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I chewed the end of my pen thoughtfully. My laptop was in front of me on the floor, and a couple of practice tests were splayed on the ground.
“You know Maya, you really should study,” I peered up at the blonde girl sitting on the bed, gently strumming her guitar.
“I do know that I should really study,” she replied vaguely, staring down at her fingers.
I left it at that for the moment, because it seemed like Maya was trying to figure out something on her guitar, and when that was the case, it was nearly impossible to draw her attention away. I continued with my own studying, rifling through notes and checking my answers on the practice tests. Whatever Maya was playing was starting to sound familiar. She was singing quietly now too, and she kept looking at me and smiling whilst doing so. After a minute I realized she was playing Teenage Dream by Katy Perry, and I blushed a little, since she was obviously singing it to me.
I sighed. “As much as I love hearing you sing, you and I are both going to fail this test if we don’t study. Do you want to fail?” I questioned her.
A thoughtful look appeared on her face. “Hm, well actually –”
I cut her off, “You know what, never mind what you want. I don’t want you to fail. So we’re going to study, ok?” I tried my best to sound assertive, though we both knew that she was the assertive one out of the two of us.
“But Riiiiiileeeeey,” she whined, giving me a pouty look.
I stared at her sad face and chewed on my lip. I would have to get creative if I was going to get Maya to learn anything. I thought for a minute and then came up with an idea.
“Maya, I have a proposition. How about for every question you answer correctly, I’ll give you a kiss? Would that make up for having to learn things?”
She tried to fight back her smile, wanting to seem indifferent as she always did, like she never really cared. I knew her well enough to know that she did care.
“If that would make you happy, then I guess I could go along with it.”
I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her downplaying.
“Ok Maya, first question.” I had grabbed one of the practice tests and was reading off one of the questions. “Which side of the heart does blood enter?”
She furrowed her brows and gave an over exaggerated shrug. “You mean it only enters on one side?”
“Maya. There are only two options. You’ve got a fifty-fifty chance. Just give it a guess,” I told her patiently.
“Um, the right side?” She questioned.
“That’s correct,” I smiled at her. She automatically beamed at me. I was glad she had gotten the first question right. I was hoping it would give her some encouragement for the next few questions.
Keeping to my side of the bargain, I moved to sit beside her on the bed, still holding the practice test, and leaned in to give her a soft kiss on the neck. As my heart fluttered, I acknowledged that this game was not only for her, but for me as well. Maya gave me a shy smile, something that was unlike her.
I ran my fingers through my hair and took a deep breath, then continued on with the quizzing.
“What blood vessel carries deoxygenated blood?”
Her eyebrows popped up, like a light bulb going off above her head. “I know this one!” She exclaimed. “Kay so there’s arteries and veins, right? And veins are blue which means they don’t have any oxygen. So veins, right?”
I gave her another smile and nodded. This time I grabbed both sides of her face, and placed a kiss on her lips. I leaned back and moved a lock of her hair behind her ear.
“Next question,” She grinned, eager.
I laughed at her eagerness. I should have thought of this game many tests ago!
“Alright, alright. What are the tiny air sacs at the end of the bronchioles in your lungs called?” Maya looked at me as if I had spoken in another language, her face completely blank.
“Uh...um...mini lung balls?”
“Ehhh!” I imitated the sound of a buzzer. “Mini lung balls? Really, Maya?”
Instead of replying to me with a witty comeback as she might have usually done, she suddenly placed her hand on the back of my neck and kissed me intensely on the lips. When she pulled away I felt my face turning red, my breath caught in my throat.
“You didn’t get the question right,” I gasped, accusing her.
“There was no rule saying I couldn’t kiss you,” she gave me a smug smile, and as I laughed she leaned in to kiss me again.
“I suppose we could study a bit later,” I mumbled, looking shyly at the ground.
“Or a lot later,” she winked, pulling me into her arms, me giggling as she kissed me in ticklish spots. Oh well, screw biology.