Walk to work with Amber

"Come on, let's go."

Amber was finished and it was already 8:55AM. "H-Hey I have a question." I said as I followed her promptly. "As I told you, my house still has very little furniture. I can afford a dresser and it's gonna arrive tomorrow evening. I thought maybe we could build it together and spend the rest of the evening together?", I said with a wink. "Building it? I dunno, I'm not that strong, James."

There she was, the Amber I remember from college. She still likes me, but she isn't so willing to do everything and anything for me. "Oh don't worry, it's not gonna take that long and all I really need from you is someone who can hold the boards in place. Having a second pair of hands always helps." "F-Fine" Amber +2SP (+41SP)

Two points? I never realized how much she hated physical labor. But I can't blame her, we both studied journalism and history, the most exercise we usually get is carrying heavy books or running after interview partners. "It's gonna be alright, I promise, okay? I'm gonna cook too, and we're gonna talk a lot about you. I have a lot to learn about you, I feel like." She was smiling again. It was wonderful to see her like this.

The workday was just an uneventful Tuesday. Although throughout, I got occasional points from Amber. Once she had to talk to Beth about something. Other times she was on her phone, chatting. I think she might have canceled some other plans for tomorrow night. Fuck, did I word it as an order again? This app has fixed and destroyed my self-doubt within 24 hours. Now I'm not doubting whether women actually like me or have ulterior motives, now I question whether they do what I ask of them out of their own volition or because I ordered them to. In total: Amber +6SP, +3SP (+50SP)

Cutting it a bit too close to what I had in mind. Another app notification... A new lock for Amber?

Relationship Lock

User can lock the relationship between the subject and the user in place or prevent it from turning in one direction.

What a short description. But I can imagine how this would be useful. I mean, say a user would cheat on their subject - that subject would be **** to feel unaffected. The same applies to any risky moves. I could propose to her and if she doesn't want to, she couldn't change her feelings. The idea of preventing the possibility to make things awkward between us seems great. I left it unlocked for now, too, although I'll readily admit that I wouldn't mind using this lock.

Amber

Ugh, why did Beth call me into her office? I knock on her door. "Enter."

"W-Why did you call me?"

"Look Amber, I know it's been hard for you, but the articles you write keep getting worse. They're not terrible yet, but you're on a clear downward trend and I don't want you to continue like this. Is there anything holding you back? Anything on your mind?"

"I-I... dunno." Of course I knew. Probably. But I didn't wanna talk about it when the problem might have solved itself already.

"I know it sucks talking about it with your boss, but please do me the favor and tell me what's going on. I have a lot of life experience, I'm nearly twice as old as you. So please tell me."

"Sigh, well it's James."

"James? He's been here only for three days?"

"Well, I've known him since college and I... kinda had a crush on him, but he wasn't really into me. And I could never really get over him the past two years, when I moved here for work."

"O-Oh I see. Do you think talking about this with him might help? I don't want your feelings to hold you back in your professional life."

Ugh, was I really gonna tell her this? I guess I had to. "I talked about this with him yesterday after work, I think it'll be alright. That reminds me, I think you said that you handle HR stuff too, right Beth? I think my relationship with James is getting to a point where you should know that we have feelings for each other." Amber +6SP (+47SP)

"A-Ah, I wasn't really expecting this, but if it makes you happy and work better, I'm not in a position to argue with that."

I was about to head out when Beth told me "and if things don't work out... I'm sure the four of us can organize a girls' night out to get you help over the breakup."

That isn't a real encouragement, I feel like. Just as I was about to head to my chair again, my mom texted me.

"Who is James? Anything serious? Why haven't I heard of him before?"

"No mom, no need to worry. James is a great guy and things are going great. I'll tell you if I need anything." If she ever cared for me, she'd have heard of James before, but no. Amber +3SP (+50SP)

"That's my daughter! Strong, independent, and knows what she wants." Independent has a nice double meaning here, doesn't it? 'Daughter that I don't need to take care of'.

She continues, "You know about the birds and the bees, right? I don't think I ever told you..."

"Mom, I'm 24. I know this sort of stuff already." Actually, my brother told me when I was a teen. Since my parents never bothered to.

She just texted back a thumbs up. God, I had more important things to do.