Barely gettin' by, it's all taking and no giving

“Thank you for coming! Have a great day!” Kim chirped, putting on her practiced customer service smile.

She hated working at the gas station. But she needed to pay the bills. She’d already had to quit her job at the grocery store because it conflicted with her class schedule. And just when she’d thought Nick might actually work up the courage to ask her out, too…

A date, an actual date. Kim had never actually been on one before, now that she thought about it. She wasn’t the type of girl most boys thought to ask out. Her boobs were just a little too small, her butt was just a little too big, and while she wasn’t ugly, acne had taken its toll on her like it had so many other teenagers.

All in all, she was a decidedly average girl, with average features. Her hair was nice, but it wasn’t special. Her eyes just boring old hazel.

If there was one thing about her that stood out, it was her smile. Kim practiced her smile every day in the mirror. Smiles made people like you. People who liked you wanted to come back. And if people came back, business was good.

If business was good, then she might even get a raise.

She had noticed him first. He stood out because he was starting to go grey, but looked too young for that to be the case. Fortunately, he’d been buying ****, so she just so happened to check his ID.

Nick Reynolds, 27.

Seven years older. Questionable, but not a deal breaker.

Kim didn’t feel 20 anyway. She had nearly 7 years of work experience by this point in her life, just struggling to keep her family afloat. All because the piece of shit sperm donor labeled “father” on her birth certificate couldn’t deal with the responsibility of being a parent.

Her mom wasn’t prepared to raise three kids either. Welfare could barely keep a roof over their heads.

So at 14, Kim had gotten her first job. It had been some of the best and worst years of her life. She fought and scraped her way through high school because her mother had insisted, but once she was done, she could start making some real money. At least, that’s what she’d though.

Right now, she was a cashier at a gas station working the night shift. How lucrative.

But work was work. And if you wanted to get ahead in this world, you needed to work hard. Kim was proud of that.

Still, a date would have been nice…

Kim had waited tables, worked the counter at coffee shops, scanned items and put them into shopping carts, all sorts of things. If it was a low-paying “entry level” job, odds were she’d done it at one point in her life. She’d heard all the lines, from skeevy pickup artists to lecherous perverts, but Nick had seemed so… genuine.

And he'd actually made her smile for real with his corny jokes. That meant a lot to her.

He hadn’t flirted with her, or bugged her for her number. In fact, she’d reached out to him at first. What a fool, she KNEW he liked her, it was written all over his dorky face. She should have just been the one to ask him out. Then maybe they’d be something. Or maybe not. That was nearly a month ago, anyway, and if stocking shelves taught her anything, it was that there was no use crying over spilled milk. That didn’t get it mopped up any faster.

Now, though, instead of flirty banter with a decent-looking guy, every fifth customer looked like they might rob the place. She wasn’t exactly getting ahead in the world.

But that’s what your degree is for. A degree in economics could open a lot of doors, even if it was from community college. Then maybe she could buy her mom something nice.

Her phone rang. She wasn’t supposed to answer it while on the job, but she was bored out of her skull and the place was deserted. Even the road was empty.

Plus, it was her dad.

“Hey dad! You’re still gonna pick me up, right?”

“Of course Kimmy. But I wish you’d get a different job,” he sighed. “It’s too dangerous working there late at night! Can’t you do something about your hours?”

“Sorry dad, no can do, you know I’ve got classes.”

“I know, sweetheart, but you don’t have to work there you know. Your mother and I would be happy to help-"

“That’s your money, daddy.” She cut him off right there. “I appreciate it, really, I do, but I want to do this myself.”

“Kimmy, as far as I’m concerned, it’s your money, too,” he said gently. “I know I’m not your real father, but-"

“You are,” she said abruptly, her face heating up.

“What was that?”

“I said you are my real dad. I don’t need that guy. Screw him. You’re the only dad I need.”

“…I love you too, sweetheart.”

“Same! And don’t worry. I know this place is in a bad neighborhood, but it’s safe, trust me. The manager keeps a shotgun and a hand grenade under the counter for emergencies.”

“A what?!”

“Kidding, dad. Kidding. But I’m serious, it’s totally safe. Don’t worry about me. You know your girl knows how to handle herself!”

On the other end of the line, Richard Lewis, wife of Saya Ibuki and stepfather of Kim Lewis, shook his head in an exasperated sigh. “I know, Kimmy, I know. You take care, I’ll come pick you up in a few hours. See you later, alligator.”

He waited for her to finish it. But she never did. He heard an echo on the other end like the phone had fallen from her hand, and then nothing but silence. In a panic, Richard Lewis scrambled off the couch and ran for his car.

“Our next girl,” Sylvia announced, “is a bit of a recent thing! Nick chatted her up at the supermarket, and over the course of several months, the two seemed well on their way to having a chance at a real relationship!”

“Alright, way to go dude!” Dani cheered. Carly flashed a thumbs up.

“That’s how it always starts,” Holly muttered under her breath.

“But sadly, she quit her job before their little love connection could go anywhere,” Sylvia sighed in mock disappointment. “But don’t worry! Because she’s coming back into his life in a big way! Ladies and gentlemen give a warm round of applause to our last girl of the evening, Kimiko Lewis!”

Kim appeared, stunned. Seconds ago she’d been on the phone with her dad, and now she was… where the heck was this?

And shit, what was her phone bill gonna be? Fuck…

The eyes of six girls were staring curiously at her. She felt nervous, like when she’d applied to her first job interview sweeping the aisles. These women were so beautiful, and the one on stage was even more…

Wait! It was Nick! What was he doing here?!

“Nick? You’re Nick, right? From the grocery store?” She called up to him, walking towards the stage. Sylvia was there to intercept her. She pointed her cane back towards Kim’s chair.

“I think we’ve had enough getting up and walking around for one episode,” she smiled. Kim flinched. As a master of fake smiles she could spot one a mile away, and what was hiding behind this one was…

She didn’t fight, she obediently returned to her seat.

“What’s going on here?” She asked the girl sitting next to her, a pretty redhead covered in freckles.

The other girl immediately burst into tears. Whoops.

The curly-haired brunette was soothing the redhead’s tears, leaving Kim to take a good look at the other girls. The short-haired girl with brown and yellow streaks made her feel insecure about her identity as a woman she was so gorgeous. And the glasses-wearing girl in the doctor’s coat was pretty eye-catching as well, even if it was more in an adorable way. And between the two of them sat a blue-haired girl with the body of a fitness model and the handsome smile of a boy band singer. And then there was the final girl, who looked like every alternative girl who’d made fun of her for working so hard in school. Her clothes were a mess, her hair was a mess, everything about her was just… messy.

Why were they here? And why was Nick here? And most worryingly, what would her dad think, when he found out she’d been ****?

“Now that we’ve all had a chance to settle down,” Sylvia said when Mary finished her latest sobbing session, “it’s time to inform our newest contestant about why she’s here.”

Kim’s ears perked up at that. Contestant? Like on a game show?

“Yes, like on a game show,” Sylvia answered Kim’s unasked question. “But unfortunately, there’s no prize money. You’ll be duking it out for something better!”

She presented Nick with a flourish. “Weeeeelcoooome… tooooooooo... 'HAREM HOTEL: ISLAND HOLIDAY SEASON'! WOO! YEAH! WOOHOO!”

Sylvia did a little dance onstage to the canned applause. Nick clenched his jaw to keep from screaming.

A few seconds after the applause stopped, Sylvia finished her little dance, looking every part the serious host she was trying to come off as.

“You ladies are here because you are all on a reality TV show,” Sylvia explained. She paused. “…No, just kidding. But close! Harem Hotel is a little more… freeform than all that. But the fact remains, you will all be fighting each other out for high ranking positions in the Master’s harem, as his kept women. As of now, you are bound to the master, where you will stay for the rest of your lives.”

A dark look crossed her face. “…Or maybe you won’t…” she murmured.

Kim shivered. So there was no money. And she’d have to be in Nick’s harem? He didn’t strike her as the sort to do something like that, and even now he looked sick to his stomach. She knew that look. It was the look of someone putting up with a shitty job they hate because the alternative was losing everything.

Her heart went out for the poor guy.

“You are all women who Nick has, at various points in his life, fancied in one form or another,” Sylvia explained. “Some of you may still have his eye, others…” She glanced at Holly, “…may have an uphill battle ahead of them.”

Holly snorted and rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

“But the fact remains, for you seven… seven… wait, that’s not right.” Sylvia tapped her chin thoughtfully. “There should be eight girls here!”

She turned to Nick, her face filled with confusion. “I did say 'eight', didn’t I? There’s an eighth chair and everything…”

Then her eyes widened as if she was finally remembering something important. The way she smiled let on that it had all been a performance for his benefit. “Oh. I almost forgot. There IS one other girl we have for you, my boy. A very special one.”

Nick was confused. “But… this is everybody,” he sputtered. In all his sessions with Sylvia, back when he thought she was his therapist, they’d discussed the women in his life and how his mistakes and issues with them had led to his self-esteem collapsing.

Not getting the chance to ask Kim out in time.

Holly rejecting him after using him to get a passing grade, then turning around and manipulating the naïve Mary into hating him too.

Carly leaving before they’d had a chance to find out if they’d be something more.

The horrible pressure he’d put on Dani that made her so uncomfortable that she’d ended their friendship, even if he’d never intended to let her know how he felt.

His awful, stalkerish behavior towards Dawn, his first crush, that had made her despise him when they used to get along so great.

And finally Gina… Gina and he had…

No.

No, it can’t be. That’s not possible.

Sylvia smirked. The look of realization. She’d been waiting for it all day. Nick had finally realized who the eighth girl was. "Impossible? My dear boy, those were the old rules," her smile seemed to say.

“You can’t!” He protested. “Sylvia, you can’t, she’s-!”

Sylvia twirled her cane and slammed the head of it against the stage.

The universe shook for a second.