The Kiss Quotient

Stella awaits anxiously for her next date, struggling with only having an email to confirm it will be happening. She describes her hyper fixation, which she likens to obsession. Friday night, Michael arrives to dinner and asks who she spoke to on the phone the week before. They joke about Stella’s mother, Ann, believing Michael to be her boyfriend and the freedom it will provide Stella. Michael commiserates, having a mother who also tries to set him up on dates. Stella then provides Michael with lesson plans: typed lists of sexual acts she would like to learn to do. Michael is frustrated with the clinical nature of Stella’s list, and the two argue about whether thinking and kissing is a necessary part of physical intimacy. Michael also points out the importance of foreplay, which Stella has left off her list because she believes that men do not require it. He reinforces the necessity that she enjoys herself as well, and when she expresses hesitation because of her typical distaste for physical intimacy, Michael insists that they will work through it.