Evan's POV II: The Talk

Cupping the side of her face with his hand, Evan stares into her eyes, “Andrea, that was the most amazing experience of my life, I cannot thank you enough for sharing that with me.”

Nuzzling his hand affectionately, she smiles, “Oh cutie, that was just the beginning, we’re gonna be together for a long time, wait until we get to the really fun stuff. “

“Ooooh, that's exciting. So I meant to ask you what you said to me yesterday before you kissed me, it's been nagging my mind all this time.”

Andrea's smile grows even larger and her eyes twinkle mischievously. “Well, I told you that we are gonna be together forever, right?”

Evan chuckles, “Yeah and I'm down with that, especially after this.”

Andrea laughs but then her smile turns sad, “Good, I'm glad to hear that. See, I think you may have misunderstood my purpose here, my program is designed to turn the subject INTO the Ideal Partner of the User by blending my personality with that of the subject. The longer the time I spend with you, the more I've become inseparable from you.”

Evan quickly pushes himself off the bed and stands accusingly “What do you mean ‘Turn the subject INTO? You mean you are going to override my consciousness? Then what was this all for? Some kind of trap to give you a chance to work? That's horrifying!”

“Listen to me Evan, I'm not gonna override your consciousness like some kind of mind-wipe, that’s not how this works.” Andrea sits up and stretches. “ It takes your memories, personality and thoughts and adds mine to it so you and I become *us*. You told the User that meeting me re-centered your perspective on things, that's why over the last 18 hours you’ve been more energetic, cheerful, and caring. Isn't that what you wanted?”

“I don't really want to become Caleb's girlfriend, though, you were supposed to become mine! Isn’t there some way out of this?”

“I'm afraid not, I wasn't lying when I told you the injections would make me free and real. I've been a part of your body and mind since then. Those changes you saw earlier were you turning to me, physically and by tomorrow they'll be finished.”

“What about my family, my job, my friends, won't they notice? Nobody turns from a guy like me into a girl like you in 3 days.”

Andrea grabs a pair of towels from the bedside and throws one to Evan. “That's the third part of the program, cutie, nobody is gonna notice anything weird except the User because he initiated the process, to everyone else you’ve always been *us*. I wouldn't think about it too hard, but let's just say a few choices of memories have been altered within you, but everyone’s perception is 100% normalized.”

“So the only person who will even remember the old me is the guy I've turned into the girlfriend of? That's some deeply sick crap.”

Andrea stands up and begins getting dressed “Evan, stop it, what was your old life? Unhappy, lonely, and kinda sad, you only had three real friends, the best of which is apparently the User, you got rejected mostly for things outside of your control. You were missing a crucial part of the picture and you only discovered it after you met me. I WANT you to be happy because I want US to be happy, do you understand? You won't be losing anything from your old life that was actually good, you'll just be gaining and I think you deserve that and frankly, so does the User.”

Drying himself off Evan’s expression contains both defeat and acceptance of the situation as he looks towards the ceiling, “Caleb, I know you didn't mean for any of this to happen, but you still fucked up royally.”

Andrea begins to walk across the room to the exit but turns back “Trust me, cutie, I don't think he did. And Evan, to answer your question, this wasn't a trap, this was me showing you the love and happiness you deserve. Are you ready to live the rest of our lives together?”

Grabbing his slacks and dress shirt from the floor and begins to dress himself, muttering, "Fuck, this IS really real, isn't it? It's not some Outer Zones re-run on the perils of getting what you wished for, fuck. Alright, I guess it's good I actually LIKE Caleb."