chapter 2- part 3

“I’m sure they can manage without me. We’ve only practiced and performed that VR quest about 700 times,” Sam whispered and subconsciously yanked the tight fabric on her shirt to try to stop it from clinging to her belly. Andy just stared at her with an unreadable expression.
“Go ahead, do your little spiel. This is your gig,” she flopped down on the cushioned seating and gave Andy’s arm an encouraging pat.

Andy rose, and cleared his throat. All of the cast members quieted. Sam leaned back into the seating cradling her stomach. Her face twisted with a disheartened look. She picked at an unraveled thread on her uniform shirt.

“Everyone, due to having such a small amount of guests we will be the third and final stop of the day. That means we will have a couple of hours to get readjusted to your roller skates, have lunch and practice before we have to entertain the guests. After they finish they will board and go back to the ship for the night. “
Andy droned on.
“Oh and Rory please see me,” he finished at the end.
Rory getting tired of being called to the front felt his body language sag at the familiar phase. He quickly joined Andy at the front while the rest of the cast disbursed to talk amongst themselves.

“ Rory, for the bumper cars the cast’s job is entertaining guests on a roller rink while they wait to get on the ride. Your partner for the rollerblading will be Casey. She will help you with roller blading choreography, and she can also tell you a little bit about the ride and how things work.” Andy finished

Rory’s mind flashed to watching Casey’s performance the night before. He couldn’t hold back a little grin.
“Sounds great, thanks Andy,” Rory chirped.
Andy smiled in a knowing sort of way before sitting back down.
As soon as Rory had walked off looking chipper, Andy sat back down.

Sam flopped so she was laying on the seat, her back where her butt should be. Sam’s still full stomach poked straight up. She pulled at her tight uniform shirt as it rolled up due to the change in positions. The yanking didn’t do much to cover the exposed sliver of her lower belly. The movement of the ship caused it to jostle a little. Both hands rested on either side of her stomach.
“I’m miserable,” she groaned dramatically.
Andy raised an eyebrow to prompt her to elaborate.
“Its because of Evelyn. I made her cry,” Sam avoided eye contact guiltily.
Andy grimaced with irritation and rolled his eyes.
“I told you to stay away from her. This trip is important and you’re too distracted tormenting her or stuffing your face,” he gave her stomach a pointed stare and she pulled on her shirt again.
Sam said nothing and Andy listened to the waves slapping the boat and the cast chattering. He expected her to agree with him but she still didn’t speak.
“Stay away from her Sam,” he repeated.
“I can’t,” she croaked but he didn’t hear it.
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The area where the bumper cars were set up had a retro theme park look. There were a couple of old school wooden rollercoasters and a ferris wheel. Nearby were some tourist shops selling souvenir merchandise. There was a roller skating rink under a red tin roof. On top the roof was a vintage neon sign with a burger. It said “Penelope’s Pitstop, Gas station and diner.” The roof was held up with beams similar to how an old school bumper car ride might look. The center of the roller rink was missing, there were some stairs at the edge that led down. Downstairs was a bumper car course. There were large obstacles like you might see at a monster truck rally. The area under the rest of the rink was hollowed out and the bumper car course went through a tunnel under ground.

At the edge of the skating rink was the diner. The building was shaped like a concession stand and the counter was at the edge of the rink. Cast members could skate up to it. All around the edge of the rink were empty tables with red and white umbrellas for guests.

Casey grabbed Rory’s hand pulling him out away from the railing and further into the rink.
“See skating is easy with virtual reality,” she giggled, and he watched her glide along. The skirt of her vintage waitress dress fluttered with movement. She changed directions and started to skate towards him.
“Okay try catching me and lifting me like in dirty dancing,” she giggled and the apron on the dress flapped a little. Rory attempted the move but was unable to complete it. He quickly redirected the motion and twirled her instead.
They practiced a couples skating routine while other cast members around them practiced as well.
After a while Andy skated up to them.
“Looking pretty good,” he tilted his head to the side and smiled.

Casey and Rory moved to the side of the rink out of the way so they could stop and talk to Andy.
“Andy, has Sam looked at the guest metrics? I would like to have a guest to focus on by tonight’s dinner show,” Casey leaned on the rink railing as she spoke.

“Guest metrics?” Rory asked before considering if he should have or not.

Andy sighed “The virtual reality chips gather information while you are wearing them. They collect data on your heart rate, pupil dilation and stats..”

“With that information we can tell who guests are physically attracted to in the simulation!” Casey finished for him , “But only Sam and Andy can access the data. Did she access the data from last night, Andy?”

Andy sighed and shook his head no, “Shes been a little preoccupied.” He tilted his head to point. Sam and Evelyn were sitting at a table on the edge of the roller rink. Sam looked like she was trying to engage Evelyn. Evelyn looked like she was actively trying to ignore her. Evelyn was tapping away on her tech tablet.

“I’ve looked at the guest’s chip data though, you and I can go over it when we get back on the ship,” Andy finished.

Rory suddenly felt nervous, “Do they keep those kind of records on the cast?”

“Yes, but we don’t normally review them,” Andy answered.

“Oh my god, tell him the most romantic thing,” Casey chirped.
Andy grimaced, “It is not the most romantic thing.” He sighed, “When Evelyn and Sam we’re dating their metrics with the chip showed they were more attracted to each other without the chips.”

Rory thought back to some of the interactions he’d witnessed between them and was not surprised.
“Isn’t that so romantic? Because in virtual reality everyone looks like a Barbie doll with slim waists and hour glass figures. They like each other the best when they are naturally themselves,” Casey cooed.

Andy rolled his eyes, “It’s unnatural is what it is. If you think it’s so romantic why don’t you go down there and flirt with Sam? Get her to leave poor Evelyn alone?”

Casey wrinkled her nose a little at the idea.
“I don’t think Casey is really Sam’s type,” Rory interjected staring pointedly at Casey’s slim waist.
Casey giggled and smirked playfully at Rory.
“I think you’re catching on quicker than I did.”

Andy chuckled, he started to skate towards the center of the rink again. “So Rory, watch yourself, don’t look at the pretty girls too much if you don’t want it to show up in the data.” Andy and Casey both laughed at the joke. Rory’s pictured himself gawking at Casey in the mermaid grotto show the night before, and he felt uncomfortable. That definitely had to have registered with the chip. Was that why Andy had made them partners?
Casey grabbed Rory’s hand and pulled him off the sidelines to practice skating. Rory looked at her goofy grin and wondered how he was supposed to stop looking at her so it wouldn’t be obvious.
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“ They still have the create your own deep fried fair food kiosk,” Sam smiled hopefully at Evelyn. Evelyn didn’t look up from her tablet.
“ I got the deep fried cotton candy flavored Oreos. I know that’s your favorite.”
Evelyn looked up at the wide array of fried food Sam had brought over.
“I really need to work.” Evelyn muttered
“Suit yourself,” Sam flopped down and bit into one. After a couple bites Evelyn looked up again. Sam smiled a knowing smirk, and waved one of the half bitten deep fried treats in Evelyn’s face. Evelyn gazed longingly at the pink and blue icing and the crispy yet soft dough,
“Fine. I want one”, she caved easily.
Sam pushed the plate of Oreos towards her and grabbed a burger. While she bit down she looked across the table at Evelyn. Her eyes were no longer red from crying. The sunlight filtering from picnic umbrella above brought out the shine in her hair and warmed the tone of her skin. She anxiously traced her eyes over Evelyn’s cheeks looking for any marks her grip from earlier might have left. Sam let out a sigh she didn’t know she’d been holding in. She was certain she didn’t see any bruises on the pudgier girl’s face. Engrossed in whatever she was working on Evelyn blindly felt around the plate for another Oreo, not realizing she’d eaten them all. Sam swallowed the last bite of her burger, “You ate them all, and I thought you only wanted one,” Sam used a mockingly pitiful voice. Evelyn grimaced, “Maybe just worry about your own eating habits?” Sam grimaced back, but shoved more fries in her mouth.
After a while the cold shoulder from Evelyn got boring.
“Are the guests ever going to get here,” Sam groaned. Evelyn texted management at another attraction.
“They are about forty-five minutes away, they got distracted on the boat tour, dolphins swam up or something.” Evelyn replied monotone.
Sam went back to the kiosk to get more snacks. She leaned against a post that held up the roller rink roof. Her attention focused on the cast roller skating as she ate a corndog. She watched as Casey skated up to Rory. He was able to lift her this time.