Ryan looked up at me as I exited the room and curled his lips under his mask. He said, "So! You finally managed to get all that junk under lock and key?"
I laughed off that jab. I was getting accustomed to his humor. In the calm of the shower, I had a chance to stop and think for a moment while I wasn't panicking over meeting with Maria. Before, I thought he was being unnecessarily brutal, but now when I think back to it, I believe he was testing my limits to see how serious I was about the job. He was pushing me to see how much I could take and if I stood up for myself. It is somewhat of an old-school way to judge a man's character.
Naturally, the motivations and reasoning behind his words completely flew over my head at the time. Don't forget, readers, I am socially dimwitted! At most, I know theory on how social interactions between two people go from all the stories I've read, but no clue on how to apply them in real life. Over the next few hours after that test of character, he eased the tension between us with jokes, compliments, and engaging with me in a comfortable manner.
It really was masterfully done. I have a lot to learn from him. If I had to make a metaphor, it's almost like he burned his image into my memory painfully, then colored it with pleasant vibes. If he never pushed my limits, I might not have as deep of an impression of him in my mind as I do now. Maybe he does all this unintentionally, due to his vast experience at being a chad. Unfortunately, I have to learn to do all this from scratch.
We started off toward the cafeteria. After exiting the office, Katy made sure the sleek, heavy door was closed behind us. Must be because those VR headsets were really expensive. Ryan hung out behind us, tapping on his phone. I checked my phone and saw nothing from Maria, so I put it away. Katy was leading us to the cafeteria and I doubted she was the type to start a conversation, so I stepped up. Engaging in small talk is another step towards becoming a better Fixer, or at least towards becoming somewhat of a normie.
I looked over at her and asked, "So Katy, how long have you been working here?"
She didn't give me a glance, continuing to walk with mechanical precision, but did offer a terse reply, "Few years."
This girl was even more introverted than me! In the end, our conversation turned out more like an interrogation.
"How old are you?"
"23."
"Do you like your job?"
"It's ok."
She was a tough nugget. I was stumped and had no clue what else to talk about.
"Does everyone come to the cafeteria for lunch?"
"Around 60%."
"What kind of food selection do they have?"
"You'll see."
"How much longer until we're there?"
"Shut up."
"OK." She got me with the real life equivalent of a bloodborne visceral attack on that last one. No wonder Ryan said she was the final boss. Her tone only showed the tiniest trace of annoyance, like she was swatting a fly away. I turned around to see Ryan stifling his laughter while pretending to still be on his phone.
Hmm.. I'll have to apply the persistence of a Fromsoft gamer towards defeating this enemy! Not then though, I was still dead. The next time we converse, I'll have respawned. At that time, I can try a different approach.
We rounded a corner and the foot traffic picked up by several magnitudes. Some of those present were in lab coats, but most wore some form of business casual outfits. It looked like my v-neck sweater and khakis were professionally adequate. As we entered the cafeteria, I noticed it was divided into many sections, which allowed the sound of talking to be muted, but also made it difficult to find others. Since I had my eyes peeled for Maria, I almost lost track of following Katy and Ryan to where the food was. I speedwalked back to them and checked out the area we arrived at moments later.
It was decked out. They had clearly delineated ethnic stations for the americanized staples from Chinese, Indian, Mexican, and Italian cuisine. Another station looks like it swaps between Thai, German, Nigerian, and Israeli depending on the day of the week. There were also the typical healthy and unhealthy options of a salad bar and a grill bar. I was pretty impressed that they squeezed all of these in a building in the middle of DC.
Katy and Ryan went their own ways. I remembered the route back, so I should be good. I picked up some skim milk, grilled chicken breast, and some lo mein. My nervousness put me in the mood for an entirely bland meal. I'm not sure why. I left the food pickup area and looked for Maria.
Every step I took felt like one step closer to my doom. I was Altair standing on a high rise about to make a leap of faith with no haystack below me. That last thought was a little too dramatic, since I'm not going to die, but I'd feel terrible. Maria represented, to me, my dreams of a wholesome life.
I understood I was putting her on a pedestal, but I really didn't have any expectations for us (when I'm not horny) other than for her not to hate me. It was a good thing I wasn't horny too. Otherwise, I'd be jacking off to that image of her placing the Listerine strip on her abnormally long tongue.
I walked around the cafeteria, getting peeks into each seating area, before finally catching sight of Monica's jiggly tits going up and down with her laughter at the corner of my eye. They're absolutely impossible to miss. I head into the seating area and get a better look at the setting. Four of the Fixers were at one small table with two seats open. Several others, possibly secretaries and Mentors, are seated nearby. I didn't see Katy or Ryan, so I couldn't be sure.
Keith caught sight of me first from a condiment stand. He said, "Hey Tom! We were just getting started on food." And pointed me to an exterior booth seat that would put me right next to Maria. All of my future social interactions play out in my head one-on-one, so I hadn't even thought that the upcoming conversation wouldn't be in private. I didn't even get a chance to be internally distressed or panic though, because my lips curled up helplessly and I flew off into dreamland from seeing Maria's bright, welcoming smile.
Monica put her arm around Maria and giggled after getting a look at my face. I think I saw Maria blush slightly, or it may have been a trick of the dim lighting. I sat down and said quietly, "Hey everyone."
Jill was locked against the wall on the other side of the booth by Sagar. They greeted me cordially as Keith hopped back into his spot next to Sagar. My new friends were around a quarter of the way through their food. I got the feeling that most of them were upbeat about their first morning on the job, except for Jill. Her Mentor is my mom, so I can imagine her feeling intimidated.
"You missed out yesterday, bro." Keith said with a casual smirk. I wasn't sure what he was referring to for a moment, until I remembered and blushed heavily. The devilish temptation he offered me to join him for a piece of the ebony bombshell a few feet away from me. I missed out on that for a good reason though. The angel right next to me! Monica giggled and narrowed her eyes slyly at Keith. She said, "I think you would rather he have stayed than me."
Keith laughed that off and Sagar said with his soothing voice, "Settle down everyone. Let's give Tom a chance to eat. You all can heckle him later." I wasn't used to the boisterous atmosphere and the attention from so many people at once who didn't treat me like a wallflower, so Sagar was right. I was starting to get uncomfortable and unsure how to start eating if I had to be ready to respond to what someone was saying in the next moment. It was honestly baffling how quickly Sagar caught on to my state of mind and guided the atmosphere back to calm.
I quietly thanked Sagar, pulled my mask down, and started to eat while the others spoke between bites. Keith said, "My Mentor's assistant is soo hot. I cannot get enough of his ass."
Jill slightly scowled and rhetorically replied, "Do you really have to bring up asses during our meal?"
Oh okay. I understood what Monica had meant earlier. Keith was a bisexual and he wanted me! Meanwhile, I'm totally straight. My former best friend in high school was the center of the friend circle that I had been in, but I cut them all off when his ulterior homosexual intentions towards me became clear. I cleared my encroaching negative thoughts towards Keith. He was not the kind of guy to be pushy now that I've made myself clear that I like Maria. Monica intended for her previous statement to be a compliment, but I was extremely slow on the uptake.
My thoughts were stuck in the past while I ate absentmindedly, until the moment at which Maria spoke, which caused my brain to come to a full stop. Maria said, "Awh! She's so cuuuute." I looked over and Monica was showing her a picture of a baby, probably a family member. Was I feeling infatuation or love? I didn't know, but I did know that just the sound of her voice made me drop everything and give her all of my focus.
This moment of sitting next to her and seeing her smile made all the struggle of getting through this morning's work worthwhile. I checked Maria's plate and saw a taco salad with minimal beef and lots of healthy stuff like tomatoes, avocado, broccoli, lettuce, and only the tiniest bit of sauce. She was watching her diet closer than I was watching mine.
From what I have seen of her body, which was not much, she has a bit more chub to her than the lean athlete type of girl. Overall though, she looked great. The fat she did have all went to her bust, butt, and thighs. I wondered if she put a lot of work into her figure.
My daily exercise on the machines I used while on the computer generally burned off all the fat I took in, but my muscles were all lean since I didn't lift. If I did, I might actually have a great figure, but I couldn't be bothered. Back then, as a degenerate, I had no one to impress.
Now, I'm not sure. If Maria likes muscleheads, I'll bulk up, but I feel like it would be too much work to be doing on top of learning Fixing if I was only doing it for myself. My lean muscles enabled me to theoretically have sex for hours without tiring, so it wasn't like my 'performance' would go up significantly if I started lifting. I would just be stronger and I didn't know any martial arts, so there would not be much point to me being stronger. A short cost-benefit analysis told me that working on my social skills was the priority.
To that effect, I considered playing a more active role in the conversation, until I heard the topic. Sagar was talking about his conclusions regarding the first day. "From what Keith and Monica have told me so far, it seems that each of us is assigned our own style of Fixing. Broken down to one word, my style would be considered 'Calm'. What about you all?"
Monica grinned and said, "Positivity!"
Keith said, "I see, that's quite interesting. I guess mine would be 'Friendliness'. Who's next?"
Maria smiled gently and said, "I'll go. My Mentor heavily stressed 'Empathy' to me."
The others looked between Jill and I, expecting a response. According to Ryan, my style of Fixing was definitely 'Sex', but I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about sharing it with everyone. I'm guessing Jill's is similarly embarrassing. After a brief silence, Jill finally spoke out with unwarranted anger, "Alright! Fine. I'll say it."
She then answered in a quiet voice, "Domination."
Neither Sagar or I were surprised, since both of us had a good idea of the kind of person my mom was. Keith and Monica glanced at each other with a conspiratorial look and giggled, but didn't say anything. Jill seemed relieved about that. Maria was the only one to be honestly taken aback that we would have an official Fixing methodology that would be so risqué. Then I assumed she remembered that Jill's Mentor was my mom or expected me to share my methodology because she turned to face me with wide eyes. The others did as well.
I was sure I looked like a dope sitting there with my eyes fixated on my lo mein. Digging into the depths of my psyche for courage, I gulped and looked at Maria directly next to me with excruciating guilt. Unable to bring myself to lie or look away from her eyes, I braced myself. Hakuna Matata. Whatever will be, will be. Sufficiently calmed, but still trembling, I looked at the woman I loved and said, "Sex."
(A/N: Bro.. there's such a thing as too much honesty.)