Luka #3
“Lord have Mercy, they were right when they said you can lead that horse to water, but you sure can’t make it drink,” I said with a laugh. “At least in this case, the horse decided to sniff the water.”
“I’m not sure how I feel being compared to a horse,” he said dryly.
“Mmm, considering what I witnessed when I first came in, you should understand why that’s an apt comparison,” I said.
Rowan choked, hard enough that he covered his mouth with a napkin. His eyes were wide as he got his coughing under control. “Ex-excuse me?”
“It was a dick joke,” I said, smiling despite my face beginning to warm.
God, I was taking a huge risk showing my entire personality in one go, but fuck it, I didn’t think it could be any worse than the past week and a half.
If it turned out this really wasn’t going to work between us, it was better, especially for him, if we figured that out before he was really in the program.
“About your dick, if that wasn’t clear.”
“It was clear,” he said, taking a deep breath. “I just...wasn’t prepared.”
“Yeah, I’m sure plenty of people have said that to you before,” I said, making sure to give him a smirk so he didn’t miss my meaning.
“That is...” he began, and then shook his head. “You’ve decided to let it all hang out, haven’t you?”
“I can’t tell if you’re so oblivious you don’t realize how easy you just made it for me to joke, or if you’re intentionally baiting me,” I said. I watched his expression go blank and snorted. “Okay, oblivious it is.”
“I am…” he began, his nostrils flaring and shoulders slumping slightly, “not the best at dealing with people, or their jokes.”
“I kinda figured that out,” I said with a wink. “But you’re not a completely lost cause.”
He eyed me. “What makes you say that?”
“You seemed to like Cade just fine, even though he puts off the more refined people that come here,” I said.
I might be more willing to be upfront, but that didn’t mean I wanted to come right out and tell him it was obvious he came from money and had probably been raised differently than most people here.
“He was...charming,” Rowan said, unsure if that was the word he wanted, but settled on it anyway. “Direct, genuine...a little like you’ve been.”
“You mean after I witnessed you at your most vulnerable, freaked out, and yelled at you for being an asshole?” I asked with a smile, hoping he was trying to give me some sort of in with him, and I wasn’t shooting myself in the foot.
“Yes,” he said, smiling gently. “Not exactly the way I would have chosen for you to loosen up, but it seems to have worked.”
“You could have just asked me to loosen up,” I said with a shake of my head. “Not sure if that occurred to you.”
“It wouldn’t have been as reliable,” he said. “Even I know some things can only happen the right way organically.”
“Well, I’ll give you that, but that doesn’t mean you should sit around and wait for something to happen organically. Especially when simply saying something out loud can count as organic too, just so you know.”
“Noted,” he said with a roll of his eyes.
“And...Reggie knows everything,” I said, and when his eyes widened, I snorted. “I didn’t tell him the details. But he knew I walked in on a private moment, and I’ll have to tell him you did try to use privacy mode.”
“May I ask why?”
“Because you put the room into privacy mode, I shouldn’t have been able to enter in the first place,” I explained, leaving out that while I wouldn’t have done it on purpose, I was definitely not against the outcome.
Not just because I had gotten to see a rather impressive dick, but because it had inadvertently opened the communication between us.
“So there has to be something wrong with the systems. He’ll want to look into it personally. ”
“You mean he’ll breathe down the neck of the people who maintain them.”
“Uh, no, he’s one of the project leads. Like, software engineer, computer sciences doctorate, all that.”
Rowan stared at me. “I see.”
“No, you don’t,” I said with a laugh. “You saw him as an airhead, didn’t you?”
“I knew he was capable,” Rowan said, looking uncomfortable. “I’ll admit I made a wrong assessment of him at the start, but I never realized he...he was a Guide.”
“You can be good with technology and people,” I said with a smirk. “He’s actually insanely intelligent, just—”
“What?”
“Well, don’t ask him about the AI in this place, even curiously.”
“Will I be locked into a conversation that requires extensive knowledge but be trapped as his passion for the subject overwhelms his sense of social rules?”
I stared at him for a moment. “And, uh...what do you do in the business world again?”
“Auditing,” he said, and then leaned back, watching me carefully.
“Calm down. You can tell me things about yourself without it being a big deal,” I said, waving him off. “I asked because you have experience dealing with certain types of people.”
“I see,” he said, relaxing.
I rolled my eyes. “But no, actually, he’s the first to rage against AI.”
“And yet he created the system you call AI?”
Interesting phrasing. “Yeah. I never said he wasn’t weird. He hates most AI, and if you really listen, you can hear him use air quotes around the term. But you’ll be forced to listen to him rant about what AI is and isn’t, and why people need to stop using that term.”
“AI as it is now isn’t artificial intelligence as we know it. It’s a set of algorithms layered in a complex and unreliable web of commands and input,” Rowan said casually, with a shrug. “It isn’t intelligent. As a species, we’re still quite a way from creating a true artificial intelligence.”
I stared at him and straightened. “Actually, you know what? Bring it up to Reggie. Hearing that, he might propose to you on the spot, though, just so you know.”
“Now there’s an unnerving thought,” Rowan frowned.
I chuckled. “That was a joke...mostly. I don’t really think he’s interested in you.”
“I wouldn’t guess what his type is,” Rowan said with a shake of his head. “I’m not a good judge of character, at least not around here.”
I shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with you, I just...don’t think he’ll be interested.”
“You can say he’s heterosexual and we can move on,” Rowan said with a frown.
“Now, who said that?” I said with a laugh. “Word from the wise, or at least someone who knows more about this place than you do, don’t presume the sexuality of anyone around here.”
“Including you?” he asked and blinked, his expression closing off again.
“I mean, don’t presume, but you’re allowed to ask, that’s okay.”
“That seems personal.”
“I think we’re being personal with one another,” I said grimly. “Not on purpose or in the way I’d prefer, but we ended up there all the same.”
“Just how would you prefer it?” he asked with a curious tilt of his head.
On my knees. “Maybe something a little less...nude.”
“You didn’t have a problem with nudity yesterday.”
“Hey, that was a spring! Nudity is allowed.”
“I’ve never been that comfortable or free with my body.”
“I’ve had a few experiences that mean I’m not quite so.
..private,” I said with a shrug and drained my coffee.
“Don’t worry, there’s no requirement to fit in, but you will have to be okay with seeing naked guys, because there are definitely spots where nudity is allowed, and you might walk in on it. ”
“What a thought,” he said with a snort. “I don’t mind if other people are comfortable. I’m simply not.”
“One man’s freedom is another man’s exposure,” I said with a smile. “But since we’ve reached the personal level, why don’t we stay there?”
“Are you planning on walking in on me again?” he asked dryly, so dryly it took me a minute to realize what was going on.
I squinted. “Did you...was that a joke? Did you make a joke?”
“I am not completely without humor,” he told me. “That said, my family has repeatedly said my delivery can be quite dry and...hard to read.”
“Yeah, the desert would envy how dry that was,” I said with a laugh. “But that’s okay, I can work with dry humor. And no, I am not going to walk in on you again...I hope.”
“Hmm,” he said, and for one crazy second, I wondered if he was considering whether he was against the idea. “So, how do we begin?”
“I think talking is a pretty good start,” I told him. “You know, ask questions, answer them, talk about it, normal stuff.”
“Normal stuff,” he said thoughtfully, then nodded. “Alright, you ask the first question since you have an idea what to do.”
“Okay, what’s your favorite color?”
“You can’t be serious.”
I grinned to show just how serious I was and laughed when he sighed and shook his head.
That was something, at least.