"This is surreal," she said softly. "I spend hours studying this stuff, struggling with concepts, and you're just... casual about it. Like it's obvious."
I was speaking her language because fluency in someone's obsession rewires how they see you—turns you from background noise into the exception they can't stop replaying in their head.
Curiosity was the first hook. Reliance was the second.
The best way to get someone to lean toward you is to be the person they can lean on.
The more we talked, the more the posture changed. She leaned closer. Laughed easier. The smile wasn't professional anymore—it was personal.
'She's not seeing a student anymore. She's seeing someone who can match her intellectually, someone who gets excited about the same things she does.'
"What about pharmacokinetics in emergency situations?" I asked. "That's gotta be challenging when you're calculating dosages under pressure."
