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V scowled at the museum directory. It had been 30 minutes and her date hadn't shown up. He also hadn't texted her back.
She'd been stood up.
In retrospect, she should have known better than to set up a date with a cop. He probably figured their 'lifestyles were incompatible' or some shit. A good reason didn’t make the rejection hurt any less.
“You look sulky,” a voice jolted V from her thoughts. “Everything alright?” She turned to see a pretty girl with pink and green hair looking at her.
“Uh - Yeah. I was just waiting for someone but I don’t think they’re coming.”
The girl winced. “Damn. Stood up, huh? Well, I gotta say, they made a mistake not meeting someone as pretty as you.”
V’s eyebrows shot up. A light blush covered her face. “Thanks, choom. You aren’t too bad yourself.”
“Name’s Judy Alvarez.” The name rang a bell. V’s eyes widened. She was flirting with Judy Alvarez, one of Night City’s most well renowned hackers. One of the only ones, in fact, whose abilities rivaled her own.
“I’m V,” she replied, suddenly far more interested in getting to know this person.
“V.” Judy tested the name. “Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, V. I usually come to the museum to have a quiet place to work. The coffee at the food court is unprecedentedly good. Can I buy you one?”
V placed a hand on her chest. “A pretty girl offering to buy me a drink? I’d have to be a gonk to say no.”
-
Judy was right - the coffee was unprecedentedly good. V chugged the rest of her drink, slamming the cup on the table after she finished. Judy arched an eyebrow.
“This coffee is fucking preem,” V defended. “Besides, I’ve chugged vodka before, this is nothing.”
“Ah, I knew you were too good to be true,” Judy said smoothly, “gorgeous alcoholic seems a little more attainable than an angel from heaven.”
V hid her blush with a napkin. “I’m not an alcoholic, I just.. Indulge every now and then.”
Judy leaned back in her chair. “That’s fair. We all have our guilty pleasures.”
“Including, say, stealing first place in hacking competitions using less-than-clean tricks, maybe?” V said. If this flirtationship was going to go any further, Judy deserved to know the history they shared.
Judy’s eyes widened. “You watched that tournament?”
“I competed in that tournament,” V corrected. “You’re lookin’ at Blackbird.”
“And what a fine sight she is.” She sighed. “God, I’m sorry, that tournament was not my best moment. You won that title fair and square. While it may be the Night City way, cheating my way to victory isn’t exactly something I make a habit of.”
“Why do it then? You’re talented enough to win tournaments on your own, why cheat at one you couldn’t?”
“Honestly?” Judy slumped. “I was trying to impress a girl. Pathetic, right? She turned out to be straight. Serves me right for stealing the championship. Sorry again, I had no idea you were Blackbird. I understand if you want nothing to do with me.”
“Are you kidding? It was a hacking tournament. You hacked your way to victory. I just want to know how you did it. And your reasoning.” V shrugged. “I dunno, I always pictured you as some badass chick whose life depended on that victory, or maybe a hot girl with a vendetta against me.”
“Badass or hot, I like those options.”
“Well, from what I know, you check both the boxes,” V responded with a cheeky grin.
“If you’d like, you can follow me back to my place and I can show you,” Judy offered. “You can check out my setup, too.”
“Really?” V’s eyes lit up. “Fuck yeah!”
-
Judy’s apartment was, to put it crassly, really fucking cool. She had computer parts scattered around haphazardly in a way that could have been either purposeful or not. It looked good either way. Her walls were covered almost entirely in posters, hacking decals, and various sticky notes with numbers written on them.
It wasn’t the biggest, but V had always said size didn’t matter. She was cool with going on a date with a cop, after all.
“So. I have a pretty hacker girl in my apartment. I’m pretty damn sure I’m not dreaming, so either I’m in a coma or I’m really fucking lucky,” Judy flirted.
“I know some ways to verify that you’re not in a coma,” V suggested. “Fair warning - most of them involve physical touch.”
“Aw,” Judy pouted, “but if this is just a dream, I don’t wanna wake up.”
“Willing to risk long-term brain damage for me? I’m flattered.”
Judy laughed - a melodic sound that V wanted to hear again. “C’mere, lemme show you the specs on this bad boy.” V heard the fans in the computer start to whir as it booted up. Colour-changing lights flickered inside the computer box, flashing blue and red a couple of times before settling on lavender. Her monitors turned on, showcasing her background - a picture of Judy and one of her friends skateboarding. Judy signed into the computer and pulled up the settings menu, showing V the specs.
“Holy shit,” V breathed. “That is one preem setup. Almost as good as mine.” Better than hers, actually, but she wasn’t about to say that out loud.
“Only almost? Damn, I have some catching up to do.”
“Please, for the sake of my ego, don’t improve this beast any more. You’d become literally unstoppable.”
“I dunno - there are some real pretty hacker girls out there that could probably whoop my ass in a hacking contest. Present company included.”
V laughed heartily. “I’m flattered.”
“Hey, so, uh..” Judy shifted slightly. “I know we just met and all, but you’re a pretty damn cool person and I’d love to hang out sometime. Would you want to come over this weekend? We can do hot girl hacking shit together.”
“Judy, I would love nothing more than to do hot girl hacking shit with you this weekend.”