Page 20 of Untouchable Player

“I have to write an essay on protein synthesis.”

“Can I see?”

I pass him the phone and he gets this little frown on his face as he reads, and I tell myself it is not cute, even though it really is.

“Okay,” he looks focussed as he pulls the book back towards him and flips to a page with diagrams I’ve stared at a few times. “Protein synthesis refers to the biological process whereby amino acids are assembled…” he breaks off as he studies the diagram again, his lips moving a bit while he reads to himself.

“Okay, I think I understand.”

“Already?”

His head snaps up and I feel my face tint.

“Well, the basics. Your essay wants you to answer this question…”

I try so hard to focus while he talks, but it’s not easy. I follow him to a point, but then his words start to meld into one. Maybe he notices I’ve zoned out, because he asks if I want to take a break.

“Thanks.”

He smiles and we sit in silence for a minute, looking around the kitchen.

“Sorry about this,” I say.

“What?”

“I don’t know how Jones, I mean Harrison, convinced you to tutor me, but, I know it’s probably the last thing you want to be doing with your time.”

His face changes and I can’t read it.

“No it’s fine, I don’t mind. I just don’t know how helpful I can be that’s all.”

“You seem to understand things really fast. Like you just looked at that diagram and you got it, and you don’t even study this subject.”

“I have to take chemistry for my major, so I get diagrams, or how they work anyway.”

“What’s your major?”

“Operations Research and Information Engineering.”

I whistle, because that sounds really smart and I have no idea what it means. Nate laughs and actually looks shy as he tucks hishair behind his ear. I try not to think about the fact he looks good doing that.

“It just sounds more complicated than it is, it’s basically just math and research with a bit of computer tech thrown in.”

“Ohjustmath, research and computer tech, yeah, easy.”

Nate laughs. Fuck that’s a nice sound.

“What made you want to study sport’s nutrition?”

“I didn’t, I had to pick a major if I wanted to play hockey and that was the most sporty thing they had.”

“What’s your minor?”

“Sport’s training.”

“So how come you came to college then? You just wanted to play college hockey?”

“No, actually, I didn’t get drafted like my dad thought I would out of juniors, so when I got offered a scholarship to play hockey, he said I’d better take it.”

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