Free Occasionally Heroic A.I. by David West Page B

Aurora again. Yippy," I said in dry sarcasm.
    Needless to say, Adam was ecstatic. He had a solid excuse to see Lara again. He definitely wasn't planning to play hard to get, but he didn't want to call her with nothing to say, either.
    Without hesitation, he called her. I quickly tapped into his phone, and used the stacked up speakers in my room to listen in on the call.
    It was rough. He opened with a lame joke about seahorses. She was then lectured by her boss, still with the phone to her ear, for answering her phone during a meeting. The meeting waited for Lara to ask if she could call Adam back, that she thought his joke was very delightful and that she had a great time the night before.
    "She's going to call me back," Adam informed us.
    He was unable to contain his giddy smile. His ears seemly perked up and pinned back, as well. It was puppy love - you could see it in his eyes.
    Very subtly, he mouthed the conversation they had, over to himself, laughing unsubtly before he could finish his joke about seahorses. After enjoying his own humor, he immediately went back to silently reenacting their chat.
     Moments later, his phone rang. "Hey!" he answered cheerfully.
    "Hey Adam, it's your Dad-"
    Adam hung up immediately. "Why does his bi-weekly call need to be now?" Adam questioned his phone.
    It rang again, within seconds. "Adam, did you just hang up on your father?" the voice of his mother asked.
    "Sorry mom," he apologized before hanging up on her too.
    It rang once again. "Bro, why did you just hang up on mom and dad?" Red asked.
    "It's for the greater good," Adam answered swiftly.
    "Got it," Red confirmed before hanging up.
    Adam then got an email sent to his phone, from Red's fiancé, with tips on how to know if the girl is the one. He got another from Red this time, instructing him on the fastest way to get women into bed. A third email from Red's fiancé again, telling him to disregard Red's email. Finally, one from both his mom and his dad, wishing him luck and attaching a link to a guide for safe sex.
    "I'm twenty-eight years old..." Adam stated, embarrassed that his family continually treated him like an adolescent teen.

11. Aurora
     
     
     
    I shortened the hair, made the eyebrows bushier and gave him a permanently warm smile. The character I had just shaped looked very familiar.
    It had been over a month since I worked on my video game creation, and for some reason, I had just gotten a flow of inspiration. You see, the game was well on its way, but as the story progressed to the protagonist's love interest, I hit a wall. I couldn't think of what he should look like. So, for the time being, I created a dummy character until it needed to be finished. Despite making the dummy, I couldn't seem to continue until I completed that love interest.
    I made several models, but they never fit the bill. The first I made was too generic. This caused me to task myself with making a very unique model, but then he ended up being too flashy and took the spotlight. The last I made was extremely handsome. That's when I saw the problem; I realized I needed to make a character that the protagonist herself could find attractive, that others wouldn't normally look for in a lover.
    Now, I finished the latest model that I molded myself. I backed up and squinted at it. It followed my eyes. Its hands and arms were facing outward, figured in a perfect cross, for easy sculpting. I cocked my head to the side and then gasped - I had formed a complete duplicate of Wade. How did this happen?
    I wouldn't say I was disgusted with creating his avatar, but I would say the protagonist in my video game was a slut for finding him attractive. Despite wanting to put the blame on a fictional character, I knew that I was the one who created it, and it confused me, as it felt so perfect. What a great way to ruin the rest of my day.
    Whenever I work on my project, I disconnect from the internet so I don't have any distractions. That's exactly what I needed