Imaginary Kitchen

      Sophia rubbed her sweaty palms against her floral sundress and took a deep breath before she pulled open the restaurant door. While she waited for the hostess, she twirled a piece of her long, black hair.

           “Will you be needing a date for this evening?” The hostess asked.

           Sophia nodded. Her eyes darted around the lobby. The dining room was around the corner, so the bathroom doors and a bunch of plants and generic paintings decorating this room were all she could see.

           “Right this way!” She followed the hostess’ bouncy blonde ponytail into another room. “Here are your available options.”

           Sophia looked at the line of people sitting in chairs. Some were male, some female, and some she wasn’t sure the gender of. Some were fidgety, some slept, some talked, and some played games on their phones. This is so awkward.

           “What’s her name?” Sophia pointed to a woman with wavy red hair and thick black glasses.

           “Clara. She’s an excellent choice. Very friendly and pleasant.”

           “Great, I’ll take her.”

           The hostess smiled. “Clara, let me introduce your date.”

           “Hi, I’m Sophia,” she said with a laugh. Why am I laughing?

           The hostess gestured to the dining area, and they followed.

           “Nice to meet you. You look beautiful.”

           “You have to say that.” Sophia waved her hand dismissively.

           Clara’s face froze for a moment. Then she grinned while thanking the hostess and took a seat. “It’s easier if you just play along, darling.”

           “Do you really think I’m beautiful? Please, be honest.”

           “What I think doesn’t matter. If you don’t feel beautiful, I know a great counselor who could help with that. It needs to come from within.” Clara placed a hand over her heart and offered a sympathetic smile.

           Sophia nodded. “What’ll you have?”

           Clara giggled. “Oh darling, I haven’t even glanced at the menu yet. You know already?”

           You work here and there are like three options.

           “Option A.”

           “Hmm…I’m feeling a little adventurous tonight. I’ll try C.” Clara winked.

           They typed their order on the computer screen and wait for their food to slide down the conveyor belt onto their table. A man sitting alone caught Sophia’s eyes. Why would he want to be alone?

           “Do you like doing this?” Sophia fought to swallow down the massive clump of desperation that pushed up her throat.

           “Of course! I love meeting wonderful new people like yourself.” Her shoulders raised with the corners of her lips and she held out her hand, palm up. “It’s the excitement of a first date every day. And maybe I’m bias, but I think a high-quality date too.”

           “Don’t you ever want to date the same person for more than one night?”

           “No!” Clara shook her head dramatically. “People used to do that, and it always resulted in heartbreak and boredom and cheating. Thank my stars things have changed. It’s for the better now, darling.”

           “Maybe it’s not better.”

           “I don’t know why people get like this. You’re wishing for a past you knew nothing about. If things were so great, why did they change? Things are better now. Chin up, darling.”

           “What was your childhood like?”

           Clara looked confused. “Same as yours, I’m sure. Oh, look at this food!”

           The bowls had slid in front of them. Bowls of rainbow-colored mush packed with all the vitamins and nutrients a human needed. Sophia knew Clara wouldn’t break character, so she gave up. The wrong choice again.

           They finished dinner with polite conversation about the weather, sports, and movies. The shift in Clara’s comfort level was apparent.

           “It was lovely meeting you, darling!”

           “We should do this again.”

           Clara laughed.

           “Can I kiss you?”

           Clara tilted her head to one side. “I think you know where to go for that.”

           She hates me. If she really liked me, she’d break character. If a person felt something and it was more than a job, they would.

           Sophia walked back to her apartment and stopped in the lobby of her complex. The building had thousands of small one person apartments that all looked identical. Cubicle living. A short man wearing a shirt with the apartment’s logo looked eager to help her.

“I’d like a lover,” she whispered.

“Of course! Would that be someone to talk with, cuddle with, or have sex with? We have all sorts of options in between. Some women like someone who really wants them and will beg for sex, but ultimately respect boundaries and do nothing. Some like a person who’ll just watch tv and ignore them. A romantic? Maybe a person to help with chores? Something rougher? We have any type.”

“Do you have someone who will act like the sex is a job and want to get right to the point?”

“Yes, certainly. Any gender or physical characteristics you’d prefer?”

I was joking, but I guess that’s what I deserve. “A man. Surprise me with the rest.”

He chuckled nervously and typed into his computer. “He’ll meet you in your room.”

Sophia took the elevator to her room. A few moments later, she heard a knock on the door. A tall, handsome man with dark hair and hazel eyes pushed his way into her room. He pulled his shirt off immediately.

“Alright, let’s do this.”

Well, they really nailed that request. “Maybe we can talk a bit first?”

He sighed. “That’s not what you ordered.”

“What’s your name?”

“Travis.” His voice was deep and a little raspy, which she liked.

“You want to know mine?”

“Not really, no.”

“Do you like doing this?”

“It’s a job.” He shrugged.

“Is this part of your act?”

“Act? It’s a job. I’m doing what I’m paid to.”

“What do you order when you’re on the other side of this?”

He rolled his eyes, plopped down on her couch, and kicked his feet up. “That’s kind of personal.”

“It’s too personal to tell someone you’re going to sex with how you like to have sex?”

“I guess you have a point, but it wouldn’t be this and doesn’t that kind of mess with your whole thing?”

Is it working? Is he breaking? “Please, tell me.”

“I actually never do this myself. I don’t know…maybe doing it for work makes me tired of it.”

“Do you like this job?”

“I mean, what else is there? I don’t want to cuddle or give massages or go on endless dinner dates or be someone’s best friend to vent all their bullshit to. I kind of wish I could cook. I’ve seen this old book from way back in the day. The food they ate was so different. It looked kind of beautiful in a way. But no sense in all that nonsense. Robots do it all now.”

Sophia sat next to him and examined the dragon tattoo that curled up his arm. Her finger traced along its tail. “I wish you could cook me something.”

“Look, why are you doing this?” He pulled his arm away from her.

“I want to really get to know someone. Know what it’s like to fall in love. To connect.”

“Why? It obviously sucks. People fought so hard to make this world where no one had to deal with it. You don’t do that for nothing.”

“I’ve heard the stories. Everyone was so lonely. No one trusted anyone. Now we all have our needs met. We always have someone to talk to, someone to touch, and no one to break our hearts. No more abuse and all that.”

“Yeah.”

“But doesn’t this feel lonely?”

“Maybe you’re making it that way. It doesn’t have to if you play along.”

“What kind of stuff do you think about before you fall asleep?”

“Who gives a shit?”

“I do.” She ran her fingers through his spikey hair and gently kissed his cheek.

“You’re crazy.”

“Then leave!” She yelled and crossed her arms. Tears of frustration stacked into a blurry wall across her eyes. Please, don’t leave.

He covered his face with his hands and groaned. “What do you actually want me to do?”

For a moment, she sat silently and let her arms fall to her side. Then a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as an idea popped into her head. “Maybe we can cook something.”

“How?”

“We can pretend. What would you make?”

“This is so…I don’t know. Maybe buffalo wings. I guess they call them that because of the sauce though. It’s really chicken. Isn’t that weird? Robots don’t make nothing like that.”

“Not nutritious enough, I guess.” Sophia shrugged.

“I think people had them with pizza sometimes.”

“Cool! Let’s do it. What do we need?” 

They walked around their invisible kitchen and grabbed invisible ingredients from the invisible refrigerator and cabinets. He showed her how they threw the pizza dough in the air and caught it. Soft music from her surround sound system set a romantic atmosphere and they danced. He twirled her around and she giggled. A heavy weight swirled from inside her and slipped from her body leaving her feeling light. The calmness that took hold of her felt dizzying. They sat down to eat their meal in front of the television. He played his favorite movie for her. It was an action thriller she would never have watched, but she loved it because of how excited he looked watching it.

Then his phone rang. “I gotta go.”

It felt like her insides were tangling into a knot as she thought about where he had to go. Would he do this with someone else? He shouldn’t, so probably not. Most people didn't want this. It felt like she might throw up all their pretend food and her real mush dinner. This is one of the reasons people made the world this way. No attachments, no pain. Everyone gets what they need and nothing more. All social interactions are professional transactions.

“Will you come back?”

“I shouldn’t.”

“But will you?”

He stayed quiet for what to her felt like an agonizingly long time. “Yeah, I guess so.”

When she put her arms around him and breathed in the woodsy smell of his cologne, the knot untangled, and she gasped in relief.

“This is a really bad idea,” he whispered while still holding her close.

“Do you have time to make me breakfast before you go?”

He grinned. “I think I can manage. From what I’ve read, a lot of breakfast foods are fast.”

“This’ll be okay. Even if it hurts one day and even if it fails, it’ll be okay.”

“I’m sure that’s what everyone said until it happened, but hey, maybe repeating mistakes is the most human thing there is.”

With that they sat down to scrambled eggs, toast, bowls of fruit, and the promise to do this again, even if it was a bad idea.