Early the next day.

Chapter 2 – So it’s real, now what? (continued)

Jason woke up late the next day, having slept through his initial alarm. By the time he was showered and made it out to the kitchen, Alex had already left, and Kate was eating breakfast. But Heather, as was typical for Sundays, was still fast asleep.

“Busy day planned today?” He asked as he prepared himself a sandwich.

“Not really, no gym today, but I’ve still got practice, and work of course.”

Jason nodded. “I’m going into work today as well. Not overtime, but Allison has me working on a special project.”

“Allison seems to like you. Hopefully she’s helping you get ahead with the company.”

“Alex said the same thing.” Jason observed.

“Yeah, she’s generally a good judge of character.”

They shared a comfortable silence while Kate finished her food then took her bowl to the sink. Jason liked hanging out with Kate, but he wasn’t that great at talking to her, and she wasn’t often very talkative in general.

After eating, she took a shower and got dressed, then sat down at the computer desk in the living room to do some of her homework. They didn’t talk again before Jason had to get changed into his suit to head into work. Just as he came out he spotted Heather sitting down at the dining room table, her head in her hands, still wearing her camisole and shorts she’d slept in. Without speaking, Jason poured her a glass of water with ice, and slid it onto the table in front of her.

She gave him a grateful smile, her blonde hair in a messy cloud around her face, and started drinking. “Have a great day, you two.” He called as he grabbed his things and left the apartment then made his way to where his Honda was parked.

Once he’d arrived and turned the engine off, he realized he hadn’t really checked his phone yet that morning. He had new Skype messages.

:Stephani: Really sorry again for how things went last night. I never meant to hurt you.

:Stephani: I just made a mistake, and didn’t know how to admit it, I guess.

Those two were sent pretty early. Then a couple hours later had come a few more.

:Stephani: Hey, um… I trust you, and know you wouldn’t do anything bad. But I still feel I need to ask if you made a recording of our video chat last night.

:Stephani: If you did, that’s okay, just keep it for your own personal use. Okay?

That was a thought. He wasn’t set up to record webcam conversations, but he knew how to do it, and it wouldn’t take a lot of work. It could provide him with some additional **** material in the future, if he were so inclined. The issue would be storage space.

He decided not to respond right away. He’d let her think on that one a bit.

Heather Chase

Relationship: Rival, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Hostility 22 (-1), Affection 21 (+1), Resentment 16, Dominance 11, Loyalty 10, Playfulness 4, Lust 4*

Special Traits: Cocktease, Drama Queen

Active Effects: Awaken Attitude (Lust)

Katherine O’Connell

Relationship: Best Friend’s Brother, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 53, Affection 33, Friendship 28, Trust 20, Nostalgia 18, Protectiveness 18, Worry 9, Admiration 1 (+1), Lust -7

Special Traits: Childhood Crush

Christine Dubois

Relationship: Catfisher

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Remorse 30* (+1), Affection 24, Playfulness 3, Beholden 3* (+1), Disdain 2, Worry 1, Fear 1 (+1, Awakened)

Special Traits: Internal Conflict

Active Affects: Attitude Amplifier (Beholden), Attitude Amplifier (Remorse)

Louisa Dubois

Relationship: Catfisher

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Remorse 43*, Affection 29, Beholden 6* (+1), Lust 4, Worry 1, Fear 0

Special Traits: Internal Conflict, Self Doubt

Active Affects: Attitude Amplifier (Beholden), Attitude Amplifier (Remorse)

Another awakened attitude. Jason didn’t really want them to be afraid of him, but maybe a little fear could be useful.

He got out of his car and locked it up. It felt odd to see such an empty parking lot. There were only 4 cars besides his, of course, that also meant he’d been able to park close to the lobby for a change.

“Oh hey Mike. Didn’t know you worked the weekends.” He greeted the security guard as he walked in.

“I’m here Wednesday through Sunday, every week, for the last four years.” He replied.

“Well I’ve only been here ten months. I can be a little unobservant about these things, I’m starting to realize.” Jason shrugged. “I’ll see you on the way out, I guess.”

“I’m off at three.” Michael replied.

Jason nodded, “I’m in for four hours, so I should be leaving about the same time.”

“Well, don’t work too hard.” Michael called as Jason rounded the corner to the stairs.

Allison was waiting for him on the second floor. “I heard your voice.” She explained. “Chatting with security?”

Jason nodded again.

“Well, come with me to the conference room, and we’ll get started.” She turned and led the way past her office to the room in question. She was wearing a navy blazer and matching skirt that hugged her hips and drew Jason’s eye very briefly to her rear as she walked ahead of him, her short but stylish heels drawing her stocking-clad calves taught and adding an alluring sway to her steps.

As soon as they were in the room she turned back to him, but he held up a hand to forestall her, “Before we get started, I want to clock in on the time sheets.”

“We can do that before you leave.” She tried to dismiss him.

“If you want me working extra hours, I need to sign the time sheets.” He insisted.

She gave him an appraising look, but finally agreed, “Very well. Get settled, I’ll go grab the department’s time sheets.” She moved past him and back out into the office, and Jason sat down, opening his backpack and retrieving some of the work he’d yet to finish earlier in the week. He did a lot of his work on the computer, but he had plenty of paperwork as well to catch up on.

He was halfway through the second page of propositions wen Allison returned. She put the time sheets in front of him and flipped through them to find his page. He wrote in his start time and initials, and she smiled before setting them aside, and taking a seat next to him.

“Let’s get started then, here’s what I want you to do.”

Jason tried to pay close attention to Allison’s body language. She had only a couple buttons on her blouse open, not enough to flash cleavage, but enough to draw the occasional glance. And while she took opportunities to lean over him and touch his arms or shoulders, she stopped short of obvious flirtation. He got the impression she was feeling him out, and gauging his reactions. He didn’t discourage her advances, but he did his best not to invite them either.

By the time he was ready to leave he was half-convinced she wasn’t trying to seduce him at all, at least until he’d put his ending time on the time sheets and was ready to leave.

“This was good. We should find time to do it again. Are you busy this evening?” She asked.

“Yeah, I’m busy pretty much the rest of the day.”

“Then how about next Saturday? Maybe we can start a little later, and then end the evening with drinks?”

“I might have some time next Saturday, I don’t have any plans yet, but I will probably have more homework.”

“Of course. Well, keep me apprised, and unless something comes up, we’ll plan on another session then?” It was almost more of a statement than a question, but Jason found himself nodding.

“Oh wait.” He interjected. “I just remembered, I actually do have plans next Saturday. I’m getting together with some of my family for a weekend trip. We won’t be back until Sunday morning, I’ve even got time off on Friday approved already.”

“Ah, well… how about Sunday afternoon then?”

“I can’t think of any reason we couldn’t do more on Sunday.” Though, he might just not be thinking of what he might have scheduled. He’d been looking forward to getting together with some of his siblings he didn’t get to see that often since he or they moved out.

“Let’s do Sunday then. Let’s start at four? That would give us at least four hours to get stuff done, and we’d still have time to get drinks before it got too late.”

“Alright.” He agreed. “Would we still be on the clock getting drinks?” He asked.

“No, but I’ll pay, if that helps you feel better about it.”

He considered for a moment, “I’m not sure about drinks, but we’ll see how it goes, I guess.”

“Well, I may be able to sweeten the deal if you can accompany me. Don’t give me a definitive answer right now. Just think about it, alright?”

“Fine, I guess. I’ll see you tomorrow then. I’ll text you when I know for sure if I can come in Sunday.”

And with that he took his leave, waving goodbye to Michael on his way out.

Once back in the car he checked his app again.

Allison Carn

Relationship: Subordinate, Potential Mister

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Lust 47, Admiration 30, Dominance 28, Submissiveness 9, Affection 6, Loyalty 2

Special Traits: Cheating Kink, Loss of Dominance Kink

He frowned. Four whole hours, and no change? He’d expected a little more. Then the realization hit him, he’d just spent several hours letting his boss flirt with him, had himself flirted with both of his roommates and his best friend, and come to accept that his sister might be into him, all without even considering that he was sort of borderline cheating on his girlfriend who wasn’t really his girlfriend, even if they hadn’t confessed to being two people yet. Which also meant he had accepted the reality of a magical app. The thought made him momentarily dizzy, but he took several deep breaths to calm himself, before deciding to go ahead and check Skype before he got underway.

No new messages. Well there was that at least. So he put his phone away, and started his Accord, pulling out of the parking lot and heading home.