“Um, what?” Elijah asked. It was the first bit of panic I had heard in his voice, and that brought me a little bit of satisfaction. It was short-lived though, because I realized I, too, had to do this.
Dr. Franklin smiled. “It’s just a small exercise. Five minutes.”
“I’m a little sore,” I said. “From a workout I did yesterday. Floor sits sound terrible right now.”
“No problem, you can stay on the couch. It might not be as comfortable, but that’s fine,” she said. “Just turn and face each other.”
If I refused again, would she start to suspect we were strangers? Or maybe if we were actually forced to look at each other for any length of time, she’d realize we were strangers based on our uncomfortable body language. Yes, I decided that was more likely and took my place cross-legged on the mat.
“You changed your mind?” she asked.
“It will be good for me to stretch,” I said, popping my eyebrows in Elijah’s direction.
“Right,” he said, joining me on the floor. Our knees touched.
“Now,” Dr. Franklin said, “when is the last time you had uninterrupted eye contact?”
“It’s been forever,” Elijah said with a smirk.
“I recommend five minutes every day. It doesn’t seem like a lot…”
It actually seemed like an eternity.
“But it goes a long way in strengthening your connection. I’ll start the timer now.”
“Oh, we’re doing this now?” I asked.
“Yes, now.”
We locked eyes. His were a honey brown with a ring of green around the pupil. I wondered what mine looked like now. Mine were a gray-blue hue, probably more gray in this light. I’d put on minimal makeup today. But I knew my lashes were coated in black mascara.
The door opened and I turned to see Dr. Franklin leaving the room. “Where are you going?” I asked.
“Uninterrupted,” she said. “I’ll be back in five.” She closed the door behind her.
So much for her observing our awkward body language. “Is this her way of getting a paid break?” I asked under my breath in case she could somehow hear us.
He smiled. “It’s pretty clever.”
“We probably don’t have to keep staring at each other,” I said, but did, in fact, keep staring.
“What if that mirror is two-way?” he asked quietly.
“True,” I conceded with a quick glance at the large mirror on the far wall. Maybe that was her way to see how healthy a relationship truly was. Would it be ethical to watch us without our knowledge? I wasn’t sure.
His lashes were long, a deep chocolate brown. He had really clear olive skin too. He’d earned my original nickname of Villain Pretty Boy. Because there was a devilish spark in his eyes and a sharp upturn to his grin. “Do people call you Eli?” I wondered aloud.
“Mostly,” he said. “Do people call you button?”
“Never,” I said and hoped my look said that he shouldn’t either.
It must’ve, because he laughed. When it was genuine, he actually had a very nice smile. Not so conniving. I felt myself slouching into the floor and straightened up, putting my hands on my lower back to support myself for a moment. I really was sore from the orange juice cleanup that morning. It had required a lot of squatting.
“Your back hurt?” he asked. Maybe he was good at reading body language after all.
“No, I… yeah,” I said.
“We don’t have to keep sitting here. We’re not in a time-out.”
