Jack sat at home with the phone shaking in his hand. He wanted to call her to set up a date, a real one. With champagne and flowers. Fancy dinner and a movie if she felt like it. But he couldn't. He couldn't dial the number into the phone. He was still afraid to talk to her. He just sat at the edge of the couch with the phone held out before him.

His little robot walked up to him. Somehow it had managed to avoid being found by Jack's roommate. Jack smiled at the idea of having a secret.

"May as well call her," it shrugged, "That, or she'll call you and it'll be a disaster."

"I really think that there's something screwed up in your wiring," Jack glared at it.

"There is," it scrambled onto the couch, "I'm you."

Jack growled a bit.

After a long while, Jack found the courage to dial the number. The phone rang and rang, until finally, it was answered… by her voicemail.

"Hi, you've reached the cell of Kimiko Tohomiko. Leave a message and, if I like you, I'll call you back as soon as possible!"

"Hi, Kimiko," he said into the phone, "How about that second date? I know you asked the other day, but, please say late is better than never. Give me a call on my cell. Bye."

Jack hung up the phone. As he sat in awkward silence, he realized that he had never given Kimiko his cell number. He was about to call her back when the door to his apartment flew open. Jack dropped the phone and starred in horror at the look on his roommate's face. The minibot scrambled away and went under the couch.

"B-bad day?" Jack asked timidly.

"Sucked," the man spat, "I hope yours did too."

"It wasn't that great," Jack said softly.

"Good."

The giant man wandered into the kitchen where he retrieved a beer and came back out to face Jack.

"I'm not getting that raise," he said as he opened the can of beer, "So you better get another job."

"Okay," Jack nodded, "I'll look for one tomorrow."

"Yeah," the man scoffed as he drank his beer.

Jack wanted so badly to disappear just like his minibot had. Just crawl away into some deep, dark recess of the world where no one would ever find him.

"That hit the spot," his roommate sighed as he finished off his drink.

Wandering into the kitchen, he retrieved another. As he came back out, the phone began to ring.

"I'm not answering it," he growled. But he stood by it and waited to hear who it was.

The ringing stopped and the answering machine picked up.

"Hi, Jack," His heart froze, "Sorry I didn't answer before," she laughed over the phone, "but I couldn't find my phone. Anyway, yeah, another date sounds nice," the rage in his roommate's face was terrible,"How about Friday? I'll meet you there, at your place," Jack tried to shrink back and hide in the couch, "I want to do something special this time," Pain already flooded his body, "So yeah, give me a call eventually. Talk to you soon, bye." And that was it; she was gone now, leaving him with his abusive roommate.

"Who was that, Jack?" His roommate hissed.

"N-no one…"

"Oh yes," the man growled, "That was someone. Now, who was it?"

"A girl…"

"What girl? The girl you raped?"

Jack knew he'd be caught in a lie if he tried to, "Yes," he whimpered.

"How sick," his roommate put the can of beer down on the coffee table as he approached Jack, "You rape her and then ask to go on a date?"

"I-it's not like that…" Jack started to cry.

"Is that so? Then explain it to me," his roommate sat beside him and motioned for him to speak.

"Well," Jack swallowed hard, "She stopped by the other day and it was like… like nothing happened… I mean, she remembered being with me, just not me raping her…"

"Sounds convenient," his roommate grumbled.

"Well, I don't know about convenient, but… I just want to try it one more time. I love her," he let out a raspy sigh, "So much. I want to be with her, not…"

"In her?" his roommate laughed, "Jack, you're an animal. If you want to fuck something, you will. If you love her, you should probably avoid another… date."

"You think so?"

"Yes," his roommate was unusually calm, "For the best."

Jack thought a minute. In a way, the man was right. He was an animal and animals don't exactly have control over their sexual tendencies. Hence, a dog will hump its master's leg. So maybe it would be best if Jack just canceled the date and tried to forget all about his dear Kimiko. He'd call her tomorrow, for the last time.

"Yeah," he rasped, "I'll cancel the date," he turned to his roommate, "Then everything'll be alright. I can't hurt her if I'm not with her, right?"

His roommate nodded and stood up, "Right," he reached down to Jack.

"Right," Jack repeated as he took his roommate's hand.

Standing up, Jack felt his legs weaken, but his roommate's arm kept him from falling. The larger man lead him into his room where he closed the door behind them. A shrill scream filled the air and moans of pain followed shortly after. Jack's tail and heart were broken.