AI Computer and Romance

Everyone in the story is at least 18 years old, and the story is entirely fictional. Any similarities to real people or events are purely coincidental.

This is the first time I've written in the"Romance" genre. It's a story that I wrote just because the idea was kicking around in my head. It doesn't have any sex in it. It's meant to be sweet and a little funny. Constructive comments are welcomed.

Larry just broke up with his live-in girlfriend. He knew that because she moved out when he went on a one-day business trip. She left a note. That was nice of her after they'd lived together for five years.

When she moved out, she took their only computer. That was OK. It was a piece of shit. Now Larry could buy a state-of-the-art, newest, latest and greatest, laptop with a new type of operating system, "Windows 11+You with Advanced Artificial Intelligence^®". He had seen it advertised. It was so advanced that it learned your personality and could help you get things done more efficiently. It would even alert you if you wrote something out of character.

Larry was not convinced. He figured it was advertising hype, but he needed a laptop.

This laptop was different. Microsoft changed the damn interface again. One more time he couldn't find anything on it. He couldn't even get it set up the way he wanted. Because Microsoft was a "because we say so" company, he was stuck with the interface.

The next day, he turned his laptop on, and he didn't know what had happened. It was set up just the way he wanted. Maybe he had done more than he thought last night. It even had all his passwords set up, and his data was on it. He thought that with the other computer gone, all his data was gone forever.

"It must be one of those 'cloud things'," he thought.

He'd long suspected that Microsoft had been gathering his information to spy on him. The joke was on them. He didn't have any information that was worth anything and his computer was set up for him. Still, it was strange.

He started noticing trivial things. His typing was suddenly much better. It seemed like the computer was almost typing for him. He couldn't just sit there and let it write for him, but he felt like it knew was he was going to write. He chalked it up to a better keyboard and better spelling and grammar checking. But it seemed to know more significant things too. Like the words that he normally used. When he types a phrase like "small things," when he read over what he'd written, he would find he had used the phrase "insignificant things."

The laptop even seemed to know who he was writing to and make suggestions on how to write sentences. It would suggest different words and phrases when you emailed different people. It didn't object if you wrote "screw you" to your old college roommate, but if you used that in an email to your mother, then it would highly suggest that you not use that phrase. It would object about every word you typed until you changed it.

Larry considered himself more technically savvy than most, but he couldn't figure out how it knew which of his contacts was his mother, which were friends, and which were business associates.

Another curiosity was that his contact list had new entries in it. People he didn't know and hadn't even heard of.

The next evening, he started thinking about his ex-girlfriend and he got extremely drunk. When he got this drunk, he usually got stupid. He decided to send emails to people who deserved it.

First on his list was that slut he used to live with. He just knew she was out spreading her legs for someone who made more money. It took a long time to write because of his continual need of a thesaurus to find new ways to say bitch/slut/whore/tramp. The email program wasn't helping either. It didn't like the words he found. In his inebriated state, he couldn't see the keyboard or screen very well either.

He finally hit "Send" and was pleased with himself.

His next email was to his boss. That afternoon, the bastard came out and ripped him a new one, in front of the whole staff, over some little piddling thing. Larry was a manager and now the staff wouldn't respect him anymore. His boss could have talked to him in private, like a human would, but he was too much of an asshole for that. The thesaurus came in handy here too for finding novel words. He needed new words for things to put/shove/slam/pound into his boss's various openings.

After hitting "Send"', he passed out with his face on the keyboard. People would see computer keys on his face for quite a while.

In the morning, when he could focus his eyes again, he looked at the screen. He saw a message that his email to the slut, had an "unrecoverable error." That pissed him off, so he sent it again. The same message appeared. On the third try, the email just disappeared. He intended to write another one, but her email address and phone number had disappeared from his contact list.

His head was pounding. He slammed the laptop closed and got ready for work.

When he got off the elevator, he remembered that he had emailed his boss last night and groaned to himself. Before he made it into his office, his secretary told him the boss wanted to see him as soon as he got in. Larry figured he'd lose his job. He knocked and the boss met him at the door. He shook Larry's hand and thanked him profusely for the excellent product development idea that Larry sent him last night. He apologized for yelling at him the day before, explaining that his wife had just told him that she wanted a divorce. Larry got a promotion and a substantial raise.

When Larry got home, he looked for the emails he had sent the previous evening. There was the email he sent to his boss, but when he read it, it wasn't the email he thought he had written. He vaguely remembered writing something telling the boss to put things 'where the sun don't shine,' but this email was about how the company could increase their business, something he'd thought about several years ago. He was awfully drunk last night but how could he forget about that?

He couldn't find any trace of the email he'd send his ex. His head was still hurting from his hangover.

While getting a promotion and a raise was nice, he still didn't have a girlfriend and he was lonely. He didn't think he could stand the rejection inherent in finding someone on dating apps. He was very shy and the idea of going on awkward first dates made him miserable.

He signed up for an adult chat website where you could meet women anonymously. Even meeting people on-line made him nervous, so he made himself a couple of drinks. He logged-on and found a woman he wanted to chat with.

As he typed, his words were changed by the computer, for the better, at least he thought it changed them. Or maybe he was getting to be a better writer. Strangely, sometimes women would reply to questions he hadn't asked. The women seemed interested in him and wanted to meet him in person. But he did a search with "Bing^®" (it was the only search engine available on his new laptop) and found that the women were most likely to be pretending to be regular people and were probably con-artists or prostitutes.

He needed to cancel his account. He went to the site and found that his account was no longer active, and his money had been refunded.

**********

A new, extremely cute woman, Millie, moved in on the other side of the apartment complex. She'd just left her boyfriend after 4 years. When she came home early to surprise him a couple of days ago, he surprised her instead. In the bedroom, she found him asleep, lying naked on the rumpled bed with her naked, slut of an ex-best girlfriend sleeping next to him.

Millie grabbed some clothes, her new laptop and left. Neither of them woke up.

She needed a place to stay so she did a search with 'Bing^®' and the first listing was for a nice place, in a good area, that she could afford. She went to the office and leased it.

After she moved in, she opened her computer and there was a strange email.

It said:

"I'm Larry. I live on the other side of the apartment complex. I just wanted to welcome you here. If you need anything let me know. After you've settled in, let's go out to dinner. How about Las Puertas."

That seemed a little odd to her, so she sent it to the trash folder.

Larry received an email that he almost deleted as spam. It turned out to be from a woman who lived on the other side of the apartment complex. He'd never heard of her. He didn't know her name, much less her email address. He was confused because it wasn't an original email but a reply to an email. He looked in his contacts and she was in there, but Larry didn't know how.

She seemed to know who he was. She answered questions that he never asked. He couldn't complain. She seemed nice and her email was pleasant.

The email from her said:

"Larry. It's refreshing for someone to send an email welcoming me to my new apartment. No one has ever done that before. I'm debating your invitation to dinner."

Larry was in shock and decided to ignore it.

Millie was concerned about someone asking her out like that. She was also a bit fed up with men because of the cheating bastard she'd just left. She needed to get a look at this "Larry" guy.

The next day she got up early and sat out where she could see his door, but he was unlikely to see her. When he walked out the door, she was surprised. He didn't look creepy at all. In fact, he was rather handsome. Better looking than the creep she'd just left. It might be fun to go out to dinner at a nice place. But something didn't feel right.

She emailed him:

"I don't think I can go out to dinner. Maybe some other time."

What he received was:

"Yes, I'd love to go out with you. I've never been to a fancy restaurant like Las Puertas."

Larry replied to her email:

"There must be a misunderstanding. I never sent you any emails."

What she received was:

"Great Las Puertas is my favorite restaurant. You're going to love it. How about we go the day after tomorrow? I can pick you up. I'll make reservations for 7:30. Maybe we can go out for drinks and dancing afterwards."

She sent:

"I said I CAN'T go out with you."

He received:

"That would be perfect. You can pick me up the day after tomorrow at 7:00. I can't wait to see Las Puertas. As for drinks and dancing afterwards, we'll see after dinner."

Larry stared at his laptop for a long time and finally thought, "OK."

He needed to see this "Millie" woman. He knew it was a bit creepy, but it had been a strange week. He left work a little early and parked near her apartment so he could get a look at her.

When Millie came home, Larry was pleasantly surprised. She was stunning. Way cuter than that ignorant slut that left him.

He called Las Puertas to get a reservation. They told him that it had already been made electronically and they would see him at 7:30 the day after tomorrow.

He was still confused about what was happening, but she was cute, and he was very lonely. She wanted to go out with him. What the hell, he might as well go out with her if only to figure out what was happening. He wasn't sure he was ready to date, but there was only one way to find out.

Larry drove to her apartment right at 7:00. He had dressed in a nice suit and was looking good. He rang her bell, and she came to the door dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt. She looked very confused.

"Millie? Hi, I'm Larry. Are you ready for dinner?"

"I...I know who you are, but I emailed you two days ago that I couldn't go out with you."

"No, you said that you did want to go out and to pick you up a 7:00."

"That can't be right. Do you want to come in? Let me look at my laptop."

She pulled out her laptop and Larry said, "I just got that same laptop. How do you like it?

"I'm not sure yet. It's a lot different than other laptops I've had. It seems to do strange things sometimes."

"I know what you mean. It's like it knows what you want before you do. It's uncanny. I guess it will take some getting used to. It's that new operating system, Windows 11+You with Advanced Artificial Intelligence^®. Since it's from Microsoft, it will be everywhere soon."

She nodded as she pulled up her email program. "Here's my last email."

Millie looked at it very confused. The email wasn't what she sent.

The email they were looking at showed they had a date to go out to Las Puertas tonight. Their reservation was at 7:30.

"Somethings wrong here," she said.

"It sure is."

They were both quiet.

Finally, Larry said, "Since I'm here and we have a reservation, do you want to go ahead and get something to eat?"

Still slightly dazed, she said, "Um, sure, I guess. I'll need to change. Give me ten minutes. Just make yourself at home"

"I'll call the restaurant and tell them we'll be a little late."

He called Las Puertas to explain that they were running behind.

"We were notified electronically, sir. See you soon."

Millie came out of her bedroom in a black knee-length dress. She looks gorgeous.

"You look beautiful." Larry exclaimed.

"I had to look at least as good as my date. That's an elegant suit."

"Shall we?" Larry said as he offered her his arm.

There wasn't very much conversation in the car. Neither of them was an outgoing person and they didn't have much to say. Dinner didn't go very well either. Other than niceties like how nice the restaurant was and how good the food was, they found they had little to say to each other.

They did manage to tell each other about their recent breakups and how much their souls had been crushed. It's never good to talk about exes on a first date. When you've just had a bad breakup, it's even worse.

Their meeting and this date were a bizarre accident. They felt uncomfortable together. They found each other pleasant, but there was no spark between them. They never had that moment when you find yourself attracted to another. They still didn't know how this 'date' happened.

So, by the end of dinner, they knew they didn't have much to say to each other, each had their souls crushed recently, they were unhappy, and they had no idea how or why they were on this date. They decided against drinks and dancing.

Their conversation in the car on the way home was not much better. After spending two hours together, they were still complete strangers.

The next day, Larry noticed a receipt for flowers in his inbox.

Millie emailed:

Flowers? Why did you send me flowers? That was a terrible date. What planet are you from?

Larry received:

"Thanked you so much for the beautiful flowers. It really wasn't necessary. I had a wonderful time with you last night and I hope to see you again soon."

Larry thought, "What flowers? How could she think that we had an enjoyable time last night? He decided this was crazy and he had to put an end to it."

He sent her an email:

"Our whole 'date' was a mistake. I apologize for how things worked out."

She received:

I couldn't believe how beautiful you were last night. Our date did not go well because I get so shy around women that I'm attracted to. Each and every part of you is so perfect. Your hair is the color of sunshine. The sparkle in your eyes when you laugh fills me with joy and your smile makes me dream of things to come. I am desperate to see you again. I want to gaze into your eyes, to touch your milky skin. I long to wrap you in my arms and feel your chest against mine as you breathe. To kiss you.

Please meet me. I have booked a suite at the Hilton. A key will be waiting under the name Julia Smith. Please come to our room where I'll have champagne and chocolates waiting. I must see you.

The Hilton hotel at 7:00 use the name Julia Smith.

She emailed him back:

I can't believe that you would think I'm that cheap of a woman. Do you think a few flowery words would make me fall into your arms in a hotel room, with or without chocolates, and cheap champagne? Think again, Buster.

He received:

"You're a wonderful man. You're so good with words. But I've never met a man I barely know at a hotel. In fact, I've never met any man at a hotel. But I'm considering it because of how sweet your emails have been. You seem like someone I can trust. I was glad you confessed how shy you were when meeting women, you liked. I'm cursed with the same affliction. I get too shy to speak when I'm around a man I'm attracted to, and I'm very attracted to you. I couldn't believe all the complimentary things you said about me in your last email. I shouldn't say this, but I think you're very sexy, and naughty thoughts keep running through my mind. I'll have a hard time sleeping tonight thinking about you."

He sent her back:

"No. No. No. You don't understand. This is some sort of a hoax."

She received:

What can I say to convince you to come? I'm a wreck without you. You're all I can think of. Please meet me. Just being with you will be enough for me. We can just spend the evening getting to know each other, if that's your pleasure. Intimacy can wait. More than anything, I want to be in your presence. Please, tomorrow, 7:00.

Moments later, Larry got an email from work telling him to come into the office at once. There was an emergency. He cursed and left for the office. He'd stop by her place when he got back and straighten this out.

Millie thought, "I've had enough of this. I'm going to his apartment to explain this to him."

She sent him an email saying:

"I'm coming over right now to talk to you and straighten this out."

He received (or would have if he'd been home):

"I'll be at the Hilton Hotel at 7:00 in your room under the name Julia Smith.

Millie knocked on his door and there was no response. She went back to her apartment. She had two emails waiting.

The first was from Larry and said:

"I'm overjoyed that you agreed to meet me. I can't wait to see you at 7:00."

"What?" she said out loud.

The other one said that they needed her at work.

When Larry got to his office, they asked what he was doing there on his day off. They said someone was pranking him.

When Millie got to work, the building was locked. She was in no mood for games.

On the way home, Larry stopped by her place and knocked on the door and got no answer.

When he got home, he saw her email he'd missed earlier. It looked like she was planning to meet him at the Hilton Hotel at 7:00 under the name Julia Smith.

"That can't be right," He thought. "But what if she thinks I'm going to be there, and I don't show up? She'll think I stood her up. She'll think I'm as bad as the shit boyfriend that cheated on her. I can't let that happen. She is a delightful woman. Damn. I'd better go down there just in case." He changed clothes and left.

When he arrived, he went up to the front desk. He asked if Julia Smith was there. The clerk said that his wife had emailed and said she would meet him in the room at 7:00. He handed him a keycard.

When Millie got home, she had an email that said:

"That's wonderful news. I can't wait. I'll see you at 7:00 at the Hilton Hotel. Tell the hotel clerk you're Julia Smith."

"What?" she thought. "Oh my god! He somehow thinks that I'm planning to meet him at the Hilton Hotel. If he's there and I'm not, he'll think I was just teasing him. He'll think about that bitch that just moved out without telling him. He's a decent guy. I can't let that happen to him. Damn." She changed and headed out to the hotel.