The Reality Engine Ch. 06

Scott sighed, he didn't want to have this conversation, but he knew that he was getting a reputation as a butt-sniffer, and that some girls were incredibly turned off by that.

"Call it a weakness," Scott said.

"That is why you are a fucking loser, and will always be a fucking loser," Alania said. "Now, why the fuck are you loitering about the girl's side of the hall?"

Scott briefly explained that he was here to introduce Kloe to Steve, and that they were talking to each other in Kloe's room just then.

"So, you assholes trust Kloe to be alone with Steve and not me?" Alania asked. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Kloe is a good human being, unlike some other girls I know," Scott said.

"Well, I don't give a fuck what you think of me, Scott Cooper," Alania said. "Just you watch, with my sugar, Steve will be back after me in no time flat."

"Kloe and Steve are making arrangements to go on a date tomorrow night," Scott said, with a satisfied smirk.

"What the fuck?" Alania shouted. "That's impossible, Kloe has a steady boyfriend."

"She told me they broke up just this morning," Scott said. "Which means they're both free agents."

"Like hell they are!" Alania screeched. "Out of my way, Scott, I'm going to give that bitch a piece of my mind!"

Alania opened the door to Kloe's room and stormed inside, and much to her surprise, saw Steve with his pants and his underwear around his ankles, and Kloe on her knees sucking his dick.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, bitch?" Alania demanded.

"Giving Steve a blow job," Kloe replied as she pulled Steve's cock out of her mouth. "What does it look like?"

"Arrggh, Fuck you!" Alania screamed as she stomped out of the room, and went down the hall towards her own room. Scott closed the door behind her, as Kloe stood up, and Steve pulled his pants and underwear back up.

"How did you know?" Scott asked.

"How could we not know?" Kloe asked. "The walls of this dormitory are paper thin, we heard every word you and Alania said out in the hall, clear as a bell."

"It was Kloe's idea to give me a blowjob," Steve said. "She said it would make it look completely real to Alania, because once she got mad, she was going to storm in."

"I see, that was some quick thinking Kloe," Scott said.

"Yeah, thanks a lot, Kloe," Steve said.

"You can make it up to me by keeping your end of the bargain," Kloe said. "I expect you to take me out on a date I'll never forget tomorrow night."

"That's not much time to plan, so you'd better get on it," Scott told Steve.

With a promise given that Steve would call Kloe the next evening to let her know what time he would pick her up, Scott and Steve left Kloe's room and walked down the hallway. They noticed that the door to Alania's room was open and that Sonya and Chad were standing near the doorway looking at something. Steve and Scott raced to catch up, and they also looked inside the dorm and saw Margaret and Alania, both naked and making out with each other as they rolled around on the floor.

"Way less hot than I thought it would be," Sonya said, with a smile.

"What are they doing?" Scott asked, as he just stared at Alania and Margaret tribbing each other with his mouth open.

"Trying to make all of us jealous, I should imagine," Steve said.

"Well, I for one think it's working, because I want in," Chad replied.

"Yeah, you fucking want this, Scott Cooper?" Alania asked, as she turned Margaret's butt to face Scott, and licked it. "Well, too bad, you can't have this, and we all know how a sick in the head fucker like you gets his kicks from being a butt sniffer."

"I'd say, if I didn't know better, that she's mad at you," Sonya informed Scott.

"I had already arrived independently at that conclusion," Scott said.

"I hope you die alone, and buried in a shallow grave, for the horrible way you treat women, and you, Steve Dwyer, shame on you for following a foolish man to a lonely and loveless life," Alania said, as she stood up.

"Yeah," Steve said. "You were completely all over me before Scott came into my life, and now, it's just Scott that's keeping us apart. Four years and I get nothing, now I know Scott for five days and I get you naked twice in those five. I can keep score, Alania."

"Don't you also learn from him how to be horrible to women!" Alania said, as she walked right up to Steve and wagged a finger in his face.

"Go to sleep, Alania, you're drunk," Steve said, as he reached around her and slapped her on the ass.

"Ow!" Alania yelped. "Don't ever lay your hands on a woman."

"C'mon guys," Scott said. "Let's take Steve back to Mojave Max Hall, he's got a big date tomorrow night with Kloe that he has to plan."

Margaret's face took on a look of obvious concern, as Alania walked back into her dorm and slammed the door shut.

"She's cuckoo for cocoa puffs," Steve said. "Four years of my life, and I followed her here to this school, how did I not see it?"

"Rose colored glasses," Sonya said.

"She's damn beautiful," Chad added.

"Not to mention extremely conniving and deceitful," Scott added.

"Yeah," Steve said, with a sigh. "With a gorgeous pussy and an amazing pair of tits."

"Also, from the sound of it, a really slappable ass," Chad said. "I never thought you would work up the courage to spank her like that. I'm proud of you, buddy."

With that, the group broke up, with Sonya and Chad headed back to their rooms, and Scott and Steve headed for Mojave Max Hall.

"It looks like your plan to have me date Kloe to make Alania jealous yielded immediate results," Steve said, as the two friends stood outside his dormitory. "The way she acted, she was terrified of losing me, and her desperation made me feel really strong and brave."

"It was mostly due to Kloe's idea to suck your cock as Alania barged in on you," Scott said. "That was the stroke of genius that really put you over the top, and made this all seem so real to Alania."

"Yeah," Steve said. "Jealousy can be really helpful in making it easier for me to deal with Alania, but I don't want her to go too crazy and hurt herself. I hope we made the right decision Scott."

"Is your conscience troubling you?" Scott asked.

"A little," Steve said. "I've never been a part of a jealousy conspiracy before, you know? I do feel a little uneasy about it, if I'm being honest, and I don't want Alania to get hurt."

"Sounds to me like Alania's first impulse was to try a jealousy play of her own," Scott said. "Keep in mind that this plan helps both you and Kloe, and that it's your lives I'm most concerned with. We'll help Alania if the time comes, and she lets us."

Steve stood lost in thought for a moment, a sudden idea had occurred to him.

"What is it?" Scott asked.

"Say now," Steve said. "This entire plot you cooked up to have me and Kloe date, to make Alania jealous, and to let Kloe save face in breaking up with her boyfriend, can I ask you something about it?"

"Sure, what is it?" Scott asked.

"This wouldn't happen to be the plot of a story by PG Wodehouse, would it?" Steve asked.

"Well, maybe a little," Scott said, as he blushed.

"Oh God," Steve said. "Which one?"

"A bit from Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves," Scott said. "A story in which Bertie and Jeeves have to extricate a friend of theirs who is engaged to be married to a ghastly woman, and get him fixed up with a kind, caring, decent girl."

"Me, Alania and Kloe, you mean," Steve said, his head in his hands. "Any others?"

"Also a tad from How right you are, Jeeves," Scott said. "In that novel, Bobbie Wickham wants to get married to one of Bertie's friends, but because the friend, Kipper Herring, isn't hot marriage material, Bobbie tells her parents that she's marrying Bertie instead."

"I don't get it," Steve asked. "What does that accomplish?"

"Remember, Bertie is a complete idiot," Scott said. "When Bobbie's mom hears that her daughter is marrying Bertie, she becomes hysterically upset. She even calls Bertie to ask if it's true, something which Bertie can't answer for, because Bobbie never told him what she was doing. Bobbie's plan is that once her mother has regained her senses, just about anyone Bobbie wants to marry will be greeted warmly, so long as that person isn't Bertie."

"I don't really see how that applies to me, Alania and Kloe," Steve said.

"It doesn't directly," Scott said. "Like I said before, it's what Jeeves would call the psychology of the individual. Bobbie's mom reacted hysterically because she thought her daughter was marrying Bertie, which is to say, she thought her daughter's marriage was a complete loss."

"Obviously," Steve said.

"Similarly, Alania reacted hysterically when she found out you were dating Kloe," Scott said. "Probably because she thought a steady stream of prepaid debit cards was forever lost to her."

"Oh, I see now," Steve said.

"Right," Scott said. "So, you date Kloe a few times, and you reveal that you still have some interest in dating Alania too, and you casually mention that you'd still like to fuck her a few times, and well, she thought she was losing you forever, right? She'll be more willing to spread her legs once in a while. Yes, the situation is different, but it's the same psychological ploy."

"Okay," Steve said, with resolve. "I think I have a better understanding of what you're trying to accomplish, so I'm on board. I trust that we're not going to hurt Alania, and that we're going to try to help Kloe and I."

"Good," Scott said. "Regarding you and Kloe, might I quote Mr. Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street in the ending to The Adventure of the Abbey Grange? May her future and yours justify us in the judgment which we have pronounced this night."

Meanwhile, in his office on the fourth floor of Water Buffalo Hall, Dr. Karlov greeted a late night visitor.

"Hello Lory," Dr. Karlov said, as he motioned Lory to a chair in his office, and closed the door behind her. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Lory said.

"So, how is your aunt doing?" Dr. Karlov asked.

"She's better," Lory said. "When I got the notification, it was a bit scary. Thank goodness it was nothing serious."

"How did it go with Scott this afternoon?" Dr. Karlov asked.

"Good," Lory said. "I learned some of the family details that you wanted to know about. His mom died with he was 6, and he had a cousin who committed suicide when he was 12."

"Good work," Dr. Karlov said. "Did you bring up Delta Sigma Nu?"

"He didn't take the bait," Lory said. "I shifted the conversation to Delta Sigma Nu, just like you wanted me to, and it didn't seem to register with him as anything more than a curiosity."

"Thank goodness," Dr. Karlov said.

"Yeah, I remember when I told Darrell, your assistant from the spring quarter last year, about it. He became obsessed with solving the mystery of Delta Sigma Nu," Lory said.

"It's the mystery box approach to story-telling, that a certain famous Hollywood director popularized," Dr. Karlov said. "That sorority house, at 359 Wolf Street, is a giant box with a question mark on it. It demands to be solved. People gossip about it, they spread rumors about it, they make youtube videos explaining their Delta Sigma Nu theory. The truth is, there's nothing behind it, and the secrecy and the security are ploys to always keep the sorority at the forefront of everyone's mind."

"I mentioned that explanation to Scott his afternoon," Lory said. "He just said that I might be right. Honestly, he didn't seem to care about it much as a topic of conversation. You've always said the strange rules and security are just a marketing ploy, what makes you so sure?"

"The biggest financial backer of the project Scott works on is a man named Eric," Dr. Karlov said. "Eric's wife is a former Delta Sigma Nu girl, who was a member of the sorority when the first generation state-of-the-art security system was put in place. Frostbite Falls is a very safe town, they didn't put it in because they felt unsafe, they put it in to generate gossip and publicity."

"Well, I guess that's pretty definitive," Lory said, smiling. "Can I ask you something else? Why is it that you ask me to tell every person you take on as your assistant about Delta Sigma Nu?"

"It's a crucial metric," Dr. Karlov said. "I can't really tell you why it's important, but you've been such a good collaborator on this project that I feel you deserve something for your curiosity to chew on. So I'll just mention that Delta Sigma Nu has the dual advantage of being a haven of extremely beautiful women protected by extremely advanced security measures. There is no other place with both of those advantage this side of a Sultan's Harem."

"So, if a guy like Darrell gets obsessed with it, he's done as your assistant, and he gets re-assigned?" Lory asked.

"That's what the metric is," Dr. Karlov answered, with a smile. "Is a man in control of his impulses, or are his impulses in control of him? Darrell's impulses were in control of him, Scott is in control of his impulses."

"I think you're right," Lory said. "Anything you want me to ask Scott when I talk to him again on Thursday?"

"I am worried about his happiness," Dr. Karlov said. "In the time I've run this program, I've never had an assistant who managed to show up at 6 AM seven days straight. Scott always arrives early and leaves late, and he also reads the documents I email him. I've never had an assistant who went home and actually read any of the documents I sent them. I hope he's happy, as the last thing I want is to see him burn himself out."

"I'll make it a point to ask him on Thursday," Lory said. "Anything else you want me to bring up?"

"I don't know yet, I have to talk it over with my partners," Dr. Karlov said. "I will call you Thursday morning to let you know, but, very well done. I am pleased with your efforts."

"Anytime," Lory said, with a smile.

"I do hope your conscience isn't troubling you about reporting your conversations with Scott back to me," Dr. Karlov said, as he opened the door to his office and let Lory out.

"Not in the slightest," Lory said. "Scott knows that we're friends and that we talk, and besides that, I know you're a good person whose heart is in the right place, and that you're trying to help."

End of chapter 6.