Both of us sit in the front row

You on the left; Me on the right

Each week we focus on different

Policy, and this week we're all

Discussing the Great Aid Debate.

When you and I agree, it's rare bliss--

Usually we go right for the jugular.

Yet I like arguing with you. It makes

My day to rile you up, to make your

Heart race and your cheeks flush.

Debating seems the only way

I can manage it now.

But today you're subdued, almost calm

And it annoys our poor professor as well

Because the liberal always banks on us

Making a scene to entertain the others

And to drag them along unawares.

Now lesser minds give me half-hearted

Arguments as to why we should impose

Our will on sovereign nation states

And deprive them of their natural

Evolution. I shoo away the pesky flies.

"What about the recent Patriot Act?"

says our flustered professor,

Drastically changing the subject

To address the second article

Of the required reading for today.

Oh, now we're talking!

It wakes you from your dreary slumber

And judging by your determined glare,

I know a storm is brewing in your mind.

Bring it, sweetheart! Use your wrathful

Words like daggers to pierce my heart.

Fight me!

We tear apart each other's arguments

Like two frantic lovers ripping clothes

From each other's trembling bodies.

Express your passion! Prove to me how

Our forbidden love has never faded.

Show me.

Your every word is a deadly bullet.

Your every glance is a glinting dagger,

Thrusting into my willing flesh.

Here I stand, ready to accept

Whatever you're willing to give.

Face me.

Stab me, woman. Pierce me with your

Forceful speech and haunting gaze!

Can you still stand strong as my equal,

Duelling with choreographed words

In this, our glorious dance of war?

Impress me.

Your tempered sword impales my heart,

Your whole weight pressed upon the hilt.

Making love happens with mighty words,

Intimacy growing between the two of us

Without a single physical touch needed.

Join me.

If this is to be our one deadly dance,

May we waltz like this for all eternity

Calculated yet elegant perpetual motion

Our blades locked while I run mine along

The length of yours, waiting for you.

Strike me.

Too soon the class ends

And we fall silent once more.

Electric tension buzzes between us

Like a dying fluorescent bulb,

Neither of us daring to speak.

"See you at The Pub?" I ask,

My heart pounding against my ribs.

You nod. "I'm going with friends."

"Ah, the socialist brigade?"

You scrunch your nose

In that way that makes me chuckle.

"Don't even! You've lost that right."

We stop a foot apart, much too close

According to our Catholic tradition.

Three feet minimum, that's the rule,

But for you, I couldn't care less.

For you, I would close any gap

As long as we commit no sin.

I can't resist teasing you.

"Have I, indeed?"

You gaze at me through long lashes,

Your cheeks still flushed from earlier,

Defiant to the last. You scowl at me

And jut your chin, ever so stubborn.

That's it. Prod me with your finger

Square upon my chest. Defy me!

"Yes!"

"Yes?"

"Yes..."

God gives me the good grace to

Resist clasping your hand with mine.

Leave now!

Before your heart overpowers your brain.

"Have fun with the riff-raff, sweetheart."

"Hey, Rick?"

I turn to face you,

Raising a quizzical brow.

"You look better," you say softly.

"Happier. Healthier. More rested."

Are you...flirting?

No, we don't play those games.

We flirt through political strife.