutes," she smiled wryly.
"Can you believe the people who come back to school after kids and stuff? Can you imagine parenting and studying at the same time?"
"I don't know where the hell I would start. This is hard enough," she said. "I'm barely keeping it together having a job at the same time."
"You're doing great," I said, smiling at her.
"Maybe it's a good thing I don't have a boyfriend. I wouldn't even have time for him."
"Yeah, if he was needy like a five-year-old and not also a student."
"College relationships are pointless," she said, "no offense. I mean the other ones. Not yours."