Lottery (1)

Wearing an N95 mask, dark sunglasses, and a Seagulls ballcap, Jack walked up to the counter and handed the scan card with his chosen lottery numbers to the cashier. Unlike at the last convenience store, this cashier was an attractive younger woman, probably in her early twenties. As she fed the scan card to the lottery machine, she half turned to him and said, "You're smart."

He opened his mouth to say, "what?", but caught himself at the last moment. This was not going like it had in the simulation. Why was she talking to him now when she didn't during the simulation? Damn it! I hope this doesn't turn awkward.

When he didn't respond to her, she turned fully to face him and said, "Real smart. So many people come in, bragging about what they're gonna do if they win, not caring at all if they'll later get identified. But, you," she winked at him and gave him a warm smile, "you're smart. Decent quality disguise, not talking, so I can't identify your voice. That's the way to do it."

He flinched when she said "disguise".

The lottery machine finished printing his ticket and the young woman grabbed the little slip of paper and handed it to him, while saying, "Oh, don't worry. It's a good disguise, probably can't even tell it's a disguise just from the security footage."

He just nodded, slowly backing away from the counter.

Somehow sensing his unease, the cashier gave him a bright cherry smile, waved at him, and said in a chipper tone, "Have a nice day!"

He nodded, then turned and walked out of the convenience store, trying not to rush.

Once he was back in his trust, but not too rusty, Nissan Sentra, and back on the road home, he relaxed a bit and pondered what had happened. Why had the cashier talked to him this time, when she hadn't during the simulation? He'd arrived at the store at the exact same time, for real, as he had in the simulation. And yet, she'd talked to him. Why? What was different?

In his soul space he told Madison, "It's done. I'm on my way home."

"So…how did it go?" she asked.

"There were no problems, but one surprise."

"Oh?"

"During the simulation, the cashier didn't try to talk to me, which is what I wanted. It would have been awkward if they tried to force a conversation and I refused."

She nodded. "Yeah, that's what you wanted to avoid."

"Except that's not what happened. She talked. The first thing she said was, 'You're smart', then proceeded to compliment me for buying my lottery ticket in disguise!"

"Wait, seriously?"

"Yeah, but she was super chill about it. Didn't try to get me to talk, actually complimented me for not talking. Reassured me my disguise was good enough to fool the security cameras."

"Huh. Why'd she talk to you this time, but not in the simulation? Did you do something different?"

"No, I arrived at the exact same time as I did in the simulation. The only thing I could think of was that I was more relaxed this time, compared to in the simulation."

"Ah, that's it. That explains it."

"But why would me being more relaxed lead to her talking to me? Or, the reverse, why would me being tense, result in her not talking to me?"

"Well, she clearly clocked you as being in disguise, and also could read your mood. It's not like that's difficult or anything. So, since you were in disguise and tense, she probably decided to remain quite so as not so spook you. Sketchy tense guys tend to react poorly when spooked."

"Okay, that tracks, and the reverse?"

"When you are relaxed, you tend to behave more confidently. Ladies like confident men and she probably thought, 'this guy's chill and smart, I'll flirt with him a little.'"

"Wait, are you saying she was flirting with me?"

"Yes."

"Huh. I wonder how many other times I missed that someone was flirting with me?"

"When have you ever noticed that a girl was flirting with you?"

"Um, never?"

"At least you can admit it. Isn't there some saying about how knowing is half the battle or something?"

He sighed, "Sure, let's go with that."

"Oh, speaking of flirting, I talked to Katie and Sam and told them that you're back on the menu."

"Seriously?" He hadn't expected her to begin her atonement so quickly. "Is that all you told them?"

"No. I confessed to lying to them about my relationship with you. Told them why I did it. They asked why I was confessing now, and obviously I couldn't tell them about our soul bond, so I went with a half truth. Said I'd confessed to you, and you'd been gracious enough to give me a chance to redeem myself by setting the record straight with all the girls I'd lied to about you."

"How'd they respond?"

"They were surprisingly understanding. When Katie asked me if I was still interested in you, romantically, I admitted that I was, but that there was no way you'd let me have you all to myself, not after what I'd done. Then Sam asked if I was really okay with sharing. I could tell she wanted more than just a simple answer, so I gave her a reason that's close to the truth. I said that, because you hadn't pushed me away after confessing to you, I found I wasn't as anxious about losing you anymore, and thought I was okay with sharing. I said it was better to share you with others, then to not have you at all. In the end, they both said they looked forward to seeing you at North State. They also told me it was okay with them if I gave you their numbers."

"Huh. That's good, right?"

"Good?! Dude. That means they want you to call them. If a girl gives you her number, she expects you to call. As far as I can tell, they're still very interested in you."

Feelings of hope and dread swirled around each other inside him. Hope that Madison was right, that Katie and Sam were interested in him, and dread, born from past experience, that they would change their minds once they got to know him. He was tempted to call them in a simulation first, to see how things when, but he also felt like that would be a mistake. If all he wanted from them was sex, then sure, gaming the situation would make sense. But he wanted a genuine connection, and he worried he wouldn't be able to achieve that if his responses were not genuine. If he talked to them in a simulation first, then his real-world conversation would be like reading from a script.

As they entered the house from the garage, Jack said, "I'm cooking in this damn thing. I'm going to change."

"Ooh, do you want some help?" she asked playfully.

"No," he replied with a chuckle, "You'd just get handsy without actually helping."

"Hmm, yes, I'd be all over you like-"

"What? Like flies on shit?"

"What? No," she replied defensively, then her tone turned thoughtful, "more like a bee on honey, or, or, a cat and cream," then she made a rapidly repeated slurping noise that sounded an awful lot like something he'd heard in a horror movie.

He shuddered at the sound she'd made, and as he walked down the hallway towards his room, he hollered back over his shoulder, "If you so much as whisper 'fava beans', I'm kicking you out!"