[SFAP] Chapter 7:4

This is the final section of the seventh chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.

Wow, half way through. This last bit is all that remained of a sub-plot that I pulled out after it was really going nowhere. However I think it still works quite well as a hint of the larger changes to society that have happened between now and when the novel is set. I like the idea of this society being both at once familiar and occasionally just weird. I can't decide ifI should expand on these in a re-write of the latter part of SFAP, or just leave it to Orchestral Plutonium to deal with those? (because OP is set before SFAP and covers more about a society in change than the convoluted power play that is going on here)

“What were you so pissed at me about earlier?”
“What?” asked Jane
“You know that whole ‘you know what’ thing earlier.”
“You really don’t know?”
“No.”
“I know you’ve been trying to embrace the new fashions but I’m really just an old fashioned girl at heart.”
Laurence rubbed his head, one of the advantages of his youthening had been his migraines had subsided, this could be a return to the old ways “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Jane looked surprised by this “That bloke you had set on me, that gigolo.”
“I’m still none the wiser.”
“It wasn’t you?”
“I doubt it.”
“Who the hell would do that then?”
“Could you just tell me what happened?”
“I was minding my own business in the lounge when this random guy starts coming onto me.”
Laurence laughed “Really?”
“Hey was that in surprise, I still have some charm you know.”
“Then why do I get the blame for that charm?”
“Anyway as soon as I realised what was going on I got rid of him, but he had definitely been hired. You really mean you know nothing of this?”
“Nope, what did you mean new fashions?”
“Oh I believe it is the latest thing from the Habitat. Rather than buy your loved one flowers you buy them a night with a professional”
“Ha.” Laurence laughed for a little while at this “And you think I did?”
Jane blushed “yes, well who else?”
“I bet it was Tom, he’s been trying to get me set up with someone since I first met him. I wouldn’t put it past him to pull this kind of thing on you as a distraction.”
“Right I’m really having words with him now.”
“Can I watch?”