Friday Morning Coffee

You **** your mind away from the horrid thoughts lurking within it, as you leave your house and head back to the office. Along the way, you call Ivan and ask for the night off. The mobster agrees after you tell him why - family is most important, he knows.

Remembering to stop by the coffee shop, you skip the elevator leading to your floor and head into the Star Bucks. It is fairly new - only built a few months ago - and you have never been into it before. As you approach the cash register to place your order, you're surprised by who is standing behind it.

"Mia! What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at school?" you ask your daughter's best friend. It had been a few weeks since you last saw her, and you wondered where she had been.

She grins back at you, her thin lips perched in a curious expression.

"Yes, I'm about to leave. Working the early shift to make some money though. You know how it is with my mom."

Mia's mother is an abusive drunk who spends all of their money on ****, and her father left them long ago. One of the many reasons why she spends so much time with Karina, away from home.

"I do, I do. Well make sure to get to school on time - money isn't everything."

She nods, her thin frame barely filling her uniform, and her hair tied back in a knot underneath a black cap. She is a mousey girl, lithe and beautiful, totally at odds with the Russian beauty who she calls her best friend.

"Sure, Mr. Malyshev, no problem. What can I get for you, though?"

"Please, just call me Lev. You've known me long enough, and you're eighteen now. I'll take a medium iced coffee, quarter cup of oat milk."

She raises an eyebrow at your order but enters it into the system nonetheless.

"It's for my boss," you explain.

"Sure, Lev, whatever you say," she grins.

The words roll off of her tongue so fluidly, as though she was a woman you had just met, and you can't help but think of her in another light. You blink the thoughts away. What is this app doing to you? You can't speak to a woman without having intrusive thoughts of them.

Mia disappears into the back, while a man makes your order. She is busy, so you head up to your office without another word to her.

As you reach your floor, you head into Alex's office and place the coffee on his desk.

"Iced coffee, just like you like. I thought I'd bring you some since we're working so closely together."

"Oh? Thanks Lev! How'd you know I love iced coffee? Where's yours?"

"I drank it on the way up," you lie.

"Well, thanks again. I appreciate it a lot - just what I need to get through these papers."

He sets another stack of papers on his desk, already cutting it in half and sliding one pile over to you. He sips the coffee as he works, obviously enjoying it.

"Now, let's do another pass. Go through and remove the worst ten percent of candidates. I'll do the same."

You continue working with Alex until lunchtime, thinning the herd so to speak, and removing a handful of candidates from his search. Done with him for the day, you return to your desk and pull out your phone, quickly skimming the results of your efforts.

For one, you notice Mia's name now floating on your relationship screen. 6 Affection, 1 Love, and 0 Lust, with one point of affection being from your earlier interaction - how sweet. And, about what you expect. You'd known and cared for her since she meet Karina, four years ago.

Moving on, you click on Alex and see a major jump in his score. His Affection score increased from 7 to 14! He must have really enjoyed that coffee.

"What're you doing?" you hear, and look up at the voice. It's Maria, one of your coworkers who works in data analytics - she's standing on the other side of your cubicle and looking over at you.

"Playing on my phone. What about you?"

"Oh, you know. Killing time until five."

She walks around the wall and steps into your cube. As usual, she's wearing a skin-tight pencil skirt and blouse, gray and red respectively. Her thick hair hangs in curls across her shoulders, and her stilettos would almost elevate her to your eye level if you were standing. She's an attractive middle-aged Hispanic woman who has always been nice to you, despite you not always being so kind to her, and you like that about her.

"I hear that. I'm taking my daughter to dinner tonight. Any plans for you?"

"Aw, how sweet. I wish my father was still around to do that for me. No, no plans for me. Just hanging out at home with my cat and a bottle of wine."

"Doesn't sound so bad," you say, with a smile.

"No, it isn't. I'm thankful for what I have - hold on."

Her phone is flashing in her hand, and she holds it to her ear. She starts talking to someone in Spanish, waving at you as she walks away. You can't help but look at her magnificent plump ass dance up and down as she moves, the pencil skirt barely able to contain it. She disappears around a corner, and you return to your phone.

Maria Lopez

• Affection Score: 7 (+4)
• Love: 0
• Lust: 0

Nice.

You attempt to return to work but you are unable to concentrate as you run out of things to do. Anxiety simmers beneath your skin, worries about tonight weighing heavily on your shoulders. What if Karina changes her mind? What if she is busy? Should you get her a gift? You remember how much a gift improved your relationship with Alex. You should get her a gift. But what? Chocolates? No, works out too much to eat that. A stuffed animal? That's lame. What about some flowers? You can never go wrong with flowers. You should get Nadia some too - it can't possibly make your relationship with her any worse.

And where to eat? Shit - you forgot. You look around on your computer, searching for somewhere that has an open reservation. You try a few restaurants, but they're full. Reconsidering your options, you focus on a quiet Italian restaurant near your house, which overlooks the street. It's not terribly fancy, but it has white tablecloths and the waiting staff appears to be dressed well. You manage to snag a reservation for eight in the evening - their last table, they say.

The working day ends, the clock strikes five, and you are on your way home. You mess around with the app on your phone while on the train, but nothing new happens. More of the same. Then, as you step off the platform and onto the street, you stop at a flower vendor you have never glanced twice at before, buying a dozen white roses for Karina, and a dozen red roses for Nadia. Beautiful flowers for your beautiful ladies, despite how strained your relationship with them may be.

You carry them home, stopping at the front door of your brownstone to take a breath and clear your mind.