It can't hurt (can it?)

"Hey Elizabeth," you say, "I'm really grateful for all the help you're giving me."

"It is my job, you know."

Uh, yeah. That's true. Still, you plunge ahead. "I wonder if I could buy you a coffee as a sort of, I don't know, payback."

"Having coffee with you is payback for me?"

Wow, this wasn't going the way you hoped.

"Well, I guess I could buy you the coffee and you could drink it alone."

She laughs. "I'm just kidding with you. Sure, I'll let you buy me a coffee sometime. But my break isn't for another hour."

"Oh, I can wait." It isn't like you have to be anywhere.

"Oh. Okay then." She looks surprised by your flexibility. Or maybe by your desperation. Crap, should you have played harder to get. Then again, would anyone have believed you if you had. Back in high school you'd spent a semester trying to be strong, silent and mysterious. It turned out, nobody had even noticed. It's easy to be hard to get when nobody wants to get you.

Still, she'd agreed to the date. You just hope she won't remember your offer to let her have her coffee alone.

The hour goes by quickly with you immersed in YouTube videos about occult societies. There is even one 'secret' society that advertises in comic books of all things. Way to keep a secret, right? Could something like that really have discovered the secret to hacking the sim? It seems unlikely... especially as many of them had their origins before computer programming was widespread. Surely programming is a necessary component of any hack.

Elizabeth pulls you out of your thoughts with a tap on your shoulder. "So, I'm ready for that coffee."

"Cool."