And I lost the taste for judging right from wrong

Lunch had gone really smoothly, and Nick was glad that it had. As he escorted Gina back to her bedroom, he took the opportunity to let her know again how much fun he’d had with her on their date today.

It was important to give Gina constant positive reinforcement. That way, whenever she doubted herself, she could look back at the praise she’d received, and remind herself that this was something she deserved.

“I really had fun today,” Nick said sincerely, taking Gina by the hand and giving her hand a squeeze. “There were a few hiccups along the way, but as far as dates go…”

“It was a good time,” Gina interrupted him with a toothy smile, showing her cute underbite. “We don’t have to dwell on the awkward stuff. I had a lot of fun, Nick. Really, I did.”

Gina had no idea how much it relieved Nick to hear that. “I’m glad,” he said. “I’d like if we could do it again sometime. You know, a real date.”

“Well, it’s tricky, because of my transformation,” Gina pointed out. “Having to throw those parties can make it hard for us to get time to ourselves. You know, we haven’t had sex in a while, either,” she added.

Nick bristled. “That… that’s true,” he conceded. He felt a little wary, not sure where she was going with this. But she just kept smiling at him.

“It’s fine,” Gina said gently, shaking her head. “I don’t mind not having sex with you today, Nick. You’re right. It was important for us to have a date that’s just about us and getting along together, without any big drama or anything like that.”

It was a relief to hear her say that. “There’s always next time,” he said. “Next round, we can go on a real date before your party, maybe.”

Gina nodded. “Possible, possible,” she agreed. “And you know, we never did get that threesome with Carly, remember? She says she still owes me one.” Gina playfully licked her lips. “Maybe we could collect sometime…”

Nick had almost forgotten. “Yeah, maybe,” he agreed, nodding. Carly was kind of busy these days taking care of Emmy, but knowing her she’d be down to join in on something like that.

Gina chose not to mention that she’d actually propositioned Carly earlier that morning, and it hadn’t ended up going well. No sense rocking the boat right now.

Then another idea occurred to her. She grinned. “Hey, I just thought of something,” she said, pulling up her screen. “You know…”

“Hmm?” Nick was curious what Gina was alluding to. Her brain kind of jumped all over the place at times.

“Take a look at my party transformation,” Gina said, showing him the screen. “See anything interesting about it?”

Nick took a look, wondering what she was getting at.

• The Party of the Year: On Gina’s night with the master, she can invite as many girls as she likes up to the Master’s Suite with her for a party. There’s a 500 BP entrance fee, but any contestant who attends and participates in the fun will find themselves receiving a positive boon that will help them for the remainder of the round. [NOTE: Boons will be given at random, and the positive benefits will vary based on the enthusiasm of the participants in the night’s festivities.] (Party Animal)

“Uh… are you talking about how the transformation says that your parties take place in the Master’s Suite, even though that has never happened even once?” Nick asked.

“Huh? No, that… …Okay, now that you point it out, yeah, that’s weird, should probably bring that up with Dakota...” Gina said, scratching her cheek. “…No, never mind that stuff! I’m talking about inviting the girls up. I don’t HAVE to invite anyone,” she pointed out. “We can have a private party, just me and you.”

She batted her eyelashes coquettishly at him. “Just something to keep in mind,” she purred. “Or maybe invite Carly.”

“I think that could be fun,” Nick agreed.

Gina was surprised to hear that. She stowed the screen and looked at him with a curious expression on her face. “Really?” She asked suspiciously. “You’d be alright with that, Nick?” She would have expected him to insist that she invite everyone to help improve their bonds as friends or some other sappy thing like that.

“It’s nice that you’ve been inviting everybody, Gina, but you don’t need to be so self-sacrificing,” Nick told her. “It’s fine to put your foot down and think about your own wants every now and then. If you want the day to be just the two of us, nobody would complain.”

Gina winced. “…I’ve always been selfish, though,” she mumbled, shaking her head. “That’s the whole problem…”

Was it really okay to prioritize her own wants? Being selfish like that didn’t seem like something a good girl would do.

“It’s not selfishness,” Nick bluntly pointed out. “Thinking about your own needs is just normal, Gina. No one is going to think you’re being selfish just because you’re not sacrificing things for other people.”

He knew that Gina had a tendency to be a bit of a doormat when it came to other people. It was one of her more problematic traits. She obviously really wanted to spend time with Nick one on one, like they had today, but she didn’t think she deserved it.

Nick wished he could convince her that she did.

“Even Mary has her own night with me,” Nick pointed out. “She’s incredibly caring and giving, but even she wants to have me to herself sometimes. And that’s okay. It’s completely natural.”

Gina nodded slowly. “So… what you’re saying is… I’m a better person than Mary?” She cracked a cheeky grin and Nick rolled his eyes.

He’d been trying to take this seriously. But of course Gina just wanted to make a joke out of it.

“Gina-”

“I get it, okay?” She cut him off, the smile fading from her lips. She looked deeply up into his eyes. “…Thanks for talking with me about this stuff, Nick,” she said. “It’s really difficult, not knowing how to deal with these feelings… but I really appreciate that you’re always looking out for me.”

It had taken Gina forever to accept that she deserved to be happy. And even now there were some days when she backslid and thought that, no, she didn’t after all.

But right now, standing here with Nick, it really felt like she was making progress again. And that was such a relief for her.

“…Thank you again for a wonderful date,” Gina said, leaning in and planting a kiss on Nick’s cheek. It wasn’t the kind of kiss she really wanted to give him, but it felt right, kissing him like that. Like it was the sort of kiss made for their chaste and wholesome childhood date.

“Well, well, well…”

A voice from behind Nick made the two of them jump. They turned and saw Dakota leaning against the corridor, arms crossed over her chest.

There was a smirk on her lips, but her eyes were devoid of amusement.

“Why is it that whenever I walk in on you two, you’re always kissing?” Dakota stood up straight and strutted forward, while Gina tensed. Memories of that horrible day flashed back into her head, and her hands started to shake.

“Dakota…”

“What do you want, Dakota?” Nick asked, planting himself between the two women in case Dakota wanted to escalate things towards Gina. They’d been having a good time, but leave it to Dakota to stir up drama.

It was like she lived for it.

“What, I can’t come by and see how your date is going?” Dakota asked, leaning in close. Her cold breath tickled Nick’s cheek. “You two looked like you were having such a good time together… I must admit, I got a little jealous.”

Gina’s eyes widened. She never would have expected Dakota to come right out and admit something like that directly.

Nick was surprised himself.

“…Jealous, huh?” He said hesitantly. “Jealous of what?”

Dakota batted her eyelashes innocently. “Jealous of how much fun you two had, I suppose,” she replied. “Playing with LEGOs, going go-karting… it sounds to me like you had a blast.”

She turned her smile towards Gina, and the punk girl’s blood ran cold.

“Well, Gina?” She asked, leaning forward. “How was the date? Was it everything you wanted?”

Gina knew that Dakota was trying to intimidate her. But she’d been given enough time to calm down at this point, and stood her ground. She wasn’t going to let Dakota manipulate her into feeling guilty about having a good time with Nick.

“It was,” she said bluntly. “Nick and I had a blast, Dakota. Really, you should try going on a date with him yourself. I know you’re the host, but I’m sure he’d be okay with that. Right, Nick?” She turned and gave him a prodding look.

Nick was surprised to hear that suggestion from Gina. Almost as surprised as Dakota seemed to be. For once, the host had no snarky retort to fire back with.

So he seized the opportunity that she’d given him.

“Dakota, if you and I could actually go on a date together, I’d honestly like that,” he informed her, looking into the stunned host’s eyes. “I think we could have a lot of fun. It’s not like the rules say you can’t do something like that, right?”

It was the first time he’d ever really made this offer since Dakota regained her position as host. He’d danced around the topic before, due to trying to keep her at arms’ length given the complicated new wrinkles of their relationship. But right now, he felt like this was a turning point.

Like if he could reach Dakota here, then maybe something good might happen.

As for Dakota herself… she just stared at him, her lips slightly parted. Her expression could almost be mistaken for surprise, but Nick knew better. She wasn’t shocked or stunned or confused or taken aback, or anything like that.

She was thinking.

Then she smiled, and Nick saw a spark of understanding in her eyes.

“…I see how it is,” she murmured, her lips curling up into a soft smile. “You’re quite the seductive one, Nick.”

THAT wasn’t the response he expected from her.

“Excuse me?” Nick questioned, looking at Dakota in confusion.

“Trying to put the moves on me, when you’ve got another woman waiting for you?” She clicked her tongue and shook her head. “For shame. You should know better than that, my dear boy.” With a crooning tone, she reached up and caressed his cheek.

“Have you forgotten? Amelia is waiting for you. Now is hardly the time to be picking up other ladies with your suave lines,” she reminded him.

Nick knew that Dakota was trying to dodge the issue. That much was obvious. But she was still correct. He’d almost forgotten about Amelia.

“…You’re right,” he said with a sigh. “But don’t think you got out of this that easily, Dakota.”

Dakota’s eye twitched. “Excuse me?”

“I’d still like to go out with you on a date sometime,” Nick said, refusing to let the issue rest. “Even if you’re not interested, I think we could still have a good time together. Probably not this round, but next round, who knows?”

For once, Dakota seemed to be at a loss for words. Finally she muttered, “…Who knows indeed?” and turned to leave, not even looking back.

Nick let out a sigh of relief. His heart was still pounding in his chest, the way it always did when he spent too much time around her. It was hard to get a read on Dakota even on a good day, but right now, she definitely seemed really unstable and hard to understand.

He really didn’t know what to do about her. It felt like the longer this mess went on, the more she would come apart at the seams.

“Hey, Nick…” Gina tugged on his sleeve and he turned back to look at her, almost having forgotten she was there.

The worried expression on her face was a stark reminder, though.

“Are you okay?” Gina asked anxiously. “I know things with Dakota are complicated, but…”

“I’m fine, Gina, don’t worry,” Nick assured her, patting the punk girl on the arm. “Trust me, I know that Dakota’s hard to deal with, but I can handle her.”

Gina bit her lip. She wished she could believe him, but she had a sinking feeling that Nick was saying that more to reassure himself than because he actually believed it to be true.

“Well… alright then,” she said, nodding. “In that case, I should really get going. I mean, you do still have to go see Amelia, and as for me, well…”

She gestured at herself.

“I think I need to change out of this dress before the pink stains my skin,” she said.

Nick sputtered a confused laugh at the bizarre change of subject. “What? Uh… Gina, I don’t think that’s how that works.”

“Sure it is,” Gina chirped. “Just like with the laundry, you wash something red with the whites and everything turns all pink. It’s the same logic.”

Nick wasn’t sure what surprised him more, that Gina thought pink would stain her skin, or that Gina actually knew how to do laundry.

“Well… you take care now,” he said, nodding. “And thanks again for a great date.”

Gina beamed up at him and nodded. Then she skipped back into the Candy Suite and closed the door behind her, leaving Nick alone in the hallway.

Nick was glad he’d managed to resist the urge to spank her. That would have been awkward. Finally alone with his thoughts he let out the breath he was holding in a sigh, and scratched his head.

“What a mess,” he muttered to himself. As much fun as he’d had with Gina, Dakota had really upped his anxiety levels by being cryptic and hostile like usual. And if that wasn’t bad enough, now he had his date with his stepmother to take care of, and he hadn’t done any planning for it whatsoever.

Amelia had told him that she wanted him to consider the merits of improvising, but frankly? He wasn’t sure he could right now.

But he also knew she wasn’t going to go easy on him.

He turned and headed back to the lounge, only to see Amelia already there and waiting for him.

“Eh? Amelia?” Nick rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. “You’re here?”

“I am,” Amelia said tersely. She gave him a sharp nod.

Nick blinked. “But I thought we were meeting at-”

“Change of plans,” Amelia cut him off. It was unusually brusque and rude of her, and it left Nick at a loss for words for a second.

She winced, seeing the look of surprise on his face.

“…My apologies,” she said gently, approaching him. “I did not intend to come off so harshly. Let me make it up to you.”

She reached out and patted him on the head. A surreal gesture of affection, one made even stranger by the fact that she looked just as confused to be doing it as he felt.

Nick stared at her, not sure what he should say. That made two of them.

Amelia awkwardly retracted her hand, her cheeks slightly flushed. It was clear that she was a little embarrassed by the action herself.

This was definitely one of the more uncomfortable starts to a date that Nick had experienced.

Is something up with her? He wondered, questioning why Amelia was behaving so strangely. Now that he looked closer, she seemed almost on edge somehow. It was hard to be sure given her general attitude, and how well she carried herself, but he got the feeling that there was something weighing on his stepmother’s mind.

“Amelia, is everything alright?” Nick asked her.

She blinked. A flicker of surprise passed across her face for a fraction of a second before she snuffed it out, and she shook her head slowly. “Why would it not be?” She asked.

Nick wasn’t sure how to respond to that. But he was pretty sure that Amelia had just tried to dodge the question with her answer.

“Uh… I-I don’t know,” he said awkwardly, scratching his head. “I’m just concerned, that’s all. You seem kind of tired. If you’d like, we don’t have to do our date today…”

Amelia shook her head, her eyes glinting sharply at him from behind her glasses.

“That will not be necessary,” she replied. “In fact, I have been looking forward to our time together all morning.”

Add that little statement to the long list of surprising statements from the eagle-eyed woman today. Nick wasn’t used to Amelia being that open and forthright about how she felt- especially in regard to him.

But before he could say anything about it, he realized that she had adjusted her posture so that she was leaning forward, posed seductively with narrowed eyes, almost like she was trying to…

“A-Amelia!” He said loudly, snapping her out of her trance.

Amelia glanced down at her posed body, and the faintest of blushes flashed across her cheeks. She adjusted her posture, doing a remarkable job of keeping her embarrassment from showing on her face.

“Forgive me,” she apologized, adjusting her glasses. “My mind was elsewhere. That… was unprofessional of me.”

If she didn’t focus, she would keep trying to seduce him. And that was definitely not what either of them wanted.

Nick tried to smile and pretend like it was no big deal, he really made an effort. But today was just SO awkward, and as invigorating as his date with Gina had been, dealing with Dakota even for a couple minutes had taken a lot out of him.

He could see on Amelia’s face that she was struggling to maintain her composure as well. The two of them were stuck in a difficult spot.

Nick wished that they could just have a good day together. But without knowing what was going on with his stepmother or why she was acting so weird, he wasn’t sure if that would be possible.