“Who knows how to make love stay?”*

You’re tired. You want to go home and sleep off this week of relentless deadlines, but your friends insist that dancing will be much more effective. You go, you dance, you laugh, you still think about your pillows. There, across the room, their eyes catch yours and smiles slowly spread across your faces. You’ve never met before, but surely something so familiar couldn’t be imagined. You talk, you feel shy, you feel emboldened; you exchange phone numbers. You fall asleep before your head hits the pillow, but they left a smile on your lips.

Gertard ter Borch the Younger, Dancing Couple, 1600.
Oil on canvas, 76 x 68 cm.
Polesden Lacey, Surrey.

You date. You have the important things in common