she's got the look

i keep thinking about how much you reveal to another person through eye contact. it's a full language unto itself...short, flickering looks imply that your mind is somewhere else. lots of them mean that you're still interested in what your companion is saying, though slightly distracted. there's the look that you tend to share with a good friend, where the contact is longer but not prolonged, if that makes any sense. there's the look you share with a lover, long and slow and searching, like you're looking for a piece of yourself you dropped in there, somewhere along the way.

and then there's the dangerous stuff. the fun stuff. the kind of eye contact that if you shared it with a wolf, you'd find yourself covered in toothmarks posthaste. it's eye contact prolonged in a way that only strangers can do, particularly strangers who want something from each other, or think they might. it's almost devious, almost violating, the look that lasts just too long to be casual, when you're canvassing each other, assessing whether what you want is on offer, or could be cajoled into being. it doesn't matter if it's sex that you're after, or a bargain or a promise or dominance or anything. that's totally irrelevant. the point is that the look is predatory. the look is a challenge. the look is almost certainly discomfiting. the look is definitely designed to suss out the alpha, or how one can become it.

the look can be a declaration of war. the real question is this: what are you fighting for?

well, i'll just have to let you know as soon as i've figured it out.