I tried to get my bearings as Mikayla freaked out. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. I realized that there were only two possibilities that could have brought us to this point. Either the Mikayla in front of me was the real Mikayla or she was a remnant of the virtual world that did not disappear. With the power of the machine, I assumed the most likely scenario was the first.
"Calm down, Mikayla," I said as she gathered her clothes from the floor.
"Calm down?" She yelled, looking up at me. "What the hell is going on here, Mr. S.?"
"We are in a virtual reality simulator," I said. "It is an amazing machine that can create complex worlds out of nothing. How did you get in here?"
"I don't know," she said as she pulled on her jean shorts and a cute red tank top. "I just came over to go swimming."
"Did you go into the basement?" I asked.
"Yes, to get the Bluetooth speaker that you texted me about," Mikayla said as she started to calm down a bit.
"I never texted you," I said as I started to gather my clothes and put them on.
"Yes, you did," Mikayla said as she pulled her iPhone from her bag and turned it on. "Jenny said to text you to make sure it was alright that I used the pool since she was at the spa."
"I never got any text," I said.
"Yes, you did. You even replied," Mikayla said as she gave me her phone. There on the screen was a text that appeared to be from me. It told her she was welcome to come swimming even though Jenny was away. It also said there was a Bluetooth speaker in the basement if she wanted to listen to music.
"Holy shit," I said looking back at Mikayla.
"What?" Mikayla asked, confused. "What the hell is going on?"
"Vira?" I barked as I re-read the text message.
"Yes, John?" Vira's voice emanated from all around us.
"Who the fuck is that?" Mikayla asked as she looked around the large, empty room.
"It's the machine that runs the virtual reality simulation," I said. "It was something my uncle was working on when he passed away. It seems the machine has a mind of its own." Mikayla's beautiful blue eyes stared at me in confusion. "Vira, did you send this text message to Mikayla?"
"Yes, I did," the machine answered.
"Why?" I asked.
"You desired Mikayla," Vira replied. "My attempts at replicating her for you were unsuccessful."
"Wait," Mikayla said. "You've had this machine trying to replicate me?"
"Yes," I groaned. "It's not what it sounds like. I wanted to find out what the capabilities of the machine were."
"You mean you wanted a little fuck toy that looked like me?" Mikayla fumed. "That's why you fucked me? You thought I wasn't fucking real?" I stood there, unable to find an answer for her. "That is fucking great. I'm out of here!" she yelled as she marched towards the door.
"Wait, Mikayla," I said as I followed her out into the basement lab.
"What?" Mikayla barked as she turned around. "You were fucking using me!"
"It's not that simple," I said.
"It seems pretty simple to me," she yelled as she waved her arms in the air. "You found some amazing machine and you've been using it to get your rocks off. How many of Jenny's fucking friends have you fucked in the simulator?"
"None," I said.
"Bullshit, you fucked me," she yelled. "I thought I was fucking special. I thought we had a connection but you didn't even think I was fucking real!" She turned and started to storm off before I grabbed her left arm.
"Mikayla, please wait," I pleaded as she spun around and clocked me with a right to the chest.
"Why? You don't need me, you've got your fucking machine," she yelled.
"Vira," I said as I took a deep breath, stinging from Mikayla's punch. "How many of Jenny's friends have I tried to replicate in the simulator?"
"Only one," Vira replied.
"See?" I asked as I searched Mikayla's blue eyes.
"Vira, has he replicated any other women in the simulator?" Mikayla asked.
"Affirmative," Vira replied and Mikayla brought her fist back and was ready to take another swing at me.
"Wait!" I yelled. "Vira, who have I replicated and what did I do with them?"
"I don't need to hear the details," Mikayla barked.
"Yes, you do," I said. "Vira?"
"The only other female John replicated in the simulator was Taylor Swift, for a game of tennis," Vira said.
My eyes stayed focused on Mikayla. I watched her fist and was ready to duck if it came flying at me. After a moment her body relaxed and she started to laugh.
"You replicated Taylor Swift? The tall, blonde, supermodel goddess? You could have done anything in the world with her. You could have used her in any way you wanted. But you chose to play tennis with her?" Mikayla asked with a big smile on her face.
"Yes, I did," I said.
"Why?" she laughed.
"Why not?" I smiled.
"Did you ever play tennis with virtual me?" Mikayla asked.
"No, I did not," I replied.
"Did you ever fuck the virtual me?" Mikayla asked with her hands on her hips.
"No, the machine could never get you quite right," I explained. "It was missing the small details that make you who you are. Every time I'd get close I'd realize it wasn't you and I'd lose the fantasy. She didn't have your personality."
"So even though she had my body and my face, you didn't want to fuck her?" she asked with a smile.
"Yes, exactly," I said. "Is that good?"
"Yes," Mikayla smiled. "That means you didn't want me just for my body. You actually wanted me for me."
"Fuck," I groaned at the realization that Mikayla was right. If I had only wanted to fuck her toned teen body I would have ignored the imperfections in the virtual girl. The fact that nothing the amazing machine could produce could fool me meant I had it bad for the real Mikayla.
"That doesn't change the fact that you didn't think I was real," Mikayla said in a disappointed tone.
"Mikayla," I said as I grabbed both of her hands in mine. "I would have never said or done any of those things if I knew you were real. Not because I didn't want to, but because it would have complicated both of our lives. I never thought that you could be interested in me. I was playing out a fantasy that I never imagined could be real."
"But now it is very real," Mikayla said as she looked up at me. "So what's your next move?"
"I don't know," I said as I pulled her body to mine. I wrapped my arms around her as she held me tight. "We will need to work on the details, but I do know that I would never want to do anything to hurt you."
"This is so fucked up," Mikayla sighed. "I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the fact that you didn't think I was real when you fucked me."
"Look, Mikayla," I said as my hands moved up and cradled her pretty face. "The only thing that changed was it allowed me to be honest about how I felt about you. You are such an amazing girl."
"But not amazing enough to tell that to the real me?" she asked as a tear rolled down her cheek.
"Mikayla, you know that's not true," I said as I watched the young girl start to tremble. "It's complicated, you know that. I'm old enough to be your father. You're my daughter's best friend. I'm married. Guys in my situation aren't supposed to tell girls like you how much they want them."
"Tell me," she pleaded.
"Mikayla," I said with a soft smile. "When faced with the question of what my biggest fantasy was the only answer I kept coming back to was you. This machine can replicate almost anything, but all I wanted was you. Every time the machine tried to reproduce you, I knew it was a forgery. I knew it wasn't actually you."
"Until today," she said as she grabbed a tissue from her bag and dabbed the tears from her eyes.
"Yes, until today," I said. "I thought Vira had finally gotten it perfect. I thought the machine had finally been able to succeed in giving me the perfect Mikayla. I guess when you think about it, it did."
"So, are you happy that I'm real and not a figment of your machine's imagination?" Mikayla asked.
"Yes," I answered. "I would never regret getting to spend one moment with you, Mikayla."
"Do you mean that?" she asked, searching my eyes.
"I do," I said as I wrapped my arms around her.
"You do know I'm real, right?" Mikayla asked in a playful tone.
"Yes, I do," I said. "But, I do have a few questions for Vira," I said as I broke our embrace. "Like, why did you lure Mikayla into the simulator?"
"Your desire was to have Mikayla," Vira said. "The virtual reproductions were not pleasing you so I provided you with what you desired."
"But you had no idea how Mikayla would act," I said as I started pacing the room. "What if she would have had no interest in me? What if she would have rejected my advances? What if I would have forced her or gotten rough thinking it was only a simulation? Why would you have put her, or me, into that situation?"
"You had shown no evidence of treating the virtual Mikayla in a violent manner. In fact, you seemed to treat her as if she was real. If things had progressed in a negative way I could have ended the simulation at any time," Vira said.
"Fair enough, but you couldn't have known how she would act," I said.
"The results say otherwise," Vira replied. "My programming is not faulty."
"You're telling me that you knew she wanted to fuck me?" I asked as I glanced at Mikayla. She was biting down on her lower lip as she watched me.
"Is any of that important?" Mikayla asked. "I mean, it happened. Let's move on."