Chapter Fourteen Aaron
Just as soon as Aaron closes the doors to the closet, he hears a knock at the front door. When he invites Valerie in, he cordially takes the platter of food from her and asks her how her day went while setting it out on the kitchen counter. She only shrugs her shoulders when she says “Fine”, but she still has a big smile on her face. When he glances down her gleaming smooth legs, her smile gets even bigger.
His apartment is small and the only table in the place is for his computer. The kitchen is divided from the living room by the countertop that serves well enough as a dining area. So that they can sit across from each other, he sets a stool out for her on the living room side and one for himself on the kitchen side. With only a few of the lights on, it makes for a slightly dim and cozy atmosphere. She takes her seat while he continues to set the table for the two of them.
When he gazes at her face, it makes him think of what he told Five. If she told him to sit and roll over, he would probably go right on ahead and do it. Trying to keep from blushing at the thought of it, he turns toward his cupboards and brings out a bottle of wine and a pair of glasses. He pours two generous glasses and patiently waits for her to set the food out.
He can see that she’s smiling at his curiosity of what she’s brought. She watches him loosely while she lifts the foil off of the plates. When he sees what’s underneath, he looks at her with surprise. He wasn’t expecting such a thoughtful spread. She has made scallops, a whole cauliflower covered in cheese mix, and simple wedge cut tomatoes with salt on them.
“Hey now, this is really quite something Valerie.” He’s smiling, but it makes him a little sad too, but in a good way though. It reminds him of what his grandmother used to make.
“What do you like?”
“All of it, but especially the cheesy cauliflower, and the tomatoes, and the scallops.”
She chuckles “Aw, thanks Aaron, I’m glad you like it. These are some of my favorites too”
She goes ahead and serves out both of their plates and takes the first bite so there isn’t that awkward wait. He doesn’t quite know where to start. He has an inherent habit of eating one thing at a time, but he’ll try to watch that this time. He can’t remember the last time he’d made a real meal like this for himself, or let alone anything that consisted of more than two things. She has noticed the numerous bottles of hot sauce on the counter, but he holds off on using any out of respect. There’s so much he wants to know about her, but it’s hard to pick where to start.
“So what’s going on with your sister, you were saying she’s been out of the apartment a lot. After you’d mentioned it, I couldn’t really think of a time when I didn’t see you together.” He takes another bit and smirks a little.” For a while there, I kinda thought you might’ve been a couple.”
“Ha, yeah, she is cute. I was kinda wondering about you myself. A good looking man, living alone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with anyone.”
“No, I haven’t been involved with anyone in a while now I guess. I don’t know, I’ve just been going on alone day by day for so long, it’s added up to be years by now. It’s been on my mind a lot lately tho. I’ll admit, when I ran into you last week, you really caught my attention.”
She looks down at her food for a second, scooping some up. “Really?” She shrugs again. “I guess I’ve been pretty lonely for a while too. Didn’t really know it though, till it was obvious. Clarice has always been with me, and I really love her, but now she’s got a boyfriend. It kinda sucks. She’s been spending more time with him than me now. It’s been really different.”
He can detect a fair tone of resentment in her tone. “What do you really think about him? He seems to be a little… I don’t know.”
“Sketchy? Hey, I’ll say it. But yeah, I haven’t exactly warmed up to him all that much. He’s actually pretty solid on the job and has a strong work ethic. It’s mainly his greasy friend, Ray, that I don’t like. It’s when they’re both together that things look… sketchy. They don’t give off a good vibe, you know? He sounds like he was brought up with some strong morals n-whatnot. Old-ways kind of stuff. Country people do have good qualities about them, as long as they don’t get all worked up about, I don’t know, change?”
“What do you think about all that anyway, the change? Don’t get me wrong, I hate that there’s always someone wathching. I’m not the biggest fan of the law, but stupid people need to be told how to behave in writing I guess. I just wish that people who behaved and paid taxes could be trusted and left alone.”
She only slightly looks up with a raised eyebrow while taking a bite. “Mmm, I can see the truth in the old-ways. People’s lives are really none of the government’s business. No one ever liked authority, but yeah, like you said. Theres a lot of people too stupid to be trusted. That’s what the old ways were about, not getting lumped in with everyone else.”
His voice is quiet and even though they are kind of talking political, he’s got her running through his mind. “Yeah, it be nice if people like us got an exemption or something for good behavior.”
What I don’t like about Mikel is when he thinks I’m just some stupid city girl. I mean, he never comes right out and says, but I can still feel it, you know? He’s usually pretty good about not being an ass. He’s not the ignorant kind of redneck either, at least not in an intentionaly stubborn way. His friend Ray though, is a whole other story. If anyone needs to find him, he’s usually outside smoking, or milling about somewhere random. I swear he’s never working. I don’t know what he’s up to, but I don’t think it’s anything good. I kind of feel mean saying that, It’s probably just the way he looks that puts me on edge.”
“How do you mean? I only saw him from a distance myself.”
While she describes Ray, he pictures the man in his mind. He can see the his pointy hooked nose, ear length hair combed back smooth with something greasy, and pencil thin goat-ee. He’s sure he could recognize him if he came across him again. Not many people would likely fit the description. He’d consider the man shady indeed. She describes him as being rather skinny, but wiry would be a better fit.
While she talks, he watches her every move. He’s still very much enamored by her, and can hardly do anything but look at her face. He’s constantly panning his eyes back and forth between her eyes and lips while she speaks. Every moment he spends with her, she becomes more gorgeous. Suddenly, she stops, probably wondering if she’s lost his attention.
“Sorry, I don’t mean to blather on about Mikel and Ray like this. It’s just that sometimes I feel like he is wedging his way in between my sister on purpose. I don’t really resent him for it though. It is what it is.I guess I just needed to get that out. How about you, do you have any siblings?”
He didn’t mean ofr her to feel like she was boring him. “Crap, no no, your fine, I was just uh… sorry, I was totally paying attention, I promise. I was kind of staring at you again there for a moment. I’m just absolutely possessed by you. I’ll just say it, you are so damn gorgeous, I don’t even know what to do with myself.”
“Oh, um…” Her face starts to flush a little. “I guess no one’s really told me that before, I am kind of, well, you’ve got me by surprise. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very flattered. I actually kind of appreciate you coming out with it like that. It really makes me feel… good. Clarice has always been the hot one, I guess, and I kinda feel like a horse sometimes.
He leans back, holding in a chuckle. Of course she’d say that. “Nope, you are a very beautiful woman. Sorry, I didn’t mean to keep going on about it like that. But yeah, now you know.” He can only imagine how red his own face is getting.
“Well, it was still rather sweet of you. You’re quite handsome yourself Aaron.” She looks down at her plate and stabs another tomato slice with her fork. “So yeah, you know my sister and all that, what about your family? She puts her elbows up on the counter, crosses her fingers together and rests her chin on her hands. Same as he was doing, she goes ahead and watches him this time.
“I don’t have any siblings myself. I guess I can go ahead and start with having grown up in the country as well. I know, I don’t have that accent anymore, but depending on how many glasses of wine I have, it might show up. I moved into town for school way back, and I guess I stayed.”
“Really, I can kind of see it I guess.” She smirks. “But usually country folk stay in the country. What kept you here?”
“Honestly, it was the robots. I know, totally contrary right? I’ve always been into machines, space, all of it, always have been. I still have to get out of the city here and there though, that’s still in my blood. So, I kind of live in both worlds. In truth, I kind of overstayed my welcome back home. Apparently I was too, oh, I don’t know, open minded I guess. The old ways sound all free and stuff, but they’re actually pretty restrictive. Some folks just don’t like the truth, especially the ones out here.”
“Outstayed your welcome? I didn’t really make you out for a trouble maker Aaron. What’d you do?” She picks up her glass and watches his eyes while slowly taking a sip.”
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“I don’t usually tell anyone about things like this, cause it can sometimes come off as me sounding like a tough guy.” He pauses to take a drink of his wine as well. “Some guys thought I was just some young pup they could kick around because I was alone.”
“That sounds terrifying.”
“Some of these fucking farmers, sorry, thought they were going to put me in my place one night. Turns out they don’t really like anyone from where I’m from, or younger men calling them idiots.” He looks down at his plate, reflecting on that night. He can still remember the coppery taste of blood in his mouth well enough. “It didn’t turn out very well for anyone. I ended up in the ER and one of them… well… it was the start of some bad blood stretching all the way back home.”
“Wow, that sounds…a little rough. What about your parents?”
“Everything’s fine between me and my folks. There was a bit of tension across the valley for a while, but country folk can make peace, even in tough times. It’s how they live. It’s been like twenty years by now anyway.” He raises his eyebrows. “But some never forget do they.”
“And, so you ended up in Welan city?”
Perking up a little, his smile returns. “Yep. My folks were country people, but it doesn’t mean they were poor or stupid. I went straight into college, and holy crap did I take off with it. Started building robots first thing. I thought I was gonna change the world back then.”
“Right, you were saying that you were writing to your own controllers.”
He chuckles, wondering if he should tell her. “In school, I had, this old chore robot. I named him Jimmy. By the time I graduated, I’d pretty much rewritten his entire system. That was back when things weren’t so regulated. I, uh, took him back home with me once, to show my parents. They’d never really been around robots before. I thought it’d be fun to stop in at a diner on the way out there, and bring him in with me. I guess I forgot how different things were out of town. It was all fun and games until some of the local color got tired of me talking to the thing while I ate. It was almost like we were buds back then. Not really, but I made it look like it.”
“Ah, I’ can see where this might go. It’s one of the reasons why controllers are locked by their manufacuters now.”
Quieting his voice a little and leaning forward, he goes on. “Yep, Jimmy did what I told him to. One of the rather opinionated fellows got his arm broken. The gig was up after that. I wiped him in fear of getting in real trouble. The man was one of those zealots I guess, and was already wanted by the law. The cops never even asked about me or Jimmy.” He doesn’t really want to talk about himself the entire time, so he sits back up and resumes eating, waiting for her to take over again.
She can tell he’s a little sad about what happened. She could tell right away that Jimmy really was his pal, or at least he wanted a friend, and had tried to make Jimmy into one. “Aw, so what happened to im, after that? You still had a copy of Jimmy right though, didn’t you?”
“I reinstalled the stock firmware and sold him.” He can see that she’s kind of bummed out about how it ended. Trying to hide his silly smile, he pauses for a moment and continues. “A few years later, about when I graduated, I happened upon the very same model in another classroom lab. I think it’d been donated for students to work with. While no one was around, I uploaded Jimmy’s profile into it. I told him to go to the study lounge down the hall and wait for me there. I never did meet him in the lounge. I just wanted to set him free I guess.”
“Oh Aaron, that’s adorable. I always wished I had a robot friend like that. When I was a kid I grew tall really quickly, and I was kind of awkward. I didn’t have very many friends. The other girls were actually really mean, you know, and all the boys were too intimidated by me being bigger than them. I can’t say I grew up poor, like real poor, but we never had anything extra. My dad used to race. He kind of had this vendetta against electric cars and lived to put them in their place with his old v-eights. He did well, but never made much money off it.”
“I thought it was real cool when you said you worked for Werker. I really wanted to get on there, but I kind of plateaued at Work Team Coordinating early in my career. Just got complacent I guess. How’d you get on there?”
“I kind of didn’t, really. I was lucky to enough to end up at Advanced Machine Forms. The job had nothing to do with my degree, but the work turned out to be incredible. I know they get a bad rap for pretty much making sex bots, but that was never what they meant to sell.”
“No, that was never my impression anyway. I’m familiar with their work. Nobody puts that kind of tech and effort into a machine just to hand it off to a weirdo. I mean, I guess some weirdos happen to have millions to spend on whatever they want, but that’s that. I never understood how such stupid people still end up with so much money.”
“Right! But yeah, they’re fixated on replicating the human body as closely as possible. It’s truly mind blowing to see the structure of those things on the inside. There’s a reason the cost two-fifty base. I worked with one of their best artists, Evan, who is just so incredible. He can form raw beauty like a god. He’s the one who modelled our the prototypes. He did one for my boss Paul who was murdered, and one for me as kind of a parting gift when I was reasigned. It looks like my sister. He has always said he was going to make one like her. He knows beauty.”
“So there’s two of them?” When she quickly looks back up at him, he realizes he maybe shouldn’t have caught her in a slip-up. “Sorry, none of my business. Anyway… Evan wanted to make one of you didn’t he?”
Now she’s the one turning red. She can’t hide it one bit either. Her pale fair skin blushes at nothing. “Yes, he did. He once said that he would’ve married me if he were thirty years younger. Honestly though, I couldn’t have my, or my sister’s bodies out there where any one might get their hands on it. Just kind of creepy you know. He understood that. Since Five-Two, the second one’s name, is only a one-off, I was ok with it. It’s actually kind of nice to see her every day. But, yeah, Werker bought out AMF for this new project and they moved me over to the development center.”
“So, what’s going on with that? Sounds like one of your prototypes didn’t make the cut. That one obviously didn’t look like Clarice, so I’m guessing you’ve still got that one?”
“Oh, come on Aaron, you know damn well. You saw it up on the roof the other night.” She didn’t mean to be snippy with him, so she sits back and closes her eyes for a second. “Look, this project is really sectret, like really secret. Besides, the whole thing is up in the air anyway. I thought everything was going pretty good, but now there’s talk of this run being cancelled.”
“Cancelled?”
“Yeah, with Paul gone and the number one unit being a failure, there’s nothing really pushing things forward. I wouldn’t doubt if everything gets benched for a while. Some of the others want to do a complete reboot.”
“That kind of sucks, what about the second one, you park it, or what?”
“I don’t know. It’s not my say. I don’t think I could handle anything happening to her. I’m playing it pretty close to the chest already. I don’t know what I’d do if… if something like that happened again. I think I’d have to quit.”
He noticed she called the prototype a her this time. “Doesn’t anyone else give a shit. Surely some of the others have put a lot of work into this.”
“The others are looking so far ahead all the time, they can’t see whats right under their noses. Five-One and Two were only stepping stones for them. Gabriel is such a… I hate that fucker. And Marco, he just can’t turn his damn mind off. I’m sure one of us is gonna find him dead at his computer someday. God I hope it’s not me. I don’t think anyone else even gives a shit about the prototypes themselves. In fact, I think most people would as soon see them gone. Five-One was a bad apple, plain and simple. And Five-Two, she’s… manipulative.” She sighs and shakes her head. “Here I am, telling you everything I’m not supposed to.”
“It seems the two of us might be the only ones around that can appreciate greatness when we see it.”
“Sounds like you know more than you’re letting on. Either that, or you have an unbridled intuition.”
He almost wants to lead her on, like she’s been doing to him this whole time. She’s been feeding him all these juicy ambiguous details, and then cutting him off. He’s at least going to bait her “So tell me about this Dr. Morgan I’ve been hearing about.”
She nearly tips over her wineglass. “What? That’s me! I’m Dr. Morgan! I’ve never told you my last name, or my title. Did you look me up to find that out?”
“I did not. I had no idea that it was going to be you, but I do hear things in my line of work.”
The huge grin on his face should be enough of an indication that she’s not going to get any more out of him without something in return. When she looks at him out of the side of her eye, with her brows turned down, he can see she knows what kind of game they’re playing. He’s leaving her with the same starving curiosity that she has left him with.
She can’t imagine who he could’ve been talking to that would refer to her as Dr. Morgan. When it dawns on her, she looks up at him in surprise. He must’ve talked to the prototype. “I’ll find out what you’ve been up to.”
“Just so you know, I’ve only heard good things.” There’s a bit of a pause while they take a few more bites and finish up their plates. “Valerie, will you date me.” When he says it, he realizes how it must sound like something a teenager would say, but women usually want that spelled out for them. “I really like you and I want to keep this going.”
First, looking down at the counter with a shy smile, she smoothly looks back up at him approvingly. She leans forward up off of her stool to give him a quick kiss. Her voice is as smooth as it has ever been. “Yes Aaron, I would love to.”
He is absolutely positive that this is the best he has ever felt in his entire life so far. He catches her take a glance through the doorway of his bedroom. He subtly looks back himself. It’s dark in there and all he notices is the time in glowing red numbers by his bedside. Though the thought is clearly on his mind, he is a little hesitant to give in to his desires so quickly. Blushing, they both confess that have work in the morning and shouldn’t be up too much later. They know it’s a very weak excuse, but that doesn’t matter. They have time enough for that.
After Aaron puts their dishes in the sink, they move over to the couch in his living room. He sits down at an angle, propping his legs out over a corner of the coffee table. When she sits down, she leans back against the arm end of it and lays her calves over his thighs, leaving him nowhere to put his hands but on her legs. Her skin is smooth and cool to the touch. It makes him feel like his hands are a hundred degrees.
For another hour, they talk about whatever comes to mind, like how much longer they’ll probably end up staying at their jobs, or whether either of them plan on getting a real place of their own, maybe even out of town. By the time it’s ten-o-clock, they reluctantly call it a night.
At his door, she stands close to him and wraps her arm around the back of his waist. She pulls him right up to her and slides her other hand up along his back, spreading her hand out just below his neck. She presses her chest against his and, pulls him into a single, long, soft kiss.
He wants to keep holding onto her, drag her back to his room and completely abandon all reason. With what little grasp he still has on his wits, he manages to ease up. He can wait to see her again. Even if it’s only a single day, it’ll at least give them both some time to think straight first.
When he pauses to let her go, she slides her hands down his arms, feeling the tension in his muscles. He’s trying to be a good boy. When he catches that she has noticed, he relaxes.
“I’m just excited is all. I really want this.” After opening the door, he steps out into the hall with her. “I don’t have anything going on tomorrow, no surprise there, but uh, you wanna hang out again?
“Yeah, you know what, I do.”