This is a continuation of the story that began with Amnesty Program.
----
The email from Professor Denton was waiting for Jason when he woke up the next morning.
Jason,
Your report from last night was very complete and Professor Suarez and I are pleased with the results. We realize now that we should have let you know that the kinds of exercises we are asking you to complete could result in sexual attraction. While we believe that the kinds of sexual experimentation and play that you have been engaging in with Rebecca are healthy, please understand that the tasks we are setting you do not require sexual activity in order to be successful. We will note this possibility when we orient new subjects into our experiment.
I have a different kind of task for you today. We have discovered that many students that find their primary affirmation by means of their grades become insecure in other areas. They have difficulty believing that people actually like them. This happens with both male and female students, but female students often feel especially insecure about their physical attractiveness. This insecurity can hamper their social lives, causing some women to withdraw. Your task today is to find a way to affirm Rebecca's attractiveness to her in a way that she will accept.
This is a task we had prepared for later, but given your very fast progress yesterday, we think it will be beneficial to both of you to maintain your momentum. This should be considered a first attempt, and you should not consider it a failure if she does not respond positively initially. Just beginning the conversation is our goal here. I have not communicated this material with Rebecca and I will let you decide whether you will share it with her.
Professor Dalton
----
Jason rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and read the email again before rolling out of bed and heading for the shower.
"Why are you smiling so much," his mother said at breakfast between mouthfuls of scrambled eggs, "you look like the cat that ate the canary."
"It's nothing. Just had a breakthrough at school yesterday."
"Well that's not nothing," she prodded, setting her fork down. "Tell me the good news."
"I have a new study partner."
Jason's mom deflated. "A study partner. That usually doesn't go well."
Jason scooted his chair back. "This one can keep up." He grabbed his backpack and went for the door. He heard her call "What's his name?" as he unlocked his car and his smile widened, but he didn't answer. ----
"So. Anything interesting happen after I left last night?" Jason was walking across a wide lawn at the university with Rebecca. She wore a red sundress that had him struggling to keep his eyes straight ahead.
"No." Rebecca smiled to herself. "Yes."
"Okay, this is why guys don't understand women."
"Yes, I know."
"So..." Jason ran his hand through his hair, trying to formulate a meaningful question, "What didn't happen that's interesting?"
"Emily's going out with Nathan tomorrow night."
"That's it?'
"She's uncharacteristically freaked out about what to wear."
"Women."
"Well, think about it- she wants him to forget what she was like the night they met, but she wants him to remember too, so..."
Jason sighed. "I guess I'd be freaked out too. It doesn't really matter though."
"What?" Rebecca stopped walking. "What do you mean?"
"Emily won't have any trouble making whatever impression she wants to make no matter what she wears."
Rebecca crossed her arms and grinned at him. "Are you saying that you find her attractive?"
"Yes. More than she knows."
"More than me?"
"Not more than you. Yesterday changes how I see you."
"So if I hadn't given you a blowjob under the table last night, Emily would be more attractive than me?"
"You're trying to trap me," Jason said carefully, "but it's not going to work for two reasons: your model of attraction is flawed and your evaluation of your own attractiveness is weighted to the negative."
"You're sweet... and you're just trying to get more blowjobs."
Jason stepped in and embraced Rebecca warmly. "Honestly, I can't stop calculating the distance," he whispered in her ear, "between my cock and your lips."
"Me too," she squeezed him back and whispered, "twenty two inches."
"Twenty one."
"You think I'm wrong?"
"No," he smelled her hair, her perfume, "the distance just changed."
"I
like
that," she cooed.
"Yes, but now I'm going to have to walk around with my jeans all bulging in front... I guess it won't matter much though."
"Really? Why not?"
Jason smiled at her. "I'm with you, and you're wearing a red dress. That makes me pretty much invisible."
Rebecca snorted and stepped back. "That'll be the day. You're in some sort of hormonal reality distortion field."
"You want to make a bet?"
"Sure- how are you going to prove it?"
Jason thought for a moment. "We walk the sidewalk from here to the sociology building at the next break. I'll count the number of guys that check you out and you can count the number of girls that notice my, uh, condition."
Rebecca looked at him skeptically. "That's a long walk. You might not stay in 'your condition' the whole way and that would skew the results."
Jason shrugged. "I don't think this is going away anytime soon, but I'm sure a girl with your imagination can think of ways to make it fair."
Rebecca thought for a minute, and a wicked smile spread across her face. "All right."
"So," Jason said, "When I prove you wrong I get to do another round of attractiveness research with you as the subject."
"If.
If
you prove me wrong. If not... I get to write your daily report to Professor Dalton tonight. Agreed?"
"A factual report?"
"Not remotely."
Jason swallowed. "Agreed. Classes get out any second now." Students were already starting to trickle out of the buildings.
"Well it's not fair for you to be the only one poking your clothes out." Rebecca reached behind her back. A couple of shrugs and she was grinning at him and asking him sweetly to hold a strapless red bra for her. Jason took it, stunned. Rebecca had thrown her shoulders back and was arching an eyebrow at him. Just as he noticed her nipples poking at the fabric she leaned forward and touched them lightly to his chest. She tipped her chin up and kissed him slowly and deliberately. Her hands wandered up and touched his forearms.