First Light

52 Aron

Thursday 24th of March 2022 (the following week)

Faye:

The sun is setting, filling the room with a gentle, warm glow.

I look across to my desk, where Marlo has gifted me purple hydrangeas for our two months of dating. He had said the florist explained that they are often used to symbolise gratitude for being understood.

I look back at him now, where he is sitting directly across me on my bed, back against the wall. There is a lipstick kiss-mark on his left cheek. He studies me, his brown eyes catching the light so they glow amber against his dark skin.

"What's the experiment?" He asks.

I look down at the notes in my lap.

"Okay, this might be kind of strange but let me explain. It's meant to be an intimacy experiment done with strangers to create a sense of closeness, but my lecturer said that we can do it with a friend. Or partner - " I say in relevance to him, and he smiles. "It was created by Arthur Aron in 1999. We don't have to record the results from this for class, but my teacher wants us to see how it's like. She has given us 30 questions to do in 45 minutes, with three sections, and she explained that we have to spend exactly 15 minutes on each section, even if we haven't completed all the questions."

Marlo of course had jumped at the idea of doing an experiment.

He nods to show he understands. "Alright. What kind of questions are they?"

"I'm not sure. She said not to check until we're doing the experiment because you shouldn't pre-think your answers."

"Okay, makes sense. So, did you want to go first?"

"She says it has to be an alternating order, so we take turns. And we're both meant to answer each question."

I hand him a copy of the questions for set 1, and press the 15 minute timer on my phone.

I begin, reading aloud the first question. "Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?"

"Alright," He takes time to think. "Probably Nyjah Huston. He's the lead-ranking skateboarder in the whole world. It would be really cool to meet him."

I smile. "I think I'd pick Phoebe Buffay. I love her, and I think the conversation would be interesting.

"Phoebe from Friends?"

I nod.

Marlo looks appalled. "I didn't know we could pick fictional characters."

I laugh at this. "Well, the question didn't say that they have to be real."

"I wanna change my answer."

"Too late, you can't go back," I grin. "C'mon, next question."

Marlo rolls his eyes, looking down at the paper. "Would you like to be famous? And if so, in what way?"

I immediately shake my head no at this. "Definitely not. I don't think I could handle the pressure of that, being known by so many people. Everywhere you go, people recognising you. A risk of anything private being made public."

"You wouldn't even want to be famous as an artist?" Marlo asks.

"No, I would hate that. There's a difference between being a successful artist and a famous one. What about you?"

"I was going to say yes, but you've made really good points with the downsides of it." He laughs.

"No, no, tell me why you wanted to be famous."