Waiting through the day...

James

Em's truck was back again. As much as Jane needs my care, I also need to go to work. How do I fix this...? In this moment, I had realized something. As guilty as I sometimes feel using my app powers, maybe now was a good moment to use them. Jane asked me for painkillers, mom still had some in her drawer. I texted her that she would need to buy some new ones soon, then she obviously asked whether I needed them and I told her they were for Jane. I told her that we were doing fine. Em left quickly after having returned Jane.

"Jane, I have to go to work today."

"A-Are you sure? I might need your help and you need to sleep too."

"I can work just fine. I'll drop you off to my neighbor, I need to thank her anyway."

"What for?"

"She got the cops searching for you off my back, remember?"

"Oh, right."

With Jane's pain, the walk to Klara's place took a bit longer than usual. I knocked and Klara opened.

Klara: "Huh? Hi James, what are you doing here? And who is that? Wait, I remember you, didn't you ask me a couple question about his father a few weeks ago?"

Jane: "Uhm, yeah..."

James: "Klara, I wanted to thank you. For that little lie yesterday."

Klara: "No worries. Hope you slept well."

James: "Well, I didn't. That's where she comes in, Have you read the news yet?"

Klara: "Oh, you mean the mayor?"

Jane: "Yeah. I caused... the commotion yesterday. That tape had to reach the press somehow."

Klara: "Impressive."

James: "Klara, she's still a bit hurt and needs to rest. But I need to work. Could you please..." Klara looked at me with a frown.

Klara: "James, I was hoping to enjoy some alone time with Amber..."

James: "I'm sorry, I know... If she stays with you all day I'll pick her up after work, okay?"

Klara: "I don't know..."

James: "Oh and... could you do me another favor? Later, when Emily comes with Amber's stuff, can you offer her lunch? And... give her my house keys after she's done here." I handed her my keys.

Klara: "James, what are you planning to do?"

James: "I'll... answer that later, okay? For Jane, she just needs to be safe and resting while there could be people trying to get **** on her."

Klara: "I don't know how to feel about this... I'll do it, but you know what I want in exchange."

James: "After Christmas?"

Klara: "Fine." Klara +1SP (+78SP)

Jane: "What are you talking about?"

James: "That's private, sorry."

Jane: "Well whatever." Jane +2SP (+62SP)

James: "Thanks again for everything, Klara. You're really helping me out right now."

Then I went to the train and to work. The conversation still stuck with me however. I noticed that I gained less SP recently, and not just because I got many women to higher scores. Then there was the fact that Klara didn't really want to follow my orders and even negotiated. I briefly looked at my phone and realized the app seemed to be gone. But I still got submission score notifications? What? Something was weird. Sadly, that suspense would have to wait until the evening, since I shouldn't tinker with the app in a public space.

I arrived at work and was greeted by Christine with a hug. We stood there in our embrace for a while, until we hear a sudden thud. When we looked, Donna had dropped a stack of papers on the ground in shock as she saw us. She quickly picked everything up and nervously went to Beth's office, now that we were watching her. Christine and I seemed to think that now was a good place to go back to our work, and so we did. I spent the entire morning researching stuff. There was a lot of sources to look at for women's pants, in fact, even when I excluded jeans. I never thought the topic could have such depth.

The lunch break came earlier than I anticipated it. Donna stepped out of her office.

Donna: "You know, if you are careful, we can just eat here in the office. I'll grab you stuff to eat, okay?"

Christine: "You know what I need, right?"

Donna: "Oh, yeah, no worries..."

James: "Thanks Donna. Just pick what seems like the best for me."

After a while, Donna returned carrying three plates with food, cleaning wipes and cutlery in one hand with her ring finger and pinky. We placed the food on the table and started eating. I hadn't had anything since breakfast.

Donna: "Seems like you two are close."

Christine: "Oh, uhm... yeah."

Donna: "Is everything okay, Christine? I didn't expect you to be this close with James."

Christine: "N-No, it's fine, I swear... It's just..."

James: "If you don't want to talk about it, we can talk about something else, Christine."

Christine: "No, it's fine. I guess I have to tell people eventually."

Donna: "Hm? Tell what?"

Christine: "When I read Beth's email last week, I snapped and lashed out at James. He... didn't take it to heart and I'm visiting therapy now. I... developed feelings for him throughout this. We went on a date this weekend and it was lovely."

Donna: "And what do you think? Amber was right about his size, I'm curious if you could take it..."

Christine: "D-Donna..."

James: "We didn't have sex that night."

Donna: "Huh? Why not?"

James: "I don't know, she never asked and I wasn't feeling it in that moment either. Making out with her was just too fun."

Christine: "Haha."

Donna: "Ah well, as long as you two have fun, who am I to object just because I have different preferences?"

Christine: "Haven't seen Amber in a while, I hope we get to see her soon again."

Donna: "She's on holiday till the new year. But I think she's in town, so we could see her on Sunday for fitness."

James: "Wait, you're doing fitness together?"

Christine: "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, didn't I? I usually do fitness with Donna, sometimes Amber tags along. Donna, I invited James for next time if that's okay?"

Donna: "Sure, why would I object to seeing him get sweaty and build some muscle?" Christine blushed a bit.

Christine: "D-Donna..."

James: "Thanks for bringing us lunch, by the way, Donna. It was a nice gesture. I have to leave the two of you alone now, I promised Gloria some help."

With that, I left my normal office and knocked on the door to Gloria's office. To my surprise, Floria was there as well.

James: "Hi Gloria, need my help today?"

Gloria: "Absolutely. Judging by the numbers, your article has been doing quite well again, there's so much to go through..."

James: "I'll do my best. Oh, and hi Floria. Didn't expect to see you here."

Floria: "Hi..."

I looked at the report queue, as usual. "Oh wow, these are many. Are they all discussing my article?"

Gloria: "Not really. Your article isn't that controversial. People just flock over to other articles and are awful there."

James: "Sigh. Sometimes I wonder if it's worth writing anything at all if people are this mean."

Floria: "Of course it is! People like your article. The joy you bring to the kind millions matters more than the rage you induce in the few dozen."

Gloria: "Uhm, more like a few thousand. The queue is way too big. Unless they were all erroneous, I'll have to continue this tomorrow. Even James' help can't move mountains."

James: "I'll still do my best to chip away at this, don't worry Gloria."

Gloria: "Thanks, James. Want to go somewhere after work again?"

James: "Only if you eat something first... But not today, sorry. I'm really busy until Christmas, and I'm sure you have more important stuff to do then."

Gloria: "I'll book you for next week, then."

James: "Book me? Haha, alright, next Monday then."

Floria: "Why are you so busy, if I may ask?"

James: "Well, my mom lived at my place during the investigation and was the one cooking while she lived there, but she's with her side of the family for Christmas. So I have to cook stuff myself. I'll also have to buy presents, since my Christmas party was rather spontaneous. And I'll celebrate with them from the night before, so that means all my evenings are gone."

Gloria: "You know, you could cook something for me today and we just go somewhere to drink today."

James: "Yeah but... my house is pretty far out of town."

Floria: "It's where I used to live, Gloria. You'll have to drive a long while until you get to a bar again."

James: "I have nothing against inviting you for dinner, but the drive is going to make a bar impossible."

Gloria: "It's fine, maybe I shouldn't keep drinking when I'm sad anyway. I'll just invite myself to your place tonight and hope that makes me happier."

James: "Sure, I'll try my best."

Hm, not sure how that will go. Jane is going to be there. I'm really unsure how to bring these two together.

Floria: "James, have you heard about the mayor already?" Floria +1SP (+32SP)

James: "Yeah I have..."

Floria: "I'm glad he resigned."

James: "He resigned? I just heard about the allegations."

Floria put a news report on loudspeaker:

'Following allegations that he allowed a local real estate mogul to spy on his tenants in their bedrooms in exchange for being able to see the footage as well, Acting Mayor Anderson of Trinton City has resigned. Anderson got into office after his predecessor, Mayor Williamsen of the Social and Green Party, SGP, had to resign in shame, after records were shown to the public that business leaders paid for political favors, like zoning law regulations and city taxes. Williamsen also accepted a bribe from a local real estate owner, John Goodman, to allow Goodman to install spy cameras in the bedrooms of his tenants. Said apartments were deliberately given to young, female renters, as the police have already shown in their investigation against Goodman. After Williamsen's resignation, Anderson of the Conservative and Traditionalist Party, CTP, was appointed by the city council, as he was known to be unbribeable. Bribe seems to be the keyword however, as the leaked recording shows Anderson asking Goodman for viewing access to his recordings, remarking that he can't take bribes due to Williamsen's resignation. Following these revelations, Anderson stepped down as Acting mayor at 1PM with immediate effect. The hastily convened city council declared the 68-year-old Marsha Donalds of the Liberal and Progressive Party, LPP, to be the new Acting Mayor. She has announced that she will seek re-election in the next mayoral elections in late July. These are the news from Trinton City, the nation's largest city with yet another city scandal rocking trust in local government.'

I sank down back into my chair. It was over. The day of waiting should be over. I texted Jane: 'He resigned. You're safe. Stay at my place if you want, but you can now safely return home.' The rest of the day I worked with Gloria.