Page 10 of Shiver
Egon laughs again, nodding. “Oh, yeah.”
His laugh is easy. It’s a nice sound and I find myself smiling before I push it away. Gesturing to the table, I tell him to pull out the book and coursework for his first class tomorrow.
“We’ll likely run a little later tonight than usual,” I say. “I want to see where you’re at with each course. So tonight and tomorrow, we’ll spend half an hour on each. Then I can assess where to go from here over the weekend.”
“Thank you,” he says. “Really. I cannot say how much I appreciate this.”
I nod without acknowledging his thanks more than that. “Show me where you’re at and what you’re struggling with.”
“Where to begin?” he mutters.
We spend the next hour talking about molecular toxicology by looking at genetics and how most have environment or gene-environmental causes. That’s really the limit of his understanding on the subject. He’s more enthusiastic about exercise physiology because it feels applicable to him. He understands how the body reacts to specific exercises and excels at telling me so. His hang up is terminology. Without having to go much further into this class, I know it’s really going to be a matter of technicalities versus actual understanding.
After an hour, we break for a drink and I sit back to consider him as he sips on the Gatorade and stares at the open book in front of him. I watch as his lips move while he silently forms the words with his mouth. He subtly shakes his head and I swear, he begins the sentence or paragraph again.
“Does it help you understand if you read out loud?” I ask.
His cheeks heat when he looks up at me. “Sorry. Was I reading aloud?”
I shake my head. “No. But I’ve seen you read a passage by forming the words as if you’re wanting to speak them.”
The pink on his cheeks darkens. And why does my cock like that? Because I imagine that’s how his face would flush when I push inside him? Or when I take his cock in my mouth. Hell, I bet I can get that flush just by stroking his dick.
Blinking the thoughts away, I stare at him, waiting for his answer. He’s amusingly flustered.
“I-I, uh—I don’t know?”
Laughing, I shake my head. Leaning forward, I choose a paragraph explaining the concept of how biological factors include inherited personality traits and genetic conditions. “Read that out loud,” I tell him, tapping the paragraph.
His eyes go wide. “Really?”
I smirk. “Yes. Read it, Egon.”
It’s clear he’s uncomfortable, but he bows his head and stares at the paragraph. I’m watching closely so I can see when he closes his eyes to take a breath before he dives into reading it aloud. His voice starts quiet, but by the end of the paragraph, it's strong. When he’s done, he looks at me.
“What did you just read?” I ask.
He blinks several times before reiterating the paragraph.
“Good. And what did you take away from that?”
I’m pleased when he tells me with mostly correct understanding. I have him read it again and he pauses close to the end. “Oh. I had that wrong,” he says and lets his eyes wander over it a couple times. When I determine that he’s rereading a sentence or two multiple times, I tell him to repeat it out loud again.
He does and I see when the knowledge clicks.
“That’s it,” I say, my voice soft. “You did really well, Egon.”
His eyes widen slightly, his focus going distant. I don’t miss the shiver that races through him before he blinks at me.
“I suspect that this won’t work with all subjects, but at least for psychology, we might have found a strategy that works,” I tell him.
Egon grins for a minute before frowning. “I literally have no place to be reading my text book out loud without disrupting someone.”
I wave him off. “Before you leave here tonight, email me your syllabus for each class.”
He nods and drops his face back to the book. We move on to models of chemical systems and I can tell by the frustration and helplessness in his expression that no amount of reading out loud is going to help him understand. Fortunately, he doesn’t have that class tomorrow. I have him leave his book with me tonight so I can flip through it.
He’s out the door at nine, and I print out his syllabi to look over. When I have the beginnings of a plan for each class, I take his chemical systems book to bed for a little light reading.
