“Okay, good. There’s something else you should know. You feel like shit right now, right?”

“Oh god yes.”

“It started on Tuesday?”

Ana looked puzzled. “Yes, it did. What about it?”

“It’s the eccy. Eccy come down is  a bit like a hangover. Not as painful but more depressing. It usually hits on the Tuesday after the Saturday night. They call it Eccy Tuesday.”

“Oh, that’s Eccy Tuesday. I thought people took eccy on Tuesdays. I couldn’t work out why.” 

“Eccy-taking Tuesday. Yeah. Anyway, your eccy drop’s going on a bit longer than usual, that’s all. Maybe because you had a lot on your first go. But drink lots of water, have a banana smoothie and get an early night tonight, and I can just about guarantee you’ll be feeling fine tomorrow.”

“Does it have to be banana? Mango’s nicer.” 

“No. Banana works better. With a bit of lime. Or lemon. You’ll have banana. And like it, girl.”

Since the smoothie was a placebo anyway, it would work better if I was specific and positive about the ingredients. Also, she’d called me “sir”. It had awoken the desire to have her obey me. The more arbitrary it was, the sweeter the obedience. In bdsm flirtation can get extremely obscure. In a probation service interview room, I hoped it was so damn obscure that Ana wouldn’t notice. 

“Okay.” Ana smiled. “Banana it is.” 

Bdsm flirtation turned into clowning around, almost as if there’s not much difference between them. “Damn right it is. You’ll do as you’re told.” 

“If you say so.” 

I pulled myself together. “So. How are your classes going?”