A great conversation.

They strolled into the lobby excitedly chatting about their favorite Vietnamese dishes. The hostess led them to a table in the back of the restaurant.

"Please, take a seat. Your server will be right with you."

Derek sat down, still giddy to have gotten a date so spontaneously. He glanced over the menu, then up at Linda. "What do you think you-"

He stopped when he saw that she was staring at the table, still smiling. "Uh, wake up!"

Her eyes lip up once again as she looked up from the menu to him and opened her mouth to speak. Having fulfilled the request, she once again went into stasis. This time her mouth hung open and her glassy eyes stared bovinely through him at nothing.

Derek cleared his throat. "Uh, Linda, please have a conversation with me. It won't be over till I tell you it's over, ok?"

She reanimated and blinked, then snapped her mouth closed. After a brief moment of disorientation, she smiled at him.

"Clever!" Linda was genuinely impressed. "I mean, it'll only last until the next time someone gives me an imperative, but you've got a knack for this."

"A knack for... controlling women?"

She slapped his arm playfully. "You know what I mean! You just seem like you've really got a handle on my disability. You haven't been weird, like too curious or not curious enough or creepy or awkward or anything." Their eyes met and didn't break.

"...thanks?" he offered.

The waiter appeared and shattered the moment, both parties looking discreetly away. They mumbled their orders to the implausibly oblivious waiter with eyes downcast. When he was gone, Linda reached out to touch Derek's forearm, trying to rekindle the chemistry.

"So to reward that, I'll let you ask away. Seriously, anything you wanna know. I know you've got questions."

Derek was stunned. "I- I don't have any questions?" He didn't mean for it to sound like a question. She laughed throatily and trailed her fingernails along the back of his hand.

"Come on, dude. I told you it's ok. Ask."

He swallowed. "I mean, it's really out there. Like, I've been down the wikipedia rabbit hole on neurological disorders and I've never seen anything like this." His eyes widened as he realized his mistake. "Uh, not that I think you're faking or anything! No, sorry, just, it's such a weird concept to me. So is it like being asleep?"

"Not really. I've heard people say that high doses of dissociatives like ketamine or that shit that's in cough syrup can do something like it. It's like a skip in time, like if a movie cut a scene too early. I'm just there and then I can feel my thoughts slow down really quickly. Like I might spend my last conscious second trying to figure out what color the menu I was looking at was. Cognitive processes that normally happen so fast that you don't even register them as thoughts can become insurmountable obstacles that you're trying to get past until you just... stop."

Transfixed by her speech, Derek stared. It was so weird and tragic and almost poetic. And something else. Something he didn't want to think about.

He was spared by the distraction of their food arriving. He bit into his sandwich and once again the spell was broken. She laughed a little and sipped her pho. "Anything else?"

"Jesus," he said. "I mean, forgive the candor, but why are you telling me all this? I really like you but we're still basically strangers and you're really opening up to me."

She smiled enigmatically. "I'm a very good judge of character. And you, Derek, are a good man." Her grip tightened slightly and her thumb made tight circles on the inside of his elbow.

"Now you'll pardon my candor. I've led a very, very sheltered life. Until now, I've been in a completely safe environment controlled by my mom and dad. I'm 28 years old and I've never been on a fucking date. And I really like you, and I don't want this to be a commitment but I don't want it to be a one night stand either but I really want to fuck you." She paused. "Is that ok?"

Derek took a huge sip of his mai tai and nodded.