"Danielle!" I stuck my head out of the office door. "Do you know what's going on with the system today? It's been slow ever since I got back from lunch."

Danielle grabbed a paper off the copier and returned to her desk, smoking hot in a white and black suit today. Honestly, she'd look hot in a paper bag. It'd be easier to rip off her body, too.

She grabbed a file folder. "You didn't see the email?"

Figures. The administration would send a message through the inaccessible system about the system being down. "No. Can't access it."

"They're doing some kinda last-minute update. One of the IT guys said it should be back up in a couple hours."

Annoying. "Then I'll take my laptop and work from home. I won't be able to get anything done without Wi-Fi."

Danielle shrugged. "It's quieter without you here."

"Come on." I put my hand over my heart. "You know you miss me when I'm not here."

She waved me away. "I don't."

I laughed as I grabbed my laptop, packing up my things to work from home. "You're just saying that. I know the truth."

"Oh yeah, what's that?" She didn't look up from the file.

"That you just can't bring yourself to ruin our friendship by giving into passion. I get it." I turned the light off and locked my office door.

"Except we ain't friends." Danielle brought the whole packet to the copier to duplicate.

"Whatever you say." I pressed the elevator button. "But being delusional hurts yourself the most."

She snorted but said nothing. The truth was that getting involved with Danielle would put her job in jeopardy, and she probably needed it. Besides, I didn't need to deal with another incompetent loan processor, and Livia kept me entertained at the moment, anyway.

"Can you forward my calls? Or is the phone system down too?" I asked as the elevator doors opened.

"Phone system's fine. I'll forward your calls."

"Thanks! You're the best." She sighed as the elevator doors closed. Missed me already.

- - - ꒰ঌ( •ө• )໒꒱ - - -

I punched in the code, activating the voice controls on the smart system when I got home. After destroying my old phone over the weekend, I hadn't reinstalled the app to control the home's system on the new one. Maybe I was being paranoid, but I wanted to wait a couple of weeks.

Max thought I was overreacting, but Max wasn't the one who'd been in an accident. Asshole.

At least, he'd taken my concerns more seriously now, believing the problem lay within the extra coding that he'd added to my version. The more I'd thought about it, the more pissed off I'd gotten. Pissed didn't even begin to cover it, and I hadn't spoken to him all week outside of getting an assurance that my home system should be fine since I'd deleted Polly. Still felt better waiting to be sure, though.

I fixed the lighting and checked on the fish. I loved this tank, especially since the contracted aquarium maintenance company did most of the work. The Golden Basslet, Barney, was my current favorite due to his coloring and rarity. I had a Clarion Angelfish I'd named Gabriel with similar purple highlights, and the two fish popped against the tank corals. I watched them swim around for a while, spotting Pongo as he slipped out behind a waving sun coral. I'd acquired the little Wrought Iron Butterflyfish recently, but he'd adjusted quickly. I just assumed all the fish were male, I didn't actually know.

The tank was one of the few things that calmed me. If I had the time, I could probably sit and watch them for hours. However, I had work to finish before I went out with Livia tonight.

I tore myself away from the fish, making a pot of coffee before settling into my home office. With a yawn, I connected my laptop to the home wi-fi system and got to work.

- - - ꒰ঌ( •ө• )໒꒱ - - -

"Let me see your phone." I held my hand out across the table as soon as the waiter left. With the unseasonably warm weather tonight, we'd ended up at Topgolf, an easy weeknight date about halfway between our places.

Livia cocked an eyebrow. "Why? Don't trust me?"

"I just want to check something." I kept my palm out.

She still hesitated. "What?"

Jesus. Why was she acting so shady? " PollyGot. I want to see what your version looks like before..."

"Before what?" But she unlocked her phone and pulled up the app before handing it over.

"Before I officially concede. You won." I started looking through her app and holy shit did it look different. For one thing, her version had a menu system. She could choose between new practices, drills, reading passages, and challenges.

"Seriously?" She leaned over the table. "It's only been a month."

"I know. I deleted mine." Violently.

"So you're checking my XP to be sure?" She stretched further over the table, watching.

"Yeah." Hadn't thought of it. When I clicked on her profile, she had at least double the XP that I'd had. Of course she did.. "That and the checkpoints."

"Do you even know what the XP is for?"

"Never thought about it." I clicked on the XP again, but there was no explanation. "Doesn't  seem to be for anything, does it?"

Livia toyed with her fork. "This is a beta test, after all. Maybe the XP feature hasn't been implemented yet?"

"Yeah, probably for some kind of user ranking system when they go live?" Why was I even guessing? It's not like I give a shit. Only losers cared about virtual rankings and bullshit XP points. The waiter set down a couple of beers and disappeared without a word. Good man. "Your version looks really different from mine."

"Does it?" She held up her beer. "Cheers."

"Cheers." I clinked my glass against hers and closed the app. "I think you should delete it." I slid the phone back against the table.

"Really? I feel like I'm getting a lot out of it." She put the phone in her pocket and walked over to the mounted touch screen. "Which mode do you want to do?"

Topgolf was part restaurant, part driving range. This one had three half-open floors of bays, with the platform to hit the balls right in front of the tables. And because people couldn't just fucking golf, the shots lined up with different game modes on a virtual screen. I hated the stupid shit with the cartoon characters, but the virtual courses were cool. Especially in the winter, when the real golf courses were torn up around here. Not that it felt like winter tonight.

"How about we just start with practice mode? Have you been here before?"

"Couple times. But it's cool if you need practice." She turned around with a smirk.

I slid off my stool, joining her with a shrug. "I thought you might need it."

"Practice will just allow me to beat you more easily, but it's your call."

"You know, I don't mind it so much when you beat me." I grabbed a club, running one palm up the shaft. "And I doubt you need the practice, so just choose a virtual course." The corner of her mouth quirked up as she chose St Andrews. Of course, she did.

I stopped her before she grabbed a club, the app still nagging at the back of my mind. It'd be impossible to relax until I settled this. "I'm serious, though. You won the bet. Delete the app."

"Really?" She took a step back. "You actually deleted yours? I was waiting for you to... I don't know. I thought you were trying to trick me into not practicing or something."

A thwack of the club in the bay next to us pulled my attention to the driving range. I watched the ball sail through the air before turning back to her. It wasn't like me to stall. "I got in a car accident on Saturday after playing racquetball with Max. On the way to his office to delete the app, my brake system locked up, and the car spun out. I smacked into the guard rail."

"Oh my God!" She gasped. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Or I will be as soon as you delete that app. Polly made the brakes lock up."

"Are you sure?" Her hand covered her mouth.

"Of course, I'm sure." I tapped my finger against the club, then I closed my eyes and took a breath. It was hard to believe. Her version looked perfectly normal. I shook my head and put the club back. "Sit down. The game can wait."

Her brow furrowed, but she sat next to me at the table. Then I began to relay some of the weird things that had been happening lately. Things I thought were Polly and some things that I wasn't sure about but felt off. It helped that she'd seen the notifications I got when we were bowling and the challenge at the basketball game. I doubt she would have believed me otherwise. When I began to describe the accident, she picked up her phone.

"Okay. I'm thoroughly creeped out now. I'm deleting PollyGot." Luckily, she didn't seem to have trouble uninstalling the app like I had. Fucking Max and his bells and whistles. "Why didn't you tell me this several days ago when you got the new phone?"

I shook my head. "It felt crazy. I didn't want to tell you over text in case there was a problem with your phone."

"Then you should have stopped by the pharmacy."

Maybe she was right. "Like I said, it felt crazy. You really wanted me to try to explain this to you at work?"

Her expression fell. "Valid, but you could have asked to meet up. I... I just feel unnerved by this whole thing." She took a large swig of the beer.

"Imagine how I feel."

She responded by taking a larger swig.

"Anyway, listen." I put my hand over her wrist when she went in for a third gulp. "You deleted Polly, and I got rid of my old phone, just to be safe. Problem solved. Okay?"

She met my eyes. "You sure?"

Mostly. "I'm sure. Here." I pulled up my cash app. "Give me your QR code. You won the bet, and I owe you money."

Her face scrunched up a bit. "I don't know. It seems like your version was rigged."

"It was, but you had a tougher halftime challenge at the basketball game, so who knows?"

"Wait? What?" Her mouth opened in surprise before a laugh escaped. "I knew it! I knew there was no way you could get that many correct in such a short period. No offense, but there just wasn't enough time."

"None taken." I gave her a toothy grin. "There was no way to lose that bet, anyway."

"I suppose not." She tapped a nail against her pint glass. "Twenty buttons. You think I didn't catch that?" Shit, she didn't miss much. "By the way, how's that little scratch healing?"

"Oh, uh, no big deal." She didn't need to know. "It'll be fully healed by this weekend."

She winced. "If it's still not fully healed, it's a bigger deal than you're letting on." She really didn't miss anything. "Is it okay?"

Didn't mean I wanted to talk about it. "I said it's fine."

"Because I'm not working this weekend." She leaned in, arms squeezing together to pop her cleavage out more.

I dragged my gaze up to her face. "Then you want to go out on Saturday night?"

"Yes, let's." She leaned in even more, the sparkle back in her eyes. "I'd like to make sure that you're up for anything on Saturday."

Hell, yes. "Oh, there's no doubt about that." And without that stupid app hanging over my head, I'd be able to relax. Speaking of the app. "QR Code."

"You're sure? This still doesn't feel fair."

"I'm sure."

"If you say so." She shared her account info, and I transferred $550 to her. The waiter dropped off the nachos as I put the phone away, disappearing again without saying anything. I liked this guy.

She pulled a chip off of the platter and bit into it. Despite what had happened, or maybe because of it, I found her teeth even more riveting. "So, how's your car?"

"It'll be in the shop for a few days. Nothing major, but I'm going to get the paint touched up while it's there." The breeze kicked up. I zipped up my fleece vest. "I got a rental in the meantime."

Her nipples hardened through her thin shirt. Too bad she brought a jacket. She pulled it on and grabbed a club. "So, shall we play?"

Just a normal game with no psychotic AI. I pulled a couple of chips off the plate before standing up. "Let's do it."

She turned around with an evil grin. "You wanna bet?"

Fuck, no.

WORD COUNT: 2140
TOTAL: 16, 034