I woke up on the couch bleary and cold. It was really early. My phone was ringing over on my desk. Morgan? I stumbled over and managed to pick up the call. “Meet me in five minutes. I have to go to work.” 

“Sure, I’ll - “ she hung up. 

I was still dressed albeit wrinkled so I jogged over to Morgan’s. She walked out the front door just as I got there. “Morgan, I’m sorry about the - “

“Don’t care. Talk about it later. I have to go to work. I just needed to make some rules.” I nodded. 

“Number one, do not fucking hypnotize me with other people around. Not unless we talked about it. And actually, that’s the only rule I have for right now. But I might think of others. I didn’t think I’d need any but apparently this is all just fun to you.”

“Sure. I mean, of course. I’m sorry. But I mean, you don’t think it’s fun? We were just at that show and we both got hypnotized. There were like a hundred people there watching.”

“That’s completely fucking different. That was an environment where I knew what I was getting into. And nobody there really knew if we were hypnotized or just pretending. When we started with just us, I had no idea there would be people seeing. I thought it would just be between us. I’m only even talking to you because I already asked Jessica what happened and she said I was just prowling around and eating steak like a lion. But if I’d done anything weird I would literally never forgive you.” 

“Weird how?”

“I have to go to work.” We’d arrived outside the coffee shop. Morgan punched in the door code and went in. The door closed behind her. I stood dazed in the chilly morning light until Morgan poked her head out the door again. “Oh, and also, watch your back.” Before I could say “huh?” the door closed again. 

“Hey! Alex! Was that Morgan?”  Jessica was jogging. 

“Uh, yeah.”

“Is something like up?”

“Oh. Kinda. I think it’s okay. Sorta.”

“She looked sick.”

“Yeah, she was. I guess she got better. I mean, she’s at work.”

“True! Hey, we should work on that thing for 379. Second floor!” 

She jogged off. Fast…did she expect me to start jogging too? Well, I wasn’t gonna. And also, I was hungry. And also, wait, I didn’t want to work on matrices at…7:30 in the morning? God damn…

I planned to just meet Jessica there and say I needed breakfast, but she wasn’t there when I got there. I decided my best option was going back to bed, on one of the study couches.

Someone poked me in the forehead. Jessica poked me in the forehead. Jessica smelled really good. Wait, the thing Jessica was holding smelled really good. It said “El Reyes” on it. I blinked. “Where were you?”

“Uh, I had to shower, obviously. And get breakfast, obviously? I didn’t think you’d be here already. I was putting about 50/50 odds on you going home to shower and then falling asleep until 2. I guess you took me literally. Anyway, burrito?”

I reached out my hands in gratitude to receive the burrito, but it was cruelly withheld. 

“Well, we can’t eat up here. I was just gonna put my stuff down on a good table. Cafe!”

I followed Jess downstairs, like a zombie. The burrito was huge. Hash brown potatoes with peppers, rice, eggs, cheese. Something was bugging me though. If Jess didn’t think I would be here yet, was she going to eat both burritos herself? 

“Alex!” Jess snapped her fingers. “You’re so zoned out. You were definitely up all night.”

“Nuh uh.” It was hard to talk with burrito. And actually, I guess I didn’t know when I fell asleep. So I could’ve basically been up all night. I kinda felt like it anyway. 

“So did you start on this at all?

“...no.”

“Figured! I haven’t either. This is perfect because I wanted to get this done early today, just so it’s not clouding me up.” 

I guess my plans didn’t figure. But I didn’t have plans, really. And I had burrito. Jess good. 

…was I really in a fit state to work on anything?

“Well, I’m gonna go set up. You’d better not pass out again down here.” Wait, she was done? I was only half done. I didn’t want to work on matrices…it was barely eight…but she did get me a burrito, so I couldn’t just leave. Cheeky. 

Jess was typing something already when I went up. “You didn’t get me a coffee?? Alex! After all I’ve done for you. I want sugar, no cream and an espresso shot.”

Jess was typing even harder when I went up again with her coffee. I sipped in silence for a few minutes until Jess turned her screen toward me. “So this is how I started it.” I squinted at her screen. Jess snapped her fingers. “Alex, put on your glasses.” Oh yeah. “You’re so out of it.” She was a bit right. “Wait, you don’t even have your laptop! I feel like your mom today. Let’s go down to the computers.”

The basement computer lab was empty. Jess closed the door behind us, and locked it. “Nice! I love when I can take over a room. Most people will just try the door and leave, so I only have to open up if someone knocks real hard, and I can pretend it was locked by accident.” Cheeky. 

I logged in and pulled up the assignment. God, it was too early for this. I started typing without thinking too hard, just so Jess could see I was working. Well, trying to work. I would probably have to redo this in a more organized way, but that was usually how it went. 

Jess snapped her fingers. “Alex, look up here.” She was standing at the podium. She’d hooked up her laptop to the room’s projector, 

“So for the second one, for the 3d graph of the function, this is what I’m getting. I think this is right because it iterates over 360 degrees back to zero without a discontinuity. It looks like an ad for donuts. Wow, what if there were such a thing as giant donuts?” 

There were concentric toruses filling the projector screen. They were expanding and contracting like, er, I guess like an ad that was zooming in and out on concentric donuts. Good point, too - why was there only one size of donut? I mean, donuts from different places were sort of different sizes, but none were that far from average, and there were never multiple sizes of donuts at the same place. A big donut, like the size of a big pretzel, would be really - “Alex?” Jess snapped her fingers. “What do you think?”

“I - think that would be good.”

“What would be?”

“Big donuts.”

“I mean the function. Does it look good?”

I looked at the toruses again. It was a pretty interesting animation. When the rings contracted, the ring in the middle shrank down so small you almost couldn’t see it. But when they expanded the same ring got so big it almost went off the screen, and a bunch of smaller rings appeared from nothing inside it, so it wasn’t the smallest ring.. And I mean, that doesn’t sound that interesting, but it - Jess snapped her fingers. “You’re zoning out so hard.” 

I really was. 

“Did you even get to this one yet?” 

“Uhh… no.”

“It’s the second one! I showed you my answer because I thought you’d be done already. We’ve just engaged in cheating.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Well, go do it! I’m going to get more coffee.” 

I hadn’t even finished the first one, but I started on the second one. The function was pretty simple, so this was more of just a 3d graphics exercise than a real “thinking” kind of problem. I ran the animation and watched it while I waited for Jessica to come back. But there was something weird. It wasn’t looping smoothly - there was a little hitch in it. I couldn’t think of why there might be a discontinuity. Jessica’s looked fine. I stared at the animation, waiting for the hitch. It was jarring, like getting static sparked every time the animation looped. 

Jess snapped her fingers. “Oh my god, Alex! I said your name like three times. You need a wakeup shot. Drink. You’ll feel like you got zapped.” Jess put a big coffee down in front of me. I took a long sip. Yikes, I did feel zapped. And burned. But awake. Really awake. I blinked. This was strong stuff. “This was from the coffee machine? I feel like I just snorted coke.” 

“Like you know what that feels like. Yes, it’s from the machine. Coffee feels a lot stronger when you get up before two. So you wouldn’t know what that feels like either. Anyway! Looks like you’re done. Well, wait. It’s jumping at the end.”

“Yeah. I can’t think why.”

“Let me see what you wrote.”

“Sure.”

Jess snapped her fingers. “I see what it is. But it’s one of those things where you won’t notice no matter how many times you look at it, because you’re the one who wrote it out. Isn’t that weird?”

“What’s the thing?”

“Not telling! It’ll be really funny when you see it.”

I read my code over and over. I diagrammed out the logic on paper. It wasn’t complicated. Rather, it shouldn’t be. I changed the order of a few things to be more proper, but that shouldn’t have mattered anyway, and indeed it didn’t. “Jess, I’m going nuts.” She just sipped her coffee. “Can I get a hint? I’m dying.”

“Fine. Don’t hardcode your variables.” Jess clicked her tongue. “You can see it now.” 

It was staring me in the face. Instead of 360, I’d written 365. For fuck’s sake…fixing it fixed the hitch. 

“Well, I’m done with #2.” 

“I’m almost done with everything!   

“That’s nice.” I rubbed my forehead. 

“All this getting stuff done is making me hungry again.” I guess she did need both burritos. 

“You know what I want?” Jess snapped her fingers. “I want a hot dog.”

I stood up and headed out to get Jess a hot dog. Anything for a break from trying to code before noon. Outside the library, I blinked in the sun. Where was I gonna get a hot dog at ten in the morning? Where even sold hot dogs?

Circle K! It was right around the corner. 

Before I knew it, I was back in the library computer lab with a hot dog. “Nice! I finished while you were gone. You got a good start, right?”

“Uhh..yeah.” 

“Let’s go outside. It’s so sunny!”

We sat down in the grass on the field across from the library.

“Alex! You didn’t get yourself anything?”

“Huh?”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Oh. I guess. Kinda.”

Jess snapped her fingers. “You’re definitely hungry.”

Actually, I was. I was really hungry. Why didn’t I get myself a hot dog? It looked really good. It was grilled and everything. It glistened in the sun. 

“Alex, what would you do for a bite of this hot dog?”

“Uhm…anything.” 

“Would you take off your shirt?”

I took off my shirt. 

“Nice! Man titty! Score! Okay, you can have a bite.”

It was so damn good. Probably because I was so hungry. Being hungry turns porridge into pork chops, as they say. As I think they say. As they should say. 

Jess snapped her fingers. “You know what? Eat this. Then take a nap. I’m gonna get more.” 

I tried to savor the hot dog but I was too hungry. It was already gone. I did need a nap. I stretched out in the sun and I must have pretty much passed out. 

Someone tapped me on the forehead. Jess tapped me on the forehead. Jess snapped her fingers. “Alex, wake up! You’re so sleepy.” 

I blinked. I was really tired. I probably didn’t sleep last night. I yawned and stretched. My eyes felt really heavy. “What’s up?”

“Food? Remember?”

I ate another hot dog. It was almost even better. 

“So, the next thing I need you to do is for Concepts in Film. My group’s short film for this week needs another person.” I guess she was taking me over for the day. 

“We have to record each of us doing the same scene, but it has to actually be interesting to see it three times. Like we have to differentiate ourselves through how we act rather than what we say.”

“Neat.”

“Yeah, I thought it was interesting. But I didn’t want it to just be a monologue from each of us because those always suck and forget the same one three times in a row. But now I’ve got you, so problem solved!” 

“So what’s the thing?” I yawned.

“I have an idea.” Jess snapped her fingers. “I’ll tell you at the studio. It’ll feel silly out in the daylight. Let’s go.”

The studio was dark except for a thin shaft of light resting on a chair. 

“Alsex, go sit over there.” I sat down in the chair. The shaft of lights fell across my hands and my lap. “Look at the camera.” I hadn’t seen the camera yet in the darkness, but it was right in front of me. “I’m recording already. Don’t think about it. We aren’t starting yet. Fenley and Brit aren’t here yet.”

“Fenley?”

“Do you know her?”

“No, like, Fenley? As a name?”

“Oh. Isn’t it like, in Boston? Fenley Park?”

“No, that’s Fenway.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t know then. Anyway, they’re coming at 4, but we can get some stuff done just with you. I just need to zoom close in on your face -” Jess snapped her fingers “-look right into the camera. This is like an old timey shot that’s really close up, and you’re being hypnotized by a vampire. I thought of this because of your hypnosis thing. And that’s why you’re perfect, because you actually were hypnotized just yesterday. So when I click my tongue, you’ll start being hypnotized by looking into the camera.” Jess clicked her tongue. 

I stared into the camera. I didn’t really feel any different at first. But the camera was like a vampire’s eyes. I couldn’t look away. Staring made my eyes go wide. My vision doubled and went blurry. The vampire said I was totally hypnotized. I couldn’t close my eyes until the vampire said to sleep. My eyes were so heavy. My arms were so heavy. I wondered if I could block my eyes to break the spell but I couldn’t move my arm. I tried and really really tried but I couldn’t move my right arm or my left arm or close my eyes or look away. When the vampire said “obey me now,” I would do anything the vampire said. The vampire said, “Obey me now. Sleep.”

I opened my eyes. There was nothing around me. The vampire snapped her fingers. “Obey me now. Wake up.” I blinked. “Good job. Brit and Fenley are almost here, they just texted me. You can just stay right there, though.” Jess moved the camera so it was close in by my right side. Two girls came in. “Shirtless! I didn’t know this would have fanservice.” 

“Not the plan! Alex took a nap and lost his shirt, actually.” 

“I think it fits.”

“Let’s start. If we wait I’ll get nervy.”

“Who’s up?”

“Me! Hi Alex! Nice to meet you. I’m Fenley.”

“Hi.”

“So you’re really hypnotized?”

“Uhm - well, I was.”

“Jess, what do I say?”

“Just do the script.”

“Fine!” Fenley closed her eyes, stretched her arms back and then touched her toes. When she stood up & looked at me again, she had a totally different aura. She ran her tongue along her teeth, leaned in close and stared at me powerfully. “Ready?” 

“Yup. Rolling.” Jess snapped her fingers. 

“Look into my eyes. You’re already lost. There’s nothing you can do. You can’t look away. You can’t move. You can’t speak. You obey me now. You’re paralyzed. Hypnotized. Frozen. Instantly. When I snap my fingers, you listen to me, and when I click my tongue, you do as you’re told. There’s nothing else. You don’t even know your name. You don’t know where you are. You don’t know how you got here.” The vampire snapped her fingers. “When I touch you, there’ll be a shock like lightning. That’s my power taking over.” The vampire clicked her tongue, and pressed her thumb to my forehead. There was a colossal crack of lightning, and a flash, and it hit me, my whole body arched. I’d never felt anything like it. It felt like I was getting tasered, but it didn’t hurt. It felt good. I couldn’t control my muscles. The vampire lifted her thumb and I collapsed.

Fingers snapped. “Hi Alex!” Brit was standing over me. She was really tall. Wait, I was slumped way down in the chair. 

“Rolling.” Fingers snapped. 

“Look into my eyes.” I stared into the vampire’s eyes. “You’re already lost.” I couldn’t see anything but her eyes. “There’s nothing you can do.”

Fingers snapped. “My turn!” Jess was standing over me. I was slumped all the way down out of the chair. My knees were on the ground. 

“Rolling.” Fingers snapped. 

“Look into my eyes.” I looked into the vampire’s eyes again. 

The vampire’s tongue clicked. I opened my eyes but I couldn’t see anything. The vampire said I was in deep hypnosis, completely entranced. The vampire snapped her fingers. My dick jumped, like someone had activated a probe in the horny part of my brain. I didn’t know what was going on. The vampire snapped her fingers again. My dick was on fire. I already felt harder than I’ve ever felt. If I got any harder… The vampire snapped her fingers again. I came. I came so much. I could feel it flowing out of me in pulses. I could feel it running down my dick and leaving cold trails on my legs. The vampire’s tongue clicked. “Wake up, Alex.” 

Brit, Jess & Fenley were sitting in front of me. I was standing up. I felt something weird. I looked down at my dick. I was completely hard. I looked back up at my audience. They looked at me. I sat down in the chair and crossed my legs. It was cold in here. Why didn’t I have a shirt on? Why was I even here? 

“He looks cold. Are you cold?”

“Uhm, kinda.”

Fenley snapped her fingers. “You feel magically warm.” Fenley clicked her tongue. I felt warm all over. Almost like I was in a sauna. Actually, more like I had a fever. 

“Obey me now. Take off your pants.” I took off my pants. 

“Is this allowed?”

“I mean, we aren’t touching. Even if we were, it’s his own free will.” 

“But he was hypnotized, or whatever. He’s totally out of it.”

“I mean he’s not intoxicated. There’s no logical reason he isn’t doing exactly what he wants to right now.” 

“Can we make him like, forget this ever happened?”

“Why? Are you embarrassed, Brit?” 

“I mean, he’s dating Morgan.”

“Morgan told me about this. She said it was revenge.”

“For what?”

“Well, she was hypnotized too. Alex made her act like a cat in front of me and Max. Actually, a lion I think.” 

“I guess that’s sort of fair. So do the triggers work on Morgan too?”

“I didn’t think about that. Maybe. But what would you want to make Morgan do?”

“I don’t know. Make her give me a massage. Maybe eat me out.”

“What?”

“Tongues are all equal. And hers is long.”

“Considering what she’s putting Alex through just for making her be a cat, I would be careful.”

“Well, I wasn’t hypnotized like she was. Unless you mean she’ll just like sucker punch me.”

“Wouldn’t rule it out.”

Fingers snapped. “Alex. Obey me now. Let everything go blank and misty. You’re forgetting everything that happened today. I’ll take your hand and lead you outside. You’ll stay totally fogged up until we step outside and the sunlight hits you. Then you’ll wake up and you won’t know where you are or how you got there. You’ll just go with us and you’ll just accept everything as it is.” A tongue clicked. 

I blinked in the sunlight and stretched. “So where to now? Are you guys busy later?”

“Just a floor party. We’re hosting though.” 

“Can I come? My floor is boring. I think they all just go to the gym.”

“Sure, duh. We’re gonna go get snacks and stuff. You could come but I think Alex is going to get no shirt no serviced.” 

“Hmm. I don’t want to lose track of him, though. Let’s go to my apartment. He can nap there.” Jess snapped her fingers. “Alex, let’s go.” Jess clicked her tongue.

Once we were in her apartment, Jess told me to lie down on the couch. Jess snapped her fingers. “Alex, obey me now. We’re going to get party stuff and we’ll be back later. You’ll just close your eyes and sleep until we’re back.” Jess clicked her tongue. I was super tired. I fell asleep really fast. 

“Alex, we’re back!” I blinked. Jess, Brit and Fenley were carrying stuff. Jess snapped her fingers.  “Come on. We’re going to a party.” Jess clicked her tongue. I stood up, but Jess came in and started changing her clothes. “Well, in a minute.”

Brit sat down on the couch. “This is crazy. This is like having a frankenstein. Alex, obey me now. Uhm…Alex, jack off.”

My hand went right to my dick. I was so hard. I couldn’t stop stroking. Fingers snapped. “Alex!! Stop!” Jess clicked her tongue. I blinked. What the fuck?

“Brit! Jesus christ!”

“I didn’t think he would do it!”

“He does everything!”

“But there’s no way this can be real!”

“Well, he did what you said. Are you happy now?”

I blinked. “Am I hypnotized?”

Jess and Brit looked at me. Jess snapped her fingers. “Alex, obey me now. Sleep.” Jess clicked her tongue. My eyes closed. 

I opened my eyes. I couldn’t see anything but there were a lot of people around. Someone said, “Shot, please.” I poured out the perfect amount into their glass then went back to standing at attention. That’s all I had to do right now.   

Someone’s arm was around my shoulder. “Alex,” someone whispered into my ear. “Have you learned a lesson?” Sounded like Morgan. I didn’t know what she meant. I had learned how to pour the perfect amount for a shot. I was really good at it. I was having a really good time. Was that what she meant? “Gosh, you’re really out there. Shot, please.” I poured out the perfect amount into the glass then went back to standing at attention. That’s all I had to do right now. I could feel myself smiling. I felt incredible. People and sounds were floating around me. “Shot, please.”

“Alex, how are you doing?” The room was quieter. “Great!” I said. “Pouring shots is all I have to do right now.”

“Yes, right. Well, I don’t think we need any more shots right now. Sit down over here with us.” I sat down with Morgan. Morgan snapped her fingers. “Alex, wake up. Come back down to earth. You’re Alex again.” I blinked. Morgan, Jess, Brit, and Finley were spread out across two couches. I blinked and shook my head. It looked like there was a party, but I didn’t remember anything. “I think you guys messed him up.”

“We just did what you said!”

“No, I know. I just didn’t think you’d really do it all.”

“I had to stop Brit from - you know what, I shouldn’t even say. Brit is a pervert.”

“I just - this is just crazy, though. I just wanted to know if he would really do something like that. I didn’t want to make him hurt himself so I thought that would be like, something he wouldn’t do.”

“What did you do, Brit? Are you why he’s half naked?”

“No, that was Jess.”

“No! He fell asleep on the grass outside the library and someone took his shirt.”

“I mean, that’s still kind of your fault.”

“I plead the same as you. I didn’t think he’d really do it. Oh, to be fair, I guess you’re right. I did tell him to take his shirt off as a trade for a hot dog.”

“Okay, so what did Brit do?”

“Brit told him to jack off!”

Morgan cracked up. “And he did it?”

“Well, yeah! I mean, he started to before I stopped him. Just inside his pants, though.”

Morgan snapped her fingers. “Alex, obey me now. Your dick’s getting hard. On the count of five, you’ll be completely hard, and you’ll take off your pants and jack off.”

“Morgan! Is this allowed??”

“He’s my boyfriend. I can make him do what I want! It’s not cheating if I told him to.”

“I mean like, legally.” 

“He’s not even drunk. We are.” 

Morgan clicked her tongue and counted to five. Every number she said, I felt a rush of blood to my dick. She said five and I took off my pants and couldn’t stop stroking. It was like I couldn’t see anything but my dick and I couldn’t feel anything but my dick. Morgan snapped her fingers. “Alex, freeze.” All my muscles stopped. I couldn’t do anything but listen. I could see what was happening in the blurry background of my vision. I couldn’t focus on anything, but I felt everyone looking at me. 

“Morgan, this is wild. What the hell was that show you guys went to? You said you were hypnotized too. Was it really like this?”

“Sort of. He’s a lot deeper now that we’ve been working on him so much.”

“But did you really go into trance? What did it feel like? I just can’t even imagine.”

Morgan paused. I sensed that she was thinking back to the demo. I was too. It started so normally. The hypnotist was just telling us to sit back and relax. Then my hands were stuck together. Then she shined a light in my eyes that I focused on. Then I was on the stage. “Well, it was - it’s hard to explain.” Morgan’s voice was slower and a bit faraway. 

Brit leaned over toward Morgan. Brit snapped her fingers. “Morgan, obey me now. Sle - hey!” Morgan had grabbed Brit’s arm. “Look at my finger, Brit.” Morgan was waving a fingertip back and forth in front of Brit’s eyes, and Brit was watching it go back and forth. “Morgan, I was just - “ Morgan jerked Brit’s arm and cut her off. “Hypnosis happens fast, Brit. Look at my finger or you’ll miss it.” Brit watched Morgan’s finger go back and forth. “Getting sleepy. See? Closing your eyes already.” Brit blinked. Morgan snapped her fingers, then said, “Sleep.” Morgan tapped Brit’s forehead and clicked her tongue. Brit’s eyes rolled back. “You’re completely hypnotized, Brit. When I drop your arm, you’ll fall into a deep sleep that you can’t wake up from until I tell you to, no matter how hard you try.” Morgan dropped Brit’s arm. Brit slumped back onto the couch.

“Try to open your eyes, Brit.” I could see Brit trying to tug her eyelids open but it was hopeless. 

“Try to lift your right arm, Brit.” All she managed to do was jerk it a little. “Try to lift your left arm, Brit.” I couldn’t tell if she even did that.

“Kick off your shoes, Brit.” Brit kicked off her converse. 

“Stand up, Brit.” Brit stood up.

“Brit, obey me now. Take off your dress.”

Brit pulled her mini dress off over her head. Brit was standing there in nothing but black underwear and socks. 

“Morgan! Oh my god, I’m so confused.”

“Did she really think that would work? Did you guys talk about this?”

“No! Well, she asked about it. I said you’d probably be mad if she tried.”

“I’m not mad. Just teaching lessons.”

“If you say so. But wait, why didn’t it work on you?”

“Well, I kind of guessed what she was about to do. She wasn’t very subtle. And also, that “obey me now” thing wasn’t a part of the show. Your script gave Alex that suggestion.”

“Why did it work on Brit, then? She wasn’t hypnotized at all before.”

“It’s pretty simple. You’ve all been using these words with Alex, so you knew what to expect. Basically, you learned how to be hypnotized from hypnotizing Alex. I didn’t have to explain what hypnosis is or define the trigger words because you already knew what they meant.”

“So you could hypnotize me right now? As fast as that?”

“Well, maybe. I mean, if you wanted me to.”

“Did Brit want you to, though?”

“Well, that’s a bit different. I interrupted her so she was kind of off-balance. I mean, I wasn’t sure that would work. I just thought it would look cool if it did. I think it helped that she was already thinking about hypnosis right then, even if it was doing it to me.”

“It did look cool. But why did you make her get naked?”

“Proves the point fast.”

“You might both be pervs. So are you gonna wake her up?”

“Maybe.” Morgan snapped her fingers. “Alex and Brit. Obey me now. Stand up. Eyes forward. When I say “recite”, you’ll repeat the words “I am deeply hypnotized” over and over, until I say “stop.” Morgan clicked her tongue. Morgan framed us in her phone camera. “Recite.”

“I am deeply hypnotized. I am deeply hypnotized. I am deeply hypnotized. I am deeply hypnotized. I am deeply hypnotized. I am deeply hypnotized.” I started to get numb to the meaning of the sounds but I still knew what to say. “I am deeply hypnotized.” Eventually, Morgan said “stop.” Then Morgan said we were really sleepy, which was true. We were really sleepy cats. We curled up together on the couch under a blanket. Being a sleepy cat felt better than anything.

“Alex! What the fuck?” Brit’s face was two inches from mine. “Brit?”

“Alex, why are we sleeping together? Why am I naked? Did we - ?”

“Oh. No. Well, I don’t know. Actually - I think you tried to hypnotize Morgan.”
“I what?” Brit blinked. “Hypnosis? Is that real?”

I blinked. “Yeah, it’s - wait, what? What do you remember from yesterday?”

Brit blinked. “Oh. It’s coming back to me. A bit. My head hurts. So wait, what happened?”

“You tried to hypnotize Morgan, but she hypnotized you instead.”

“Morgan hypnotized me? Is she a vampire?”

“No, it’s - well, it’s not magic or anything.”

“I don’t see how that works. She made me get naked?”

“Well, you said you’d make her eat you out.”

“Oh my god, did you tell Morgan that?”
“No. Just saying, it’s sort of fair.”

Brit sat up. “Okay. But why were we sleeping together? No one else is here.”

“Well, I was hypnotized too. I think.”

“I don’t even know what that makes this. If two people get hypnotized to fuck, is that legal?”

“I really, really don’t know.”

“Okay. You know, I don’t feel like we had sex. But this is still weird. It feels like morning-after.” Brit stood up and stretched. “I need some god damn coffee before I can deal with this.” 

Jess poked her head in the door. “The cats are awake!”