Back to a New Normal

It really was right out of a cheesy romcom movie, as Amy said, just with a few stipulations. You weren't in some lavish bedroom, or really any bedroom at all, and the process of waking up had the added sound of someone playing the "Run up and down the stairs", but it still gave you a feeling of not quite euphoria, but something similar. Amy looked over the moon, limply clinging onto your back as her eyes were slightly open.

"Good morning," she said, her face contorted a bit due to the aforementioned people in the stairwell.

"Ah, this is why I loved being in the room on the end of the hallway," you said with sarcastic wistfulness. "I loved hearing people try to compete for who could take the loudest step".

"That's my favorite game too!" Amy played along. "Aside from, of course, the one where they try to compete for who can slam the door the loudest, a favorite of the people on my hall."

"Oh, a classic," you responded, before looking at the clock. "Oh, shoot, I'm meant to meet Summer in a bit."

"Right, you eat breakfast with her," Amy said more to herself than to you. "Well, you better get going, I'm gonna hit one of the practice rooms because of this shit that Adams gave us."

"Alright, have fun," you called out to her as she gathered her belongings and left after a short kiss.

You also got your stuff together a bit, spending a few minutes to move everything to their pre-departure locations. Additionally, you sent a message to Isabella, asking if her morning jogs and study sessions were still something that the two of you would do.

"There, that should be decent, I can fix it a bit later today if I find the time," you said aloud to nobody. "I guess I really should get going."

You left your room and saw no signs of the people who were making all the noise in the stairwell. Although you wouldn't have done anything if you did see them, it would've just been nice to know who was being a nuisance. Oh well. The air was somewhat crisp, with summer getting ready to turn into autumn, the year wearing on and on.

"This would be perfect jogging weather," you mused. "I mean, I guess I could probably just go jogging by myself if Isabella doesn't respond soon."

You made it to the cafeteria, swiped in, and immediately you locked eyes with Summer who was sitting on the other side of the building. She shot you a sly smile as you made your way over there. By the look of things, she had just gotten her food and started eating.

"Hey, what've you been. up to since I saw you last, ten-ish hours ago?" she asked rhetorically.

"I mean, I got caught up on so much," you joked. "Mostly sleep."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," she agreed as she sipped her coffee. "Ew, this is nasty."

"Is that coffee from the dining hall?" you inquired.

"Yeah, figured I'd give it a try, I'm a bit of a coffee addict," she explained. "It's actual shit though, don't drink it."

"Duly noted," you responded, although you weren't a coffee drinker.

"So...what are your plans today?" she asked.

"I don't really know," you answered honestly. "Probably gonna look at whatever it was that Adams wanted us to rehearse. Actually, I'm probably going to only look at it; I'm going to think about playing it but inevitably get distracted by something completely unrelated for a few hours, go to rehearsal, and wonder why I can't play the music. How about you?"

"Yeah, that checks out," she said. "I'm gonna work on a music composition project that I got dumped on me last night most likely, so I won't have time to not practice like you do."

"I could help you out with that," you offered. "I took theory in high school, if you ran yourself into a wall with the project I could help out."

"Sure, that'd be great!" she accepted. "It's not due for a month or so, so it can be really refined."

There was some more idle chatter between the two of you as you talked more about break, upcoming classwork, and anything else perceived as important, at least in the moment.

"Anyways, sorry to hit you with a bunch of things at the moment, but there is one thing I wanted to warn you about," you said, shifting the conversation.

"It's not something like how Amy'll hunt me down, right?" she joked, but suddenly turned her demeanor more attentive as she saw that you were serious. "Alright, I'm all ears."

"Well, so I guess a little history is in order," you struggled to find a way to segue well into this. "So, Amy and I really haven't been a thing for long, like at all. We'd been friends for forever, but didn't really take that next step until right before the hurricane, the night of Isabella's party. And while there are a significant number of people who do move that fast, I'm not really one of those people, but it might seem that way because of how things turned out."

"I'm following so far," she acknowledged.

"Well, there's a reason for that. And again, I'm sorry for dumping this on you along with everything over the past day or so, but it's for the sake of transparency. I have this...magical power, shall we say. It's an app that downloaded on my phone near the beginning of the season called the 'Affection Multiplier'. Basically what it does is makes my relationships with others progress faster, about five times the normal speed if I remember correctly. Additionally, I can get certain traits, for myself or other people, such as Sleep Optional, which essentially means I have to sleep only about half the amount as a normal person does."

"So...wait," Summer clarified. "You have a magical app that makes people like you faster and gives you these perks?"

"Basically," you said.

"I'm not entirely sure I believe that, but sure," she added. "If it's true that you do have this thing, then I don't really see a problem with it. I mean, you're a good guy and I have a hard time believing that you'd do anything nefarious with this affection app."

"Really?" you asked, incredulous. "That easily?"

"Yeah, I mean, you're not gonna try and build an army of people who are going to serve your every command," she noted. "Amy's very much still her own person even though she's under the influence of that app, and I seem like myself, so you're not going and outright changing people."

"Wow, well, I'm glad to hear that," you expressed your relief. "It's just that when I bring up something like that, I tend to expect some sort of negative response."

"I can imagine it would, it's not exactly something people are accustomed to hearing, myself included," Summer concurred. "The way you said that, though, who else have you told it to, just Amy?"

"Yes, Amy, but I also told it to my sister Hannah," you admitted. "I needed her advice on something, and, well, she was the first person I've always gone to for advice, so it was only natural, and it was difficult to get proper advice without mentioning the app."

"Ah, that makes sense," she answered as she got up. "Well, I'm all done, so I'm gonna hit the road. I definitely will hit you up for help on that project in a few days, that is, if you're still up for it."

"Oh, I'm up for it," you responded. "It'll be something fun the two of us can work on together."

She gave you a short hug as she left, and then it was just you and yourself left at the table. The project seemed like something that the two of you could do together. You had things that you did with Amy and Isabella, but not with Summer, until now. This might be a recurring theme, you thought, where you'd have to balance all of the interests and time you spent with the girls as more of them would pop into your life, but you were more than up for the challenge. Well, at least, if you had the sleep thing activated. That was a godsend in this situation, and for that cheap? It was almost like an instant win button.

Speaking of the app, it was a bit surprising that none of the girls you had talked to had negative opinions about it. Sure, you had only brought it up with people you were close to and almost certain would take it in a positive light. If you mentioned it to someone who was indifferent towards you or someone who flat-out didn't like you, it might be a bit of a different scenario. Maybe there'd be a person down the line who wouldn't have such glowing remarks to make about it. You could definitely see Isabella in that camp, her assertive, hard-headed nature didn't make for the most understanding of people.

Speaking of Isabella, guess who just sent you a text?

Wallace, Summer

Affection Score: 139 (+14)

Love Score: 61 (+12)

Lust Score: 27 (+6)