Chemistry

What is attraction? Chemistry, as we often call it? It's not something I can wrap my mind around, it's there or it isn't and we know when it is, even if we sometimes like to pretend otherwise. Is there love - or lust - at first sight? Maybe, sometimes, or at least we'd like to think so. Maybe just in the movies. Reality is much more complicated...

You meet someone, friend of a friend, birthday parties, graduation parties, good-bye parties, maybe even meet a few times, but don't think anything of him. He's nice and talkative and social and you even chat a few times, small talk maybe, but you even forget what you've talked about. Maybe the third or fourth time you see him, there is something more: a comment he makes about how nice you look, a flirtatious gesture, a look, a funny story might grab your attention. All of a sudden you start thinking: why didn't I notice him before? All of a sudden, you no longer mind that he's much older, you find him handsome, you realize that in fact you have a lot to talk about and he makes you laugh. There is a connection, maybe even chemistry. Why didn't you notice before?