The Reality Engine

Hi!

Thank you for reading my story.

A couple of points to know:

I don't like writing wank porn. I want to write full-fleshed stories with plot, character, drama, and tension.

Events in this chapter pick up the morning after the events at the end of chapter 11.

It's always more difficult to find time to write during the Holiday Season, so I apologize for the longer wait since the last chapter.

Thank you for taking the time, and please be sure to vote and offer any feedback you can.

If you like what I do, offering feedback is the best thing you can do to help, there is nothing which aids a writer more than seeing the story through someone else's eyes.

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Chapter 12

Calvin turned over in bed, and awoke with a jolt. He glanced at the clock on his desk: 4:50 AM. He jumped out of bed, took a quick shower, and got dressed. Calvin was about to race out the front door to his car, when he stopped in the kitchen: there was a bowl of oatmeal, a banana, and a glass of orange juice on the counter, with a note from his mother.

"Be sure to eat before you go," the note said. "You're no good to anyone on an empty stomach. Love, mom."

Calvin was dumbfounded, this wasn't the mother he knew. However, he had no time to think about that at the moment, so he sat down and ate, and drank, and he felt a new man. He washed the dishes after he was done eating, and stacked them neatly in the dishwasher, before he got into his car and drove for Shauna's house. He arrived at 5:45 AM.

Calvin knocked on the front door, and Mr. Lomb opened it, and welcomed him inside, and closed the front door behind him.

"Good to see you, and you're early," Mr. Lomb said. "My wife is still helping me pack my suitcase in our bedroom, but I assure you we'll be ready to hit the road in the next ten minutes. Make yourself at home until then."

"Do you need help carrying your things?" Calvin asked.

"My luggage is very light," Mr. Lomb said. "Please, sit down for a few minutes, and take a load off your feet. We'll be ready to go soon."

Calvin sat down on the couch in the living room to wait, while Mr. Lomb went upstairs to his bedroom. As Calvin sat, he wondered if he should go and look for Shauna. Maybe she was up, and would keep him company? He shook his head at his weakness, why would someone as lovely as Shauna wake up so early in the morning for him?

He remembered what Shauna had said to him in his dream from the night before, that he had to let go of his self-doubt and self-hatred. How did he do that when it was the only thing he had ever known?

"Good morning, Calvin," Shauna said, and Calvin turned his head to see her walk into the living room. His jaw dropped when he saw what she was wearing: a flimsy tube-top with a hem that only went down to her navel, no bra, and a pair of white, cotton panties.

"I. . .," Calvin said, unable to say anything else. He just wanted to look at her.

"Well, what do you think?" Shauna asked, as she put both of her hands behind her head, and posed for him. When she posed like that, he could see her beautiful titties straining to break through the fabric of her top, which was doing a very poor job of hiding her ample breasts.

Calvin just sat where he was, staring at her, with his jaw open, unable to say anything.

"Do you like my sleeping clothes?" Shauna asked, flashing a wicked smile, as she clearly saw his cock bulge to full attention in his pants. Mrs. Longfellow had been right the night before, Calvin was intensely sexually attracted to Shauna, but he was terrible at expressing it, and was inexperienced and awkward. Now that Shauna was sure that Calvin wanted to fuck her, things could proceed at a pace that was comfortable for both of them.

"Now, honey, stop teasing that poor, defenseless, young man," Mrs. Lomb said, as she descended the staircase, with her husband right behind her, carrying his suitcase. Once Mrs. Lomb got to the bottom of the stair case, Calvin rubbed his eyes in disbelief when he saw what she was wearing: nearly the identical clothing as her daughter, just in a slightly larger size.

"I, that is, I. . .," Calvin muttered, trying to find speech, but missing the mark by a wide margin.

"You ready to head out?" Mr. Lomb asked. This was the lifeline Calvin had been searching for, as he jumped up from his seat on the couch, raced over to Mr. Lomb, and picked up his suitcase. Calvin and Mr. Lomb made for the front door, and Mr. Lomb opened it.

"Aren't you boys forgetting something?" Mrs. Lomb asked. "When setting off, it is customary for the men to give the women a good-bye kiss."

"Of course, my dear, where are my manners?" Mr. Lomb said, as he held his wife and kissed her.

"Do I get a good-bye kiss?" Shauna asked, with a smile, as she wrapped her arms around Calvin's neck.

"You are way too good to be true," Calvin said, with a smile, as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"So, is that a yes?" Shauna asked.

"I've, uh, never kissed a girl before, I mean like a serious kiss, and I'm not sure how," Calvin said.

"I've never had a serious kiss with a boy before, and I'm not sure how either, so I'm sure this first time will be terrible for both of us, do you want to try?" Shauna asked.

"Yeah," Calvin said. "I do."

"Then close your eyes, and let it happen," Shauna said. Calvin closed his eyes, and Shauna closed hers, and they kissed. As their lips melted together, it was the most pleasurable thing either of them had ever done.

"Well, what did you think?" Shauna asked, after they broke their kiss.

"I'd like some more of that, please," Calvin said, as he leaned in, and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

"If you want more, be sure to come back tonight for Bible Study," Shauna said. "7:30 PM, don't be late."

"If you come at 7, you can help me cook dinner, and set up the table for our guests," Mrs. Lomb said.

"I'll be here at 7," Calvin said, with a smile, as everyone exchanged good-byes, and Calvin and Mr. Lomb set off for the airport in Calvin's car.

"Well, what did you think about the little show this morning?" Mr. Lomb asked, as soon as he and Calvin were on the freeway.

"You are a very lucky man, to be married to a woman like your wife," Calvin said, smiling.

"No more lucky a man than you are, to be in love with my daughter, and to have her love you in return," Mr. Lomb replied.

"Don't you think it's a little early for Shauna and I to be using the L-word?" Calvin asked.

"No," Mr. Lomb asked. "I knew I was going to marry my wife less than an hour after the first time I met her. One of the things you're going to learn about women as you gain experience is that if they want you, they will make it very obvious, and you'll get your chance very soon after first meeting them. If a relationship has gone three dates without sex, then there is never going to be sex. She's just not that into you."

"How do you know?" Calvin asked. "Women send so many mixed signals."

"No, they really don't," Mr. Lomb said, with a laugh. "If you have any confusion over whether she wants you, or not, then the answer is she doesn't, and she's trying to let you down gently."

"Well, your wife is obviously into you," Calvin replied, with a wide smile.

"My daughter is also very obviously into you," Mr. Lomb replied. "You do know that you can fuck my daughter anytime you want to just by asking, right?"

"Huh?" Calvin asked. That angle had never occurred to him, and he was shocked to hear it from her father of all people.

"Shauna wants to have sex with you, Calvin," Mr. Lomb said. "As her father, I wholly approve of her intention. You're a really excellent young man, in every way. Much better than I dared hope my youngest child would bring home as her first lover."

"Just what is so great about me?" Calvin asked. "I'm a 25-year-old loser who still lives in my parent's basement. I'm not dating your daughter because I worked up the balls to ask her out. I'm dating your daughter because my baby sister forked over 400 big ones to set me up."

"You really don't see your own good qualities, do you?" Mr. Lomb asked.

"Not really, no," Calvin said. "I'll be honest with you, Mr. Lomb, I don't deserve to date Shauna. I was in bed last night, and I'd just woken up from a dream. It was 11 PM, and I looked over in my bed, and I wished Shauna was there, and I felt so ashamed of myself for wanting that. I picked up the phone to call her, and I couldn't dial the number. Why would she want to speak to me?"

"I see," Mr. Lomb said. "Do you know where I'm headed on my business trip today?"

"No, I'd like to know, if you're allowed to tell me," Calvin said, confused by the change in topic, but thankful to be talking about something else.

"I'm headed off to one of my employer's production facilities in Texas," Mr. Lomb said. "There have been several financial irregularities from this particular facility in recent months, and my boss has dispatched me to do a field investigation to try to find the cause of these irregularities."

"Any theories on what the cause could be?" Calvin asked.

"Most likely, an innocent accounting error, or an ordering error, or a shipping mix-up," Mr. Lomb said. "These things happen, and they just need to be straightened out. Tell me, if it was you who was going in my place today, what would you do first?"

"Probably figure out what kind of things your company produces at the facility, and then get as familiar as I could with the production process," Calvin said.

"Why would that be your first step?" Mr. Lomb asked.

"You said it was an irregularity, right?" Calvin asked. "If it's an accounting error, then knowing the production process is crucial to understanding what the accounting ledger means and finding the error. If it's an ordering error, then I need to know who the raw materials suppliers are, how much inventory there is, and if there are any bottlenecks in the pipeline. If it's a shipping mix-up, then I need to have some idea of how many products can be made in a day, who the primary customers for each product are, and what the status is in filling open orders. All three of those topics overlap with the core production process, and without knowing that, it's really impossible to investigate anything else competently."

"Just where did you learn such ideas?" Mr. Lomb asked.

"I read a lot," Calvin said. "It's also common sense."

"Common sense which is really quite rare, because it took me 15 years of working in the field to learn what you already know," Mr. Lomb said. "Can we talk about that favor I wanted you to do for me today?"

"Sure, what do you need?" Calvin asked.

"Take this," Mr. Lomb said, as he handed Calvin a business card. Calvin took the card, and glanced at it.

"Harold Pinker, CTO, Fearless Tools Inc.," Calvin said, reading over what was written on the business card. "Is this the company you work for?"

"Yep," Mr. Lomb said. "We produce machinery for the construction industry. Harry is our Chief Technology Officer, and he has a problem that he's wanted to solve for some time now, and just hasn't been able to get around to it. It would be great if you could stop by the office today and help him out. It's right up your alley, as it's a computer problem."

"Do you have any details?" Calvin asked.

"I'm not a computer person, you are, and I don't know anything about it," Mr. Lomb said. "Harry will explain everything to you when you arrive. If you can help us, great, if not, don't worry about it, as it's not that big a deal. Just something we'd like tidied up, if possible."

"Okay, I'll stop by right after I drop you off, and I'll take a look," Calvin said. "I doubt I'll be able to help, but, we can but try, can't we?"

"That's the spirit," Mr. Lomb said, as he slapped Calvin on the back. "Now, why don't you take that same approach with my daughter? If it's 11 PM, and you want to hear her voice, call her. Can't you but try?"

"Well, I mean, you know. . .," Calvin muttered.

"Heck, I'll do you one better," Mr. Lomb said. "If it's 11 PM, and you want to hear my daughter's voice, why aren't you sleeping in the same bed she is?"

"I didn't really expect this much enthusiasm on your part to me dating your baby girl," Calvin said.

"Do you know anything about my other two children?" Mr. Lomb asked.

"Shauna did mention them to me on Friday night during our first date," Calvin said. "I know your eldest is a daughter named Amber, who is 23 years old, and works in HR for a company out on the east coast, and I know your second eldest is a son named Allan who is 21 years old, and is a Junior at Northwestern University. Shauna showed me a family picture, so I could identify them by sight, but that's all I know."

"I remember when Amber was in High School, and I remember the first boy she brought home," Mr. Lomb said. "He was an obvious loser, with tattoos and a drug problem, the stereotypical bad boy that my rebellious teenage daughter found fascinating. I remember the first girl my teenage son brought home, total neurotic nut-case with daddy issues. Unfortunately, neither of my elder two children have gotten any better at picking members of the opposite sex to date in the following years. That is what you are competing against, Calvin, and it's no contest."

"I don't know about that so much," Calvin said. "I've got no job, no degree, and no future. If Shauna and I do fall in love, then what? I've got no means to support her, or to support any children we might have together. I can't ask her to wait for me to become something I'm never going to be."

"You've thought about it, though, haven't you?" Mr. Lomb asked. "You've thought about marrying my daughter, and having kids."

"Yeah, because your daughter is utterly wonderful, and deserves so much in life," Calvin said. "I'm just really scared that I know I can't give it to her, and that I'll never become what a woman like her can be proud of."

"She's already proud of you," Mr. Lomb said, with a smile. "Shauna is different from what all the other young people her age are, you know? She's still a virgin, for one thing."

"Yeah, I figured that when she told me she hadn't kissed a guy before this morning," Calvin said. "How did someone as beautiful as her stay a virgin so long?"

"Believe it not, it's because she never got offers for sex from boys her own age," Mr. Lomb said. "She's been sure she was ugly, her entire life."

"I think it might be relative," Calvin said. "If she's going out with Mia every night, well, guys are going to hit on Mia and ignore her. That doesn't make her ugly."

"What is your impression of Mia?" Mr. Lomb asked. "I know Shauna introduced the two of you yesterday."

"She's a really nice girl, and a good friend, who cares a lot," Calvin said.

"She is also a reserved young lady," Mr. Lomb said. "Shauna picks her friends carefully, and it shows. I've fucked several of Amber's friends, as my eldest daughter is not nearly so good at picking her friends as Shauna is."

"Do your wife and daughter know?" Calvin asked.

"Of course they do, I don't keep secrets from my family," Mr. Lomb said. "Remember the tattooed guy with a drug problem who was the first guy my eldest daughter brought home? My wife fucked him, and she told me right after she did it. She doesn't keep any secrets from me, and I keep none from her."

"Wow," Calvin said. "Your wife sure is a nice piece of ass, and I can't see any man resisting her."

"My wife really likes you too, way more than any guy Amber ever dated," Mr. Lomb said. "There's a good chance my wife will make you an offer while I'm out of town. I don't want you to hesitate, and I want you to go for it. It's perfectly alright with me, and be sure that if you get lucky with my wife, she'll tell me everything shortly thereafter, and it's okay."

"In exchange, you get some young pussy from time-to-time?" Calvin asked, with a sly smile.

"You would be shocked how easy young men and women are to fuck," Mr. Lomb said. "My wife and I are not sexual predators, it's just that young people, ages 18-25, are adventurous and curious, and they desperately want, and need, guidance and direction. The youth of today are not as rebellious as young people were in my day."

"You ever fucked any of the girls your son dated?" Calvin asked.

"My son has had three girlfriends so far, to the best of my knowledge, and I fucked two of them," Mr. Lomb said. "He briefly had a girlfriend during the end of his Freshman year in college, but I never met her, and he never brought her home. The girlfriend he had over the summer after he finished High School, and the one he's with right now? Oh yeah, absolutely slammed both of them. I didn't try to hook-up with either one, they both came onto me."

"Huh," Calvin said. "Just how many lovers, and friends of your children, have you banged in your time?"

"I haven't hooked up with any of Shauna's friends," Mr. Lomb said. "In addition to Allan's 2 girlfriends, I've also fucked two of my son's other female college friends. I've fucked 4 of Amber's girlfriends from college. I didn't even recruit them, or ask, or anything. Amber brought one of her friends home during winter break her Freshman year in college, and they spied on my wife and I having sex. Amber's friend tried to seduce me after that, I fucked her, she spread the word, and Amber's other 3 friends wanted to try. 4 pieces of amazing college pussy, and they all found me."

"I wish I could do that," Calvin said, sighing.

"You want to fuck Mia?" Mr. Lomb asked. "It's okay, I know how much you love Shauna, and I know you'll be loyal to my daughter. Just answer as a pure hypothetical."

"Yeah, I do," Calvin said. "She sure is beautiful. I love Shauna, and she's the only one I have feelings for, but Mia is a great pair of T&A, you know?"

"Keep your eyes open, and you will get a chance, and probably much sooner than you think you will," Mr. Lomb said, smiling.

"I'll turn her down, I'm not hurting Shauna, no matter what," Calvin said.

Mr. Lomb laughed out loud, "Shauna will probably be the one who asks you to fuck her friend," he said. "You just aren't raised on the female psyche."

"It doesn't make any sense to me," Calvin said, as he and Mr. Lomb arrived at the airport.

"Terminal 2, domestic departures," Mr. Lomb said, directing Calvin to the right freeway off-ramp. "Just promise me one thing, okay?"

"Sure, anything," Calvin said.

"Don't sleep alone, unless you have to," Mr. Lomb said. "What you told me before, about waking up from a dream, and wishing Shauna was in bed with you? The easiest solution is to ask my daughter to be in bed with you from the start. She wants to be there for you, Calvin. Don't push her away."

"It's not that simple," Calvin said, as he pulled up to the departing gate for Mr. Lomb's flight. "I don't have a job, a degree, or a future where I can earn enough money to marry Shauna and raise a family. Until that changes, I don't want either of us to get in so far with each other that we get hurt."

"You have the card I gave you, right?" Mr. Lomb asked. "Promise me you'll go and see my friend Harold as soon as we're finished at the airport today, okay?"

Calvin nodded his head that he would. He helped Mr. Lomb check in his suitcase, then dropped him off at the departing gate, before heading off for to see Mr. Harold Pinker. Upon arriving at the office of Fearless Tools Incorporated, Calvin was shown to Harold Pinker right away. Soon thereafter, Mr. Pinker brought Calvin to a large storage room in the back of the office.

"So, you just dropped off my friend, Reggie Lomb, at the airport, huh?" Mr. Pinker asked. "What's your impression of him?"

"As kind, and decent, and as good a man as I have ever met," Calvin said.