Mind Games

"Would you like a whisky?"

"Sure"

Andy always made sure to buy a bottle of spirits on the first day of each run, so any girl he managed to get back to his room had something to loosen up with that wasn't cannabis. Even after several goes at this week, he still had no idea where he was supposed to buy ****, or how both Elaine and Aurora had managed to procure plentiful amounts so quickly.

"I love how you have nothing in your room apart from a bottle of whisky" Elaine giggled.

Andy had to admit to himself that probably did look weird. There didn't seem to be any point unpacking and decorating each time he restarted the week, only to have it all undone within five days - or even sooner if he fucked someone or needed to Pittsburgh. It was a pain in the arse that didn't seem worth his time when he already had his hands full pursuing eight women at once, but he might have to make at least a cursory effort next time.

He also grabbed a selection of hand written cards he had prepared for this occasion, ready to be employed to help dazzle his guest with his apparent mind reading abilities. They were the reason Andy had to bring Elaine to his practically barren room rather than the more obvious choice of going to hers.

"What are those?" she nodded at the cards as her host filled her glass with a couple of shots worth of liquor.

"They are questions about you"

"Huh?"

"Or questions about whoever I get to read them, to be more precise" Andy clarified, realising that probably sounded a bit odd "It's a mind reading trick I do. You pick a card, read me the question, and I have to guess the answer, Obviously it isn't really mind reading. More like intuition"

"I love it!" Elaine clapped her hands approvingly, before shifting herself backwards and patting the space on the bed in front of her invitingly "Come. Sit here with me"

Andy didn't need asking twice, and placed himself on the bed right opposite Elaine before holding out the pre-prepared cards for her to select from. The actual trick was that it didn't matter which one she picked, since he knew the answers to all of them.

Elaine had found Andy's 'mind trick' on a previous run, where he had got each and every question wrong, so funny that she let him keep going for about a dozen questions in the hope he would finally guess something correctly. The answers she had given to those, on top of other information he had gleaned from books and posters in her room (another reason he had to bring her to his instead) or picked up from Leah, had given him a nice round number of twenty question cards, which he felt made this 'trick' look legit.

Elaine pulled one of them from Andy's hand and read it out.

"Okay, where am I from?"

Andy paused, looking deeply into Elaine's eyes as if searching for the answer there as part of his act, rather than his actual motivation of wanting to make this feel more intimate. She didn't flinch.

"Chester"

"Oh, good start!" Elaine looked pleasantly surprised but not wowed "Most of you southern fuckers think I'm from Liverpool"

Andy had thought she was from Liverpool, before he had got the real answer from her.

"I'm not completely sure I've never mentioned that on my Insta" the model narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips suspiciously, as if trying to uncover the magicians secret "I'm going to give you it for now. Let's do the next one, though"

Andy held out the cards again, and Elaine plucked another one from his hand, more eagerly this time. Her curiosity was definitely piqued.

"What is my favourite colour?"

Andy lost himself in Elaine's beautiful eyes once more as he pretended to contemplate this.

"Not pink" He began "You're not the girly girl people think you are. But it won't be something too far off either, because you're still very feminine. Something darker. Deeper"

He paused dramatically, sensing the look of excited anticipation on Elaine's beautiful face, as she almost willed him to get this right.

"Purple"

Elaine's eyes widened in a combination of pleasure and surprise, her mouth inadvertently falling open for a moment.

"Wow, you're good! How did you get that?" she looked down at herself to confirm something "I'm not even wearing purple!"

"I'm just really adept at reading people I connect with" Andy lied boastfully.

"Okay, another!" Elaine demanded, swiping the next card before Andy even had the chance to offer them to her "What is my favourite type of animal?"

She was being playful as Andy held eye contact with her this time, first widening her eyes and then winking at him in a jokey attempt to throw him off his game and keep her secrets hidden. Even though he already knew the answer, she was so fucking gorgeous it almost worked anyway.

"Not a domestic pet. Something from the farm, because you're an outdoorsy person"

The neutral expression Elaine was trying to hold briefly turned into an excited smile, as Andy got warm rather than coming right out with the answer, like the showman he was trying to be. He loved having Elaine spellbound like this.

"Pigs. Because the baby ones are cute"

"Fucking hell Andy!" Andy's guest laughed in astonishment as she held out her glass for him to refill "I think I need another shot!"

After her drink had been poured and set down on the bedside table, Elaine clapped her hands together purposefully, to indicate she wanted Andy to wow her again.

"What is my ideal travel destination?"

Elaine had, probably subconsciously, shifted her body nearer to Andy's as she had taken that card from him. They were almost touching now. As Andy looked into the model's eyes from this close up, the most natural thing in the world would have been to kiss her. But he had to restrain himself. He wasn't in that place yet, and risked spoiling a mood that had been building up very nicely if he made his move too soon.

"You think I'll say Spain or Portugal, somewhere you can lie on the beach and top up your tan" Andy began as he feigned deducing an answer he had already been given "That's not you though. You'd want to explore somewhere that has a rich history to it, maybe an association with some great historical figure"

Elaine instinctively raised her hand to cover her mouth, as if trying to stop herself from blurting something out in her excitement. Andy left her in anticipation just a beat longer than he needed to.

"I'm going to go with Greek Macedonia"

"Andy! That's incredible!" Elaine gasped, placing her hand on his knee as she spoke "We've only known each other a couple of hours, and it's like you really get me! I've honestly never had that with anyone this quickly before. Can we do one more?"

Andy held out the cards again.

"No, not from the cards. I just get to ask"

Shit. This was where the trick could completely collapse. Andy could hardly refuse her while things were going so well, though.

"Okay, you get one question that isn't on the cards"

"Thank you kind sir. I'm particularly interested to see if you get this one right"

Now it was her turn to pause dramatically.

"What quality do I value the most in a man?"

Andy had to try hard to contain his excitement. Not only was the question clearly flirtatious, but he knew the answer, thanks to Leah, who had mentioned it in passing when talking about her friend's relationship history during another run.

"A big dick"

"Huh?"

"Just kidding!"

Elaine rolled her eyes but giggled as she waited for the real answer. Andy left her hanging on for a few delicious moments before he struck.

"Loyalty. That's extremely important to you. A total non negotiable"

Elaine leaned forward a little, her eyes almost seeming to sparkle, with a smile on her face that suddenly seemed more seductive than friendly.

"Can you guess what I'm thinking right now?"

Andy really hoped he was right as he leaned in and kissed her. Thankfully, he had got that unrehearsed question correct without assistance.

"It seems Leah may have been right. Perhaps you are just the right match for me" Elaine told him after she eventually broke away "I don't go any further than a kiss on a first date. But we can lay here and cuddle for a while if you like?"

Andy did like. As he lay on his bed spooning Elaine, it felt like the perfect end to a wonderful day really didn't need to involve sex this time.