Work as usual, and early afternoon classes.

Chapter 4 – Finally Making some Progress. (continued)

Jason once again woke up long enough to move to his bed when Alex got up, then was up again a little later to get ready for work. He found Kate eating breakfast, still dressed in her long-sleeved pajamas.

“Good morning. Got a busy day ahead?” Jason asked as he served himself a bowl of cereal.

“Yeah, somewhat. Obviously I don’t have early morning class, but I am going to the gym this afternoon.”

“I remember.” Jason acknowledged. “I wish I could go with you, but I have class at that time today.”

“You’ll just have to come again next Monday.” She told him with a smile.

“I will, most likely.” He assured her as she got up and put her plate in the sink, then went to get ready for her day.

It wasn’t much longer before Jason himself washed some of the morning’s dishes and got ready for work as well. Just before he left, he checked his app.

Katherine O’Connell

Relationship: Best Friend’s Brother, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 54, Affection 33, Friendship 30, Protectiveness 23 (+1), Trust 20, Nostalgia 19, Worry 11, Admiration 2 (+1), Lust 0

Special Traits: Childhood Crush

It wasn’t a lot, but was more change than he’d really expected considering their brief interaction.

Alexandra Kelly

Relationship: Brother, Confidant, Secret **** Partner

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 94 (+1), Love 72, Friendship 72, Playfulness 68, Loyalty 60, Protectiveness 49, Trust 41 (+2), Admiration 38, Worry 30, Lust 22 (+2), Submissiveness 14 (+1)

Special Traits: Fantasy Crush, **** Kink, Taboo Kink

Suppressed Traits: Secret Shame*

Active Effects: Suppress special trait (Secret Shame).

It was good to see things progressing with Alex after the previous night. Mostly he was just glad she was doing better, even if they never ended up doing much more intimate than what they’d done already.

Heather Chase

Relationship: Rival, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 22 (+1), Hostility 17 (-2), Resentment 17, Loyalty 13, Dominance 11, Beholden 7 (+1), Lust 5* (+1), Playfulness 4

Special Traits: Cocktease, Drama Queen

Active Effects: Awaken Attitude (Lust)

Some more positive changes, he noted. He was quite pleased that things were improving with Heather, especially after how abrasive they’d gotten for a while.

Louisa Dubois

Relationship: Catfisher

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Remorse 44* (+1), Affection 29, Beholden 8* (+1), Lust 4, Worry 1, Fear 0

Special Traits: Internal Conflict, Self Doubt

Active Affects: Attitude Amplifier (Beholden), Attitude Amplifier (Remorse)

Christine Dubois

Relationship: Catfisher

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Remorse 33* (+2), Affection 24, Playfulness 3, Beholden 5* (+2), Disdain 2, Worry 1, Fear 0 (-1)

Special Traits: Internal Conflict

Active Affects: Attitude Amplifier (Beholden), Attitude Amplifier (Remorse)

It was good to see his amplifiers working, even when he wasn’t doing much. And he was kind of happy to see neither of the sisters actively feared him anymore.

So he put away his phone and started his car to make his way to the office.

He learned when he arrived at work that Ms. Carn was actually out of the office for the day, so he had no particularly noteworthy encounter.

From there, he drove directly to his first class of the afternoon, which was on business and marketing. He then had a short break in between that and his calculus class in the early evening. After his second class he did notice a new profile name on his app.

Dakota Taylor

Relationship: Classmate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Hostility 7, Disdain 4

He knew a girl named Dakota, but hadn’t known her last name prior to this. He wondered if she was related to his computer science teacher with the same surname.

Then he looked at his Skype notifications.

Stephanie: We going to be able to chat tonight?

Jason: I should have time, though I may have plans after class.

He replied.

Jason: They won’t keep me out too late though.

Jason: Probably.

With those messages sent, he quickly started his car and drove home.

“I’m leaving in about eighteen minutes with or without you, Dick-Head.” Heather said as soon as Jason had walked in the door. She was in the living room, drying her hair, and Alex on the couch looked mildly startled probably less by what she’d said than by the friendly tone she’d said it in.

“Wait, Jason’s going with you to the gym?” She asked them.

“Yeah, we talked about it last night.” Jason confirmed, “I’m trying to make an effort to hit the gym semi-regularly.”

“Oh okay.” Alex offered him a friendly smile. “I hope you can make it work.”

“Me too.” Jason smiled back, but then went quickly to his bedroom to grab a change of clothes before hopping in the shower. He was quick, since he really didn’t need a super thorough cleaning, and got dressed while his hair was still damp. He quickly grabbed his gym bag from his closet and was ready to go before Heather was walking out the door.

“Thanks for being quick.” Heather said softly once they were outside heading to her car.

“You’re welcome.” He told her. “I’m hoping we might make this a regular thing, so I want to make it as convenient for you as possible.”

Heather offered him a crooked grin, “Well, if you don’t annoy me too much, and can resist perving on me any more than the average gym bro, I could see us doing this every Wednesday.” She agreed before getting into the driver’s seat of her Avalon. “Though, I have to be back early on Wednesdays, so it’ll be a short workout.”

“That’s fine.” Jason tossed his duffel bag in the back seat and sat on the passenger side.

After they’d been driving in silence for a couple minutes, Jason said, “Thank you again, for making the effort to be nicer.”

“Just don’t make it awkward. I’m not really used to all this saccharine shit these days.” Heather responded snarkily.

“I’ll do my best, but I hope you know that if I’m ever playful or teasing with you, I’m just trying to be friendly, I don’t mean anything nasty by it.”

“Yeah, yeah. If you want me to apologize again, you can forget about it. I’m already trying to do better. If that’s not enough for you, then you can fuck right off.”

“Alright, backing off.” Jason held up his hands in surrender, and dropped the subject, turning instead to watching the city passing by outside the car windows.