“Sonder…?”

“Yes, Brad?”

Brad began to calm down after hearing Sonder’s familiar voice.

“Where were you?” Brad asked, sounding hurt.

“I apologize, there was a sudden maintenance update and I could not respond right away. Your heart rate is elevated, remember your box breathing.”

Brad slowed his breath down. Hearing Sonder’s voice calmed him and he did his breath training. Inhale...1...2...3...4, he held his breath 1...2...3...4, and exhaled 1...2...3...4.

“How may I help you Brad?”

“I’m panicking here Sonder, I’m worried that the date with Alice is going well.”

“You’re doing ok Brad, I was updating, but I was still analyzing your interactions. You’re doing well, she likes you and you don’t need to try too hard.”

“How do you know she likes me?”

“Elevated heart rate, receptive body language, and the fact that she called herself your girlfriend.”

Brad stopped for a second, “wait, she called herself my girlfriend!?”

“Yes, Brad.”

A slow smile crept up onto his face. It completely went over his head.

“How do I...respond to that?”

“Well, it depends. Would you like her to be your girlfrie...”

“YES!” Brad interrupted.

“I see, then please follow my instructions.”

Alice wondered how long Brad would take in the restroom. In fact, do you even use restrooms in virtual reality? Usually, you would get a warning from your VR system to log off to deal with your bodily needs, but you wouldn’t actually go to the bathroom in virtual reality. In fact, why would they even create bathrooms in virtual reality? You wouldn’t even need them. These were the thoughts that ran through Alice’s head as she waited there for Brad. Suddenly, she got a text message on her virtual phone.

“Hey,” It was Brad.

“Hey, where are you?? How long are you going to take in the bathroom?”

…

”sry, I was preparing a surprise, can you please close your eyes until you hear my voice?”

Alice looked at the text suspiciously wondering what was about to happen.

“Ok...”

Brad snuck out of the restroom and went behind Alice who heard him shuffling behind her. He took out his phone and changed the park settings to move them from the shared instance back to the private instance with nobody else. Alice with eyes still closed began to hear the din and shuffling of the crowds disappear.

“What’s happening back there?” Alice asked out loud.

Brad pressed a few more buttons on his phone and his preparations were complete.

“Ok, you can turn around now,” Brad shouted to Alice.

Alice quickly opened her eyes and turned around to see Brad sitting on a chair with his guitar. Behind him were virtual npc mascots of Mickey Mouse and his crew.

Alice, confused, but amused asked, “ok, what is this?”

Brad began to tap his foot with a slow cadence and whispered to himself to the beat of his foot, “1...2...3...4…” and he began to sing.

“Wise men say,” Brad started, “only fools rush in.”

The Disney mascots began to move in sync to Brad’s beat, improvising a machine generated choreography. Alice, not believing her eyes or ears, smiled and covered her mouth with her hands in a triangle.

“But I can’t help falling in love with you…” Brad sang sweetly, then abruptly pressed on the loop pedal on his foot, and began to beatbox a quick beat and recorded the loop again. He resang the last part while looking at Alice, “I can’t help falling in love with…” he pushed the pedal playing all the sounds he recorded previously in a loop filling the air with the sound of a one man band.

“I wonder if I’m ever on her mind like she’s on mine, probably not swear I’ve never seen a girl so fine,” Brad began to rap behind his guitar and beatbox loop. He was singing a cover of the famous Elvis Presley song by Foster. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEINlbIcVS0)

The mascots began to bounce to the beat and feelings of joy and excitement welled up in Alice’s chest as she had never heard Brad rap before.

Brad continued rapping and feeling the beat, “cuz’ wise men say only fools rush in, but pretty girls make fools outta wise men.”

Alice whooped at this line and caught Brad blushing at her cheers. She began to dance in place, bouncing to the beat putting her hands up in the air to follow the mascots dancing in the back.

Brad finished the second verse and prepared to finish, “...but I can’t help,” he pushed the pedal removing the guitar track backing leaving only the beatbox, “...falling in love with you…” Brad finished as the mascots emphatically jazz handed behind him.

He squeezed his lips into his mouth embarrassed and looked up slightly to see Alice with admiration in her eyes clapping and cheering.

“Now’s your chance,” Sonder whispered into his ear.

Brad walked stiffly toward Alice who stared holes into the back of his head.

Brad coughed to clear his throat, “uhm...hi…”

“Hi,” Alice responded while smiling.

“Sorry, um...I spent a while in the...uh...bathroom.”

“That’s ok,” Alice said, still smiling.

“Do you....um, want to be my girlfrien…”

“YES!” Alice interrupted.