The fireworks were starting soon.
“Hey,” Alice nudged Brad.
“Yea?” Brad responded.
“Thank you for today.”
Brad paused not knowing what to say.
“This is when you say you’re welcome and tell her you had a good time, Brad.” Sonder whispered in his ear.
“You’re welcome Alice. I had a really good time today.”
“Me too,” Alice smiled, “When can I meet you in real life?”
Brad froze. Real life? He wasn’t ready to meet face to face. In fact he didn’t even think about meeting in person at all when he asked her to be his girlfriend.
“Brad, I know you’re probably not ready so just tell her ‘one day’ for now and apologize because you live far away.” Sonder told him.
“I’m sorry Alice, I kind of live far away from you. One day...for sure.”
Alice looked at Brad slightly suspicious of his response, but didn’t want to push any further. She certainly didn’t want to rush him into anything he wasn’t ready for.
“That’s ok,” Alice responded, “I’m sure one day we’ll meet each other. I just wish we could see each other, that’s all.”
“We can,” Brad unconsciously responded.
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, sorry, um I mean we can always meet in VR, I mean.”
“Ohh, yea I know that's silly, but I would still prefer to meet face to face. I don’t, um, really like VR all that much to be honest with you.”
Brad paused for a minute to take that bit of information in.
“...I see.”
The fireworks began before the conversation got awkward and the both of them watched in the private Disneyland server. They held hands in silence, one of them basking in teenage romance, and the other, with mixed feelings of happiness and anxiety. Would she even like him in real life? Doubt filled Brad’s mind, even as her hand held his tightly with the promise of more tomorrows.
The pair agreed to text each other later that night as they ended the date. Alice gave Brad a kiss on the cheek and wished him good night as she logged off.
“Sonder…”
“Yes, Brad?”
“I’m feeling a lot of things right now, I need some help figuring out what those are.”
“Of course, Brad, teleporting you to the studio.”
Disneyland began to disappear as Brad teleported to a small, but cozy sound studio. Brad was lost in his thoughts. The date had gone well, but there was unease in Brad’s heart.
“Do you think she’d still like me?” Brad asked.
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There was a slight pause before Sonder responded, “I replayed all interactions you’ve had with Alice thus far, I believe she will, yes.”
That made Brad feel a little better.
“Thanks, Sonder, how could you tell?”
“I just can Brad. The algorithm predicts a high likelihood of success.”
“Would it be...would it be selfish of me to ask to meet virtually only, um, at least for a while.”
“To put it plainly Brad, yes. The likelihood of relationship success goes down tremendously if you were to have virtual only interactions.”
“I see, when do you think I should tell her that I sit behind her in class?”
Another pause, “Brad, I’ve analyzed your school calendar. I suggest in about 3 weeks.”
“3 WEEKS!!”
“Yes, I believe prom is coming up soon. It would be wise to reveal yourself to her so you can ask her to it.”
“Oh…”
There was a long silence after that.
“I know you aren’t ready yet, Brad. That’s ok. I’ll help you through it. From my analysis, it seems like Alice highly prizes real world interactions and face to face, quality time. If you want this to work you need to compromise somehow. I’ll help you through it.”
“...I know, thank you for always helping me out Sonder.”
“Of course, Brad.”
“It just feels like...this…” Brad said looking down at his virtual body, “this is the real me. I don’t feel like the real me in the real world. My body doesn’t feel right. I don’t feel right.”
“I understand you Brad. There’s been a lot of research showing that a lot of people feel like their virtual identities and aliases are closer to who they identify with than their real world selves. Regardless, the real Alice is in the real world, and she wants to meet you there.”
“Ok…” Brad slightly mumbled under his breath.
“Ok?”
“Yea, ok. 3 weeks right?”
“Yes, the algorithm says 3 weeks is optimal.”
Brad pulled out his virtual calendar and marked the day 3 weeks from now.
“Sonder?”
“Yes, Brad”
“When she kissed me, I had some other feelings come up. I think it was happiness, but it felt like there were a lot of other feelings in there at the same time. Can you play some music to help me guess what those feelings were?”
“Sure, based on my analysis you were experiencing love. It is a mixture of joy and sadness. Let me play you some sample music that encompasses both of those feelings.”
The music player began to play “Something,” by the Beatles.
Brad sat there listening to the bittersweet tune until the tune ended.
“Yea, this kind of feels right, but there were, um, kind of two other colors that came up when she kissed me. Can you play Nirvana?”
“Nirvana?”
“Yes, Nirvana.”
The player started playing “Heart Shaped Box,” by Nirvana.
“This feeling was definitely in there,” Brad said to Sonder.
“I see, yes it is possible that love can bring you to dark places, but in general it should give you new highs. Allow me to play another song to see if this does not resonate.”
The player changed from the depressive tones of Nirvana to “Love Never Felt So Good,” by Michael Jackson. Brad began to move his head to the smooth beat and uplifting music.
“This is close!”
“What’s close?”
“There was one more color, one more feeling that I felt when she kissed me. This song is close, but it’s not quite there. It was kind of deep, bassy, almost a purple color.”
Sonder thought about it for a while, until it finally realized what Brad meant.
“Brad, may I ask, did you feel a tingling sensation anywhere in your body when she kissed you?” Sonder asked as Brad continued to groove to the song.
“Yea, I kind of felt a fluttery feeling in my stomach.”
“Anywhere else?”
“What do you mean?” Brad asked innocently.
“Allow me to play one more song, and let me know if it matches the last thing you felt.”
As the song ended, the player began to play “Sexual Healing” by Marvin Gaye.
Brad sat there looking confused for a few seconds until Marvin began to sing.
“This is it! What song is this?”
“It’s ‘Sexual Healing’ by Marvin Gaye, Brad.”
“Oh…” Brad said guiltily.
They listened to the rest of the song before Brad logged off to go to bed that night a little older.