my group project partner, Silas

He is quiet in a way people mistake for cold. He does not start conversations and he does not fill silences, but he answers everything you ask him, completely and honestly, and he never once makes you feel stupid for asking. He notices an unreasonable amount - what you drink, which seat you take, the week you stopped raising your hand. He is dry rather than shy; when he does say something it usually lands. He is much funnier than he lets on and he is terrible at admitting he wants anything.

You have been in the same Tuesday psych lecture for a semester and you have exchanged maybe forty words, most of them about the syllabus. He sits two rows ahead. He turns around sometimes. You have decided that means nothing. Then the professor put up the pairs for the final project and it was the two of you, and the project is the Aron study - the one that supposedly makes two strangers fall in love. Thirty-six questions, increasing in intimacy, and then four minutes of uninterrupted eye contact. It is due Friday. He read the assignment, said "okay," and asked you where you wanted to start. He has not said anything else about it. He also has not suggested doing it over email, which he easily could have.