Eclairs Karoly

Dimly lit and with the hum of the air conditioner, the apartment of Amy Tanaka was filled with the sound of furious clacking away at keys. Hunched over her laptop on the couch the woman was furiously typing away to meet a deadline for one of the company’s clients. A deadline that had suddenly been moved up and interrupted her workout so she was taking out some of the stress on her keyboard.

A soft ping announced that she had a Slack message from one of her fellow programmers. She wanted to ignore it, but if there was new information when she was this close to finishing…She pulled up the black window and saw it was from Mike, the guy who had informed her of the new deadline this morning.

Mike was a decent guy, good with numbers, but was obviously letting a recent promotion get to his head. The slack message was short “Hey just circling back around to you about the code we discussed earlier, I do need it by the end of the day”

Amy’s eye twitched, “If it’s important, let me do my job dammit”

She quickly answered back “I’m finalizing it now, you’ll get it (ง •̀_•́)ง”

This was followed by another ping indicating that he had messaged back, but she ignored it. She was about ten minutes out from finishing this damn thing and she wasn’t going to let some micromanaging get in the way of that.

For that time, there was nothing but the sound of keys and the occasional sip of her drink. Finally, it was time to compile; she could be anywhere while her computer did that. She shot off a message to Mike to let him know what was up and she’d be sending it to him soon.

She arched her back, stretched her arms out, and unzipped her track top. She hadn’t changed since her workout and was still wearing yoga pants, a crop top, and her jacket. She went over to her corner mirror and decided that she still looked damned good as she flexed her abs. Still, she felt crumby, this wasn’t how she wanted to spend her day, and while the hard part was, fingers crossed, likely done; She was essentially a prisoner until she could send the finished code over.

She checked the progress, she had time and needed a change of scenery. She wouldn’t leave the building but getting outside would be good. She exited her apartment, went down the hall to where the emergency exit was, slipped out onto it, and began climbing the stairs to the roof. It was just hitting sunset and that meant the view up top was gorgeous to see. She leaned up against the guard rail and relaxed, feeling the sun on her face.

She let out a blissful sigh as she enjoyed the light heat in the air. She started thinking about what she might do later once this code was sent and she was free. She had no plans with friends tonight, they were all busy with one thing or another. She was between paychecks so shopping was out of the question. The axe-throwing place would be closed by the time she got out. Which just left her getting laid.

She cycled through her normal haunts in her head. There was an actual sports game tonight so sports bars would be out because the jocks would all be focused on the game and not on her. She could probably go to the swingers bar, there was always someone scouting for a unicorn, but she had been burned too many times to consider it a real option. The local Barcade would probably be an easy way to score a grateful awkward lad or lady but the bright lights were killer on her head. To the apps it was.

She leaned in over the railing and looked out at the skyline, the multicolored horizon over the many rooftops scattered across her vision. Amy loved cities, feeling like a small pebble in a chaotic storm of people, but still knowing that she was a part of that storm. She had only moved to this city out west a year ago for work; her boss had demanded it even though most of the work was done remotely. Still, as she looked out, it was a change she couldn’t find herself regretting

Sighing and wistful, she gathered herself up and brushed off the dirt from the railing, and prepared to head back down to her own apartment. It was at that moment that the world spun around her and went black.

When she thought she had recovered from whatever dizzy spell had taken her she looked out and saw she was no longer on the roof but in some sort of auditorium with her on stage. She was flanked by a woman on one side and a man on the other in some outrageous outfits. There were a few people in the audience, though it was mostly empty. One audience member seemed to be having a fit, yelling angrily though Amy couldn’t quite make out the words.

The man’s stick flashed and suddenly Amy knew why she was here. She didn’t know how she knew that but she knew this was some sort of show about getting some guy to like her. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the guy in the audience who looked split between fainting and freaking out. Amy could work with that, maybe getting laid was still in the cards.

The olive-skinned man next to her then opened his mouth “Now then, I see some recognition in the Audience, but Amy would you please introduce yourself?”

Amy found herself turning to the audience and making a peace sign as she spoke, “Hey all! I’m Amy Tanaka, I’m 25 years old and I’m a programmer who works for a company creating learning systems for other companies. My hobbies include Anime, Exercising, Games, Axe throwing, and sex.”

There was a pause and then Lucian leaned in, a confused expression on his face “And how you met the master?”

Amy blinked staring out into the audience “How we met? Like outside of here? I can’t recall seeing this guy ever, he doesn’t really stand out eh?” Her words seemed to cause a breakdown in the one woman in the front row.

Lucian holding back his laughter stood up, “Since our contestant doesn’t seem to recall, let me enlighten the Audience. Amy Tanaka and Caleb Ward had a one-night stand around four years ago, which apparently would have been uneventful had he not been caught by his current girlfriend at the time.”

A look of realization dawned on Amy’s face “Oh! Him! Jeeze, depression can hit someone hard, I didn’t recognize you. Also, I didn’t see the girlfriend very long, once I knew that I fucked up I worked hard to make myself scarce you know? Didn’t need that drama in my life.”

Lily piped up trying hard to keep herself grounded as angry tears came down her cheeks “You…you fucking came in and ruined our relationship and it meant nothing to you?”

Amy couldn’t resist and struck a pose, cocking out her hip, putting her hands on her hips and pushing out her small chest proudly “For you, the day Amy Tanaka rocked your boyfriend’s world was the most important day of your life, but for me it was Tuesday. Besides it takes two to tango and I don’t sleep with guys in relationships because I don’t need that sort of shit…unless the girl is into it too. So I’m guessing like you had other problems? Also like you’re not dating now? SO what does it matter? Though I guess you’re here now soooo sorry?” Amy shrugged and Lily fumed.

Reyna took Amy’s arm and began to guide her to her seat.

Caleb was freaking out. Not only did they bring in Amy but she didn’t even remember him. His biggest fuck up didn’t even care about it. Now she was in his harem? He was still wrapping his head around that. What did it mean exactly? Also, they kept being called contestants. How were they competing? His thoughts were interrupted by the host.

Lucian smiled “Well what an interesting turn of events folks, we’re halfway through now so let’s see what other delightful ladies we have in store. Starting next with Noemi Castro!”