So if you're gonna get made, don't be afraid of what you've learned

Nick had been fine with the idea for a game of bowling when he first proposed it. He thought it would be something that he and his stepmother could do that would be fun for them both, even if neither of them turned out to be any good at it. And his prediction that they wouldn’t be very good at it was correct. Nick was getting better, but Amelia was clearly not a very good bowler, even if she was slowly improving.

The problem was the interruption that was throwing the entire tone of their date off.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was very loudly flouting the rules of bowling, and general public decency. Whenever Amelia was up to bowl she would grab a ball of her own and chuck it down the neighboring lane, smashing into the pins with so much **** Nick feared they were going to break to pieces. It was the sort of wild, reckless performance that he would have expected from the assassin, and it seemed like she was intentionally trolling his stepmother.

Why?

Well there could be a multitude of reasons, ranging from spite for the days and days of lessons to just generally being a jerk because she could.

Nick wasn’t sure what the underlying motive was, but he could see the effect that it was having on Amelia. Every time her turn came, her eye would flicker in an imperceptibly fine twitch, and her lips would turn slightly. They were very minor gestures in the grand scheme of things, but Nick understood what they meant.

He recognized the finer signals of Amelia’s irritation a mile away, and knew that she was getting progressively more irate the longer the game went on. No wonder she wasn’t getting any better when she had a dedicated disruption.

Unfortunately he didn’t know what to do about it. Knowing Amelia, he would have expected her to say something to the disruptive assassin already, even with her remarkable patience. She didn’t tolerate behavior like this from anyone. But she wasn’t saying a word. It was like she’d decided to pretend Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin wasn’t even there.

That would work for most people. But Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin seemed to be taking it as a signal to behave even more disruptively, much to Nick’s chagrin.

“Amelia…” he said weakly, approaching his stepmother. He wasn’t sure what he should say to her, but he didn’t like the way things were going here.

“Nicholas, do not distract me,” Amelia replied, not even looking at him. She held up the bowling ball the same way she always did, obviously trying to act as though she weren’t bothered by the assassin’s repeated attempts to get under her skin.

“SMASH!”

Another bowling ball went sailing through the air, and another cluster of pins scattered like… well, like bowling pins.

At the same time, Amelia’s own throw was lopsided, and only four pins toppled over on her lane. Not at all impressive, but a fairly good throw by her standards, actually.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin made a huffy expression with her lips and rolled her eyes.

Nick watched the exchange in confusion, wondering why Amelia was putting up with this. She normally hates distractions, especially from people who are trying to intentionally bother others. But she’s not saying anything. I know she isn’t afraid of a direct confrontation with Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, so why isn’t she doing anything?

There was only one reason Nick could come up with for why that could be, and he didn’t like it.

If Amelia wasn’t saying anything about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s conduct, it must have been because she was waiting for him to do it.

His heart sank in his chest as he realized that was exactly what she was angling for.

I see. So that’s it. She’s not scolding Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin because she’s trying to use this as an opportunity for me to be the more proactive one! He realized. She wants me to step up and say something to her, to try and get her to back down. This must be another lesson in dating etiquette, trying to get me to take the lead and deal with someone who’s disrupting the date myself instead of relying on her!

Even though Amelia was the target of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s disruptive behavior, this was still both of their date. Amelia was making a show of not being bothered even when she clearly was for his sake. It was like she was telling him that she was counting on him to make it so that she didn’t have to be strong and put up with it.

It was a pretty forceful plan, he had to admit. But the more he thought about it, the more he decided that it was okay, that he could handle it.

Maybe the reason Amelia was leaving it up to him was because she knew that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin would be more willing to listen if he was the one who said something instead of someone else.

So with that in mind he walked over to the assassin as she was stretching in preparation for her next trolling attempt.

The slender girl’s face lit up with glee immediately, as he knew it would. She bounced over to him, taking the opportunity to immediately draw attention to her breasts and how they bounced tightly in her top. They were just getting bigger and bigger thanks to her nanomachines, and Nick wasn’t sure if she’d even utilized them at all this round.

It sure didn’t look like it.

Luckily, Nick wasn’t the kind of person to be distracted by something like that. He knew Amelia was counting on him and he knew that, as her date, he had an obligation to speak up in her defense, so he turned to the eager-eyed assassin and gave her a firm look.

“Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, I think we need to talk about your behavior,” he said to the mute girl, immediately realizing how stupid that sounded. “Err, what I mean is that I need to talk about your behavior, and you, well, um…”

This was already going badly, he realized.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin looked at him with a smirk on her lips and tapped her fingers against her throat to remind him that she wasn’t capable of taking part in any talks. Irritated but not that much, Nick recomposed himself and smiled.

That was the best way to approach the situation, he figured. Show the assassin that he wasn’t upset with her, he just needed to talk about something important.

“Amelia and I are trying to have a date,” he said, gesturing to his stepmother. “This is my day with her. I already didn’t get as much time with her as I normally would have gotten, so right now we’re really trying to make the most of it. Right now we’re trying to learn how to bowl, but you’re kind of getting in the way. Would it be alright if you took a break for a little while? At least until we finish our game? Please?”

He was trying to be as gentle as possible because he knew how mercurial the assassin could get. Maybe he was being a little too permissive, he acknowledged, but that was a risk that he was just going to have to take.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin gave him a frosty look, the smile draining away from her face. Already not the best sign. She crossed her arms over her enhanced chest and cocked her hip to the side in response.

Already showing him confrontational body language. Again, really not a good sign. But Nick wasn’t going to let her play her little games at his expense. He knew the kind of woman she was and how she liked to get under his skin, and he also knew that her behavior wasn’t because she was actually upset with him, but because she was being told she couldn’t do what she wanted.

For whatever reason, she wanted to troll his stepmother. And when he told her to stop, she was trying to signal that she wasn’t happy about it.

He wished that could be the end of it.

But Nick knew the kind of woman Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was. If she wanted to troll someone, then she would find any loophole she could to do it.

If she stopped her little routine of bowling, then she would just start with something else. He’d been down this road enough times.

“Are you upset about something?” He asked instead, hoping that was okay. He could feel Amelia’s eyes watching him and he hoped he was living up to her expectations. She’d tasked him with the responsibility for handling the problem of their little date interloper, and it was his responsibility how he did that. But if he went about it the wrong way, there was a chance that things could blow up in his face and he would end up looking bad in front of his date.

That was another outcome Nick was trying to avoid.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was watching him carefully. She still hadn’t answered his question, and he wasn’t sure if she had any intention of doing so in the future.

Then she shook her head with a cheerful smile on her face.

So she wasn’t upset. That was a good sign. But it also meant that she was just trolling the two of them because she wanted to, and Nick wasn’t exactly thrilled about THAT either.

Still, he held his ground and didn’t let her shake his resolve.

“Well, that’s good at least,” he said, trying to return her smile the best he could. “So you’re just playing around and having fun, then?”

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin paused for a moment like she was trying to think it over, then she nodded cheerily again.

Nick fought back a sigh. Yeah, he should have expected that to be the case. It sure sounded like something she would do.

Knowing that she was just playing around and that this wasn’t a bizarre temper tantrum did help a little, though. It meant that he had a way in.

“So if you’re not upset, then do you think you could leave us alone for a little while?” Nick asked. “I know we haven’t had as much time to hang out as we did at the beginning of the week, but I’m sorry, I’ve been really busy. Can you give Amelia and me some time to ourselves? Please?” He didn’t want to sound like he was **** or begging but this was really important to him.

Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin pinched her lips together into a tight expression as the smile slid from her face. Not a good sign. Nick braced himself for some show of petulance from the childish assassin, but to his surprise…

She let out a silent sigh, rolled her eyes, and nodded.

He couldn’t believe it. She was actually agreeing with him!

It left him stunned with shock.

Acquiescing to his request, Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin turned around and flounced off, her black hair bouncing behind her as she strolled up the steps, kicked off her bowling shoes, and was gone.

“…Wow,” Nick whispered to himself, still staring at the empty doorway the assassin had just skipped through. “That… that actually worked?”

“Well done, Nicholas.”

Nick jumped in surprise, almost having forgotten about Amelia’s presence. Which was honestly really sad. He turned to see her staring at him with a warm look on her otherwise cold features, and her thin lips morphed into a faint smile.

“You handled that brilliantly,” she complimented him. “You stood your ground and got her to leave, without upsetting her, and prioritizing my needs over hers. Very well done,” she said with a congratulatory tone, extending her hand.

Nick was just surprised to receive such an open-hearted compliment from her. She gazed at him with a gentle expression in her eyes, and nodded slightly towards her hand. He accepted it quickly, feeling how warm her touch was.

“Th-thanks,” he stammered out, finally letting himself relax. “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin really is a good kid deep down. I knew that she would listen if I asked her nicely, and she did!”

He sighed in relief. “I’m sorry I didn’t realize before that you were trying to test me.”

Amelia shook her head. “That wasn’t a test for you,” she replied, catching Nick by surprise. He looked at her, not sure what to say.

“It… it wasn’t?” He asked, raising his eyebrow.

She shook her head. “No. That was a test for myself. I knew that Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was trying to disrupt our date, likely in a childish attempt to get under my skin. I did not want to give her the satisfaction of succeeding. So I tested myself, to see how good of a job I could do at not taking her bait.”

A shadow crossed Amelia’s face. “She is not the first unruly student I’ve dealt with who has made it their mission to bother their teacher,” she said grimly.

Vivian’s face immediately came to Nick’s mind.

“So you didn’t want me to interfere, then?” He asked. “I-I see, I thought that was another test you were putting me through or something.”

Amelia shook her head. “I would not have done that under these circumstances,” she assured him. “It would have required you to ‘pick sides’ as it were between two of the women in your harem. Even if one party is clearly in the right, handling a situation like that carelessly could breed conflict between the two women and yourself. But you handled yourself well and resolved the situation without any hard feelings. Well done.”

Nick blushed. “Um, th-thanks,” he said, understanding what Amelia meant now and agreeing that the situation could have ended up going really badly if he hadn’t gotten Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin to agree.

His eyes flickered over to the door again. “You don’t think she’s upset, do you?” He asked worriedly.

Amelia frowned. “It is possible,” she admitted. “But that is not your responsibility. You were more respectful with her than her conduct warranted. It is important that she learns that she cannot get what she wants by being disruptive and making a nuisance of herself.”

Unless of course what she wanted was simply to get Nick’s attention. In that case, she actually accomplished that goal quite well, in fact.

Not that Nick wanted to give her credit for that.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” he said, shaking his head and going back to rejoin her so they could get the game started again. “Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin is always so hard to get a read on. I just wish I had a better sense of what’s going on in that head of hers.”

“You should not feel ashamed that you cannot read her mind,” Amelia replied, giving him a look. She adjusted her glasses. “As your stepmother I am uniquely qualified to inform you as to the difficulty of understanding the heart of others, even those who are capable of speaking.”

Nick looked at her. That “As your stepmother” part seemed like he was the one being put on blast here with that comment, but he decided not to take it personally.

And he could also accept that maybe Amelia wasn’t wrong to be critical of his behavior growing up, he had been a little mercurial himself.

“She’s not a child, though,” he pointed out. “She might behave like one sometimes, but she’s still an adult.”

After all, he wouldn’t have had sex with her if he thought that her childish demeanor and free spirit were reflective of her mental age. He knew that side of Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin was just one part of the complex facet of her personality.

The other sides of her… they were much harder to get a read on. But he knew that she was a tricky person intentionally.

Nick opened his mouth to continue his line of thinking when he noticed Amelia staring pointedly at him, her eyes scrutinizing him from behind her glasses.

For a moment, he didn’t know how to respond. Then he realized what that look of hers was meant to signal to him.

He blushed.

“…Sorry,” he apologized, hanging his head sheepishly. “I kind of got caught up, didn’t I?”

“Indeed,” Amelia said with a faint nod, adjusting her glasses. She looked pointedly at Nick again. The scathing critique in her eyes was even more blatant.

“This is our date,” her stare seemed to be saying. “How much longer are you going to spend it talking about another woman?”

Nick knew that she was completely correct. This WAS their date together! He shouldn’t be commenting about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin, he should be focusing on Amelia and their bowling match!

Now that he thought about it, maybe THAT had been Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin’s goal in coming here.

To take his mind off of the woman he was supposed to be spending time with, and make the day all about her.

…Yeah, the more that he thought about it, the more that seemed to be the kind of thing she would do. Nick held back his sigh and scratched his cheek.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized to Amelia. “I got caught up in the wrong thing.”

“Not at all,” Amelia replied, shaking her head. “As long as you realized. Next time, I hope that you can realize it without any prompting on the part of your date.”

She wasn’t wrong there. Nick knew it was bad form to talk about another woman on a date, but because Amelia was his stepmother, his mind had just gone there without him even realizing it. That was pretty disrespectful.

He needed to do better.

“Sorry, my head’s back in the game,” he assured her, shaking his head for emphasis and trying to push away any lingering thoughts about Augmented Synthetic Humanoid Assassin. “Let’s get back to bowling, okay?”

“Yes, that would be just fine,” Amelia said with a terse nod. A cold gesture and statement on her part, but Nick could see the hint of a smile on her lips.

Relief washed over his chest and he picked up his bowling ball, ready to take his turn. He only knocked down about half the pins, but whatever. It was relaxing, just letting the ball fly like that and not being bothered by the score.

He turned to Amelia and she gave him an approving nod.

Finally it felt like the date was getting back on track!