It felt like we were. And we both obviously thought we had to do exactly as she told us, because our eyes were still locked in place. She might’ve been on to something with this eye contact thing. I could see how being forced to connect for a few minutes every day might re-center a couple. Not us, but a hypothetical couple. It was making me feel… what, I wasn’t sure. But something stirred in my chest and loosened in my shoulders.
“Are we being hypnotized?”
I smiled. “To do what?”
“Whatever she wants us to,” he said in a spooky voice. “Her little army of marketers.”
“HowdidMichael get her name?” I played along.
“I need to find out.” His eyes shot down to my shirt. “Do you like the Strokes or is it a statement piece?”
“Yes, I like them, but if you ask me to name three songs to prove myself, you will become my enemy.”
“Am I not already your enemy?”
“Fair point.”
“And I don’t know three songs,” he said.
“You don’t know the Strokes?”
“I’ve heard of them, but they are not on my playlist.”
The door opened to my right, breaking our eye contact. I stood and stretched as Dr. Franklin walked in.
“How was that?” she asked, as if our world had just been altered forever.
I sat back on the couch and Elijah joined me.
“It was hypnotizing,” he said with a smile in his voice.
“What are other things you do to strengthen your connection?” she asked, settling into her chair, her pen still hovering over her notebook. I willed it to write,These people are very much strangers. They wouldn’t be able to pick each other out of a lineup of similar-looking people. That last part probably wasn’t true.
I wondered what she’d have to say to count as a win for Tara. Michael had said that even deducing we weren’t in a relationship would count. Had she really not deduced that yet?
“She loves to give me back rubs,” Elijah was saying. “They’re my favorite.”
“What?” I asked, turning to him.
“She asked what we do to strengthen our connection,” he said. “You give me back rubs.”
“And what do you do for her in return?” Dr. Franklin asked.
Elijah said, “We should probably keep that to ourselves. But believe me, she likes it.”
Dr. Franklin actually blushed, and even though I’d told him not to touch me, I reached over and squeezed his leg in a death grip. He squirmed.
“Well,” she said, “for this week, your homework is five minutes every day of uninterrupted eye contact. No screens, no phone calls, no… uh, touching. Just eye contact.”
I nodded. That wasn’t happening.
“And I’ll see you guys same day, same time next week?”
“Sounds good,” Elijah said.
Another week was not happening. We were done. I needed to talk to Tara.
Elijah stood and I followed. Dr. Franklin shook each of our hands and walked us to the door and then the lobby.
