He sometimes watches her as she sits in the Math Lounge, a place she seems to always be between classes, or during spare hours on campus; often, she is even there in the evenings, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of groups of men who, for the most part, treat her in a warm, friendly, but platonic manner.He sometimes watches her as she sits in the Math Lounge, a place she seems to always be between classes, or during spare hours on campus; often, she is even there in the evenings, sometimes alone, sometimes in the company of groups of men who, for the most part, treat her in a warm, friendly, but platonic manner. There is nothing specifically striking in her appearance, but she seems enclosed within a sphere that hints at something much more intriguing beneath its surface. She remains apart from the crowd, though there is no hint of aloofness in her manner. Yet there is something in her which smoulders, that seems to draw the notice of others, always somehow managing to disturb their peace of mind. It isn't that there are no other women in the lounge; many of them are far more attractive than she, or better dressed; rather, her casual, comfortable clothes, and the dishevelled look of her hair instead suggest the attitude and glow of someone recently come from the bed of a lover. That smouldering sensation is one of complete, innate sensuality, brindling occasionally to a full-blown, but not tawdry, sexuality. Such dynamicism must surely be felt by every male - and even by more than a few of the females - within the confines of the lounge, even though they may be unable to pinpoint the source of the effect. As he watches, she shifts, from time to time, alternately stretching her long body from the seat to the table, or curling, feline-like, into a tight corner of one of the lounge couches, feet tucked under her body. To watch her, one would not necessarily agree that anything she did in particular could be called "graceful"; there was, however, an undeniably attractive elegance in her sense of motion. It was easy to see that her movements were unconscious; she moved to ease stress, or make herself more comfortable in the same casual, unthinking way a cat would, unconcerned - even unaware - of the efect she had on others. There are times when he cannot take his eyes off her, despite the card wars raging among his friends around him; he finds his mind follows tracks for which his normal studies leave lamentably little time. He is by no means uneducated in the subtler, more pleasurable, human sciences, but approaching an unknown out of nowhere is usually not his style, though he admits to himself that it has its own interesting connotations. |