He moved again.
Again, she saw it.
“Left.”
“And now?”
“Right.”
“And now?”
Faster this time. Slighter.
But still, she caught it.
“Left.”
“Perfect. Now tell me how you did it.”
“Your shoulders move when you extend your hand.”
He nodded—once, abrupt.“Yep. And that’s pretty much all there is to it. When you meet someone, or when you’re talking to someone, don’t watch their hands. If you watch their hands they’ll know exactly what you’re doing when you go to avoid a touch or a shake. They might even anticipate it. But if you watch their shoulders, you can move freely. Their lack of awareness is your closest ally. It’s your best friend.”
“But then how do you—”
“How do you avoid it? Never step back. Never. Stepping back is something people expect. It’s the number one thing people do when they’re afraid or startled. So instead, you step to one side. Come on, come a little closer and stick your hand out to me.”
Again, she obeyed without really thinking about it. She stepped towards him, and put out her hand in a way she was sure has been too fast and too clumsy. She was a little nervous and little too eager, and it really should have resulted in disaster.
But it didn’t.
The second her hand started to move, he went right. And even though she knew how he did it now and understood everything he said—even though she’d seen him do this very thing before—she still marveled over it. She still said in a voice that sounded far too breathless, “Jesus Christ. It’s like your feet have wheels.”
“I promise, no wheels are required. Only practice.”
“Pretty sure practice is never going to make me that graceful.”
“Then try some distraction. People easily forget or overlook things if you shift their focus away from yourself. So, you sidestep, and as you do it you gesture at something.”
She frowned, considering. “But what am I supposed to gesture at?”
“Well, that would be my other tip. Start getting more aware of your surroundings. First thing you do when you walk into a room—catalogue anything interesting.”
“So like maybe that thousand-year old coffee machine.”
“That would definitely work. In fact, why don’t you try it? I’ll go to shake your hand and you—”
She didn’t even wait for him to finish. On the wordshakeshe saw his shoulder move in what was now a pretty familiar way, and sidestepped. And she would have been proud of herself for doing it too, if nerves hadn’t made her too clumsy. The move she made was too big. It was too jagged.
She almost rammed right into one of the chairs they were still surrounded by.
Then stumbled, as she tried to correct her mistake.
“Fuck.Fuck,” she snapped.
Even though he was already there, to soothe her.His hands spread out over the air in front of him, as if petting an animal that wasn’t there. And when he spoke, his voice was even softer.“Hey, hey, take it easy.”
“But I fucked it up.”
