Could he prove it? No, not objectively. But he believed it. It was too much for coincidence that every time he projected an idea, the woman involved ran with it — especially when you consider how out of character some things were for them.
He said something to Jean about it as they were leaving, leaning on her car door while she started it — but she expressed disbelief. It was too farfetched as far as she was concerned. But she was still under the influence, to an extent, Toby believed; she was following his directive not to be ambivalent about having sex with Terence.
Guys, he didn’t have any influence over, from what he could tell. And if he was being objective and wasn’t aroused, women were unaffected, to — but if he had a hard-on, women jumped to do his bidding — even without it being uttered. That was the hypothesis. If it was correct, there were a million little manipulations that he could execute to improve his lot in the world — and most of them were morally wrong. Toby didn’t know if he was a telepath or an empath — or just a psychopath. Maybe it was all in his head…
Damian was to be frustrated in HIS intentions; Mama got one shot of the look in his eye and found ways to make herself scarce until she had to go to work. With Pa around, they couldn’t exactly speak freely, anyway, but Damian was irritated and fumed quite a bit.
Eleanor Harkness didn’t allow her daughter to escape the inquisition — but then, Sally was in no mood to duck when she got home, anyway. "That was impressive," Eleanor led off, "Did you two breathe at all for the thirty minutes your lips were locked together, there, in the driveway?"
"MOM!" Sally rolled her eyes, then grinned. "At LEAST three times…"
"Do I dare ask?" Eleanor lifted an eyebrow.
"What?" Sally’s brow arched in return. She was damned if she was going to let Mom get away with THAT kind of thing…
"How far did you get?"
Sally’s expression shifted to disbelief. "You’re REALLY going to ask that? Do you want just statistics, or color commentary?" she asked, in a deeply offended tone.
"I’ll settle for the score," Eleanor sighed.
"I’m … intact. Want to look?" Sally snarled.
"It looked to me like he was waving to the crowd after a homer, there in the car," Eleanor observed.
Sally grimaced. "He stole third, every inning, okay? And I dropped the ball on three separate occasions, hoping he’d steal home! But he didn’t, because he PROMISED ME he wouldn’t! Okay? DAMN!"
Eleanor backed off. "Wow! THAT’s impressive!"
"I’ll tell you what it is!" Sally retorted. "It’s FRUSTRATING! THAT’s what it is!"
Thoroughly convinced, Eleanor muttered, "There’s always next time…"
"There sure is!" Sally fumed. "And it’s a done deal! Twice! Maybe three times!"
Eleanor was taken aback by her daughter’s vehemence. "But…"
"But nothing, Mom! I’m TIRED of other people saying 'But… '! What the Hell does everybody want from him? What the Hell do you want from me?"
"Sally! That’s enough!" Eleanor barked. "We’re just trying to protect you!"
"Well, you’re all succeeding — to the point that I almost lost the best guy I could ever hope to get by constantly questioning his motives! Can you imagine how DUMB it is to treat someone who is absolutely sincere like that?" Sally demanded.
"Well, that’s if and only if he IS absolutely sincere…" Eleanor pointed out.
"Well, I’M convinced! I don’t care to go into all of the reasons why, but I am — and I think Teela is, too!"
"That STILL doesn’t mean that you owe him sex!" her mother pointed out.
"Maybe I owe ME sex!" Sally retorted. "Did you ever think of that?"
"Hey! That’s enough of that, young lady!"
"Sorry. Look, Mom — this isn’t just any old boy! YOU had that run-in with him — did he seem like he was up to something to you?"
Eleanor looked chagrined. "No, he didn’t. I embarrassed myself."
"He isn’t just some guy, either, Mom! He’s probably going to be the Prom King or something; he’s a catch! He’s like one of the top ten guys in the senior class! I couldn’t HOPE to catch this guy — it’s a wonder one of the hot girls hasn’t collected him already — but HE came looking for ME!"
"And that says he’s that sincere to you?" Eleanor prompted. "Why?"
"Because he NEVER, EVER had to even LOOK at me!" Sally screeched. "Instead, he’s put up with crap from EVERYBODY just to be with me! Why would he bother?"
"Sex?"
"Uh uh."
"You’re in a mad rush…"
"I want to replace what he ALREADY HAS!" Sally replied. "He’s not doing without and looking for something easy — he has someone providing him no-strings sex — but he’s looking for more…"
Eleanor grimaced. "What about diseases? If he’s getting sex from some easy girl…" Slut came to mind, but Eleanor didn’t say it. "And how do you know it’s no-strings? Maybe you’re just the replacement…"
There was no way Sally could go into this; all she could do was gloss it over. "He’s told me everything — and I have talked to the girl. As for diseases, I know he’s not sleeping all over the place…"
"No, you BELIEVE he’s not," Eleanor pointed out. "And you don’t know anything about HER…"
"Okay — maybe that’s fair. But I’m tired of questioning everything he tells me, and I’m tired of that look he gives me while he proves that he’s being absolutely truthful and I’m tired of him baring his soul to me while I pretend I’m EVEN WORTHY OF HIS NOTICE!" Sally finished in a screech!
Eleanor recoiled. "Is it that serious?"
"Yes, Mom — it’s THAT serious!" Sally insisted, tears brimming from her eyes. "He shouldn’t even be looking in my direction, and I’m treating him like shit! It’s just wrong! In a couple of months, he’s going to be hip deep in girls trying to get his attention — popular girls — cheerleaders and that bunch — all looking to ride him to the top of the heap. Instead, he comes to me — and I act like he’s not good enough! It’s just stupid! I’ve got a miracle working here and I’m throwing it away!"
"Well, we’re all just wondering why…"
"Sometimes things just defy explanation! Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow!" Sally railed.
"It’s just … suspicious…"
"Mom, when he’s with me there is NO QUESTION how he feels about me! He’s had absolute fits because I argued with him about whether I was beautiful or not! His mother — well, she’s one of those perfect people, but she APPROVES of me!"
"You’ve met his mother?"
"Yes."
"Oh." This put things in a different light. "What did she say, exactly?"
"It was … rough. Let me think … She said, 'Honey, if I didn’t think you might be okay for Lon, I’d be doing everything I could think of to see you walking home, watering the sidewalk with great big tears — but, hey, it looks like he might have his head on straight, so… ' Yeah, that’s it."
Eleanor was rocked. "I’m gonna shut up. You’re right, Dear — this isn’t some game. I don’t know that I’m happy with the idea of you having sex with him, but…"
"Mom, we’ve done everything but … He’s even…"
"Never mind — I don’t want to know!" Eleanor put up a hand. "And for God’s sake, try to avoid discussing sex with your father!"
Sally smiled, "Okay."
Eleanor turned away, then turned back. "He’s even what?"
"I thought…"
"Just tell me."
"Licked me. I went off like a bomb!"