Love Addict's RPG Ch. 33

Happy New Year's. I really like this one, and I feel like this series is the best use of my character interaction skills yet, honestly.

If you've read the outline and know what's coming next, It's gonna be pretty different from how I put it back then. Editor explained why it was implausible and helped me figure out a scenario where the thing I wanted to happen still happens, just framed differently and in a way that wouldn't make Tessa liable to get sued for OSHA violations lol

I'm probably going to shift around after the date a little bit, too, so that there's something a tiny bit more lewd than just making out.

---

Monday, February 19th

Oliver was going to work this morning because it would be stupid if he didn't after spending four hundred dollars on a makeover. That, and Mia still hadn't texted him back. Meeting up with her at work was the easiest way to figure out their plans for the night ahead.

He started his day off by standing in front of the mirror and fussing with his hair. Though he followed all the advice Stacy and Jordan passed on to him, Oliver obviously couldn't get it to look as good as the professional did. Even so, it was still a gigantic improvement over his old hairstyle. He wondered what Mia would think about it, the thought of her reacting positively coloring his cheeks.

There was a nonzero chance that after work, they might agree to go somewhere to have that talk about their relationship tonight, so Oliver sucked up a change of outfit into his inventory for later, just in case he needed it. He spent a fortune on his new wardrobe and wanted an excuse to show off.

Oliver made it to Payless Foods at 7:48 AM. The store was empty as he walked through it, monotonous music filling his mind as he mentally tuned it out with increased efficiency. He retreated to the lounge where everyone else was clocking in and waiting for the morning meeting.

When he got there, Mia hadn't arrived yet, and he didn't see Stacy, either. Great. He hoped to hide behind Mia by starting a conversation so that no one would bother him. Instead, Oliver had to suffer being alone in a room filled with his coworkers, who quickly became curious about the 'new guy'.

However, when they found out that said new guy was just gloomy old Oliver, there was a minor commotion. A couple of people crowded him, asking questions and giving compliments, which was overwhelming to a complete recluse like himself. Still, it wasn't as if he didn't appreciate it. Oliver was polite and made sure to thank his acquaintances, and thankfully, that was enough to get them off his back.

He sighed and clocked in, a familiar voice calling out as soon as he finished.

"Well, would you look at that? One haircut later, and suddenly, you're the star of the show." Stacy approached, a steaming coffee cup in hand, and already changed into her work clothes. Her voice was mocking, but Oliver understood it was meant to be playful when he saw the slight smile on her bright pink-painted lips.

After stuffing her bag into a locker, she gestured for him to scoot over so she could clock in, and Oliver did so.

"How's it feel to be the main character, hon?"

The atmosphere between them was similar to the way it was yesterday, before things got weird, at least. He wasn't exactly comfortable in Stacy's presence, but it wasn't like her bitchiness exuded a toxic miasma that attacked him from the inside out anymore, either. A bit of the strange fluttering feelings in his heart remained, but Oliver was doing an alright job at putting that shit in a box and mentally filing it the fuck away.

"Draining," Oliver answered, nervously running a hand through his curly hair to make sure it was on fleek. "How the hell do pretty people like you pull it off? Living permanently under the spotlight, I mean. It's exhausting, and I only had to deal with, like, five people giving me compliments..."

"Exposure," Stacy yawned. "Those lights you're talking about have been blinding my fucking eyes since I was barely out of diapers."

"How humble."

She made a disgruntled noise and a distant expression as she finished clocking in. "Hey, you asked," Stacy shrugged. "Thanks for the sneaky compliment, by the way."

"I didn't mean it like that," Oliver looked away and blushed. "Calling you pretty isn't a compliment. You just are. It's like saying that the sky is blue or that water is wet."

"If you say so," Stacy chimed. Her eyes darted to the lounge door as it parted, and a certain someone stepped inside. "Look alive, hon. Your little novia is here."

"My what?"

"Jesucristo..." Stacy sighed, shook her head, and sipped her coffee.

Just as Oliver was starting to feel embarrassed that Stacy spoke his almost-girlfriend's language, yet he didn't, his mood perked up when said nearly-novia approached. Mia was headed for the computer to clock in but stopped when she saw him. Her sleepy eyes opened entirely for the first time since Oliver had known her as she stared. She then removed her glasses, polished them on her jacket, put them back on, and stared some more.

"Hey, Mia..." Oliver blushed from how long the silence was stretching on and raised a hand casually to wave at her.

"Hey, yourself, stranger. You see a guy about yea tall anywhere around here?" She held her hand level with the top of his head. "Kinda looks like you, only he's got hair like that ghost chick from The Ring. Starting to worry he might've gotten hogtied and shipped off face-first to the fuckboy factory."

"You're not too far off the mark..." Oliver brushed a bead of sweat from his brow as Stacy smirked from the sidelines. "So are you gonna tell me what you think, or what?"

"What do I think...?" Mia paused, her eyes piercing through his soul as she made this moment last, intentionally drawing out his anticipation until it reached. "Think I just hit the jackpot, baby. Liked you before, and all that, but... hope you know you're not allowed to go back. Not after this."

Boom- three notifications back to back.

---

Mia has gained +5 Affection!

Mia's First Heart Event Unlocked!

Congratulations on unlocking your first heart event! Unless progression with a heroine is currently blocked, you can expect the event to trigger shortly. Be patient, as some heart events are locked to specific times or locations. Any affection gained in the meantime carries forward into the next progression bar.

---

Holy shit, Oliver thought to himself.

Not only did Mia like it, but she liked it so much that it finally brought him up to one hundred affection with her! He was finally going to find out what heart events entailed and what made them so special, but even putting that aside, it felt amazing to know how attractive Mia found him. This knowledge filled him with increasing confidence, and he smiled as a result.

Should've gone to the fuckboy factory ages ago, apparently...

"Sorry I didn't answer your texts yesterday. Family junk leaves me wiped. Could've sent me a pic ahead of time, though."

"And ruin the surprise?" He laughed.

"Rather give surprises than get 'em, but this one ain't so bad," Mia pulled her gaze away and clocked in quickly, with just seven minutes remaining before the morning meeting. "So, what's the lore behind your new powered-up form? Did you have a transformation after knocking out another few hundred reps with your dumbbells, or what?"

"Not quite, it's... actually a funny story..." Oliver scratched the back of his head, but for a split second, he briefly glanced toward Stacy, who was on her phone but doing a lousy job at pretending she wasn't paying attention to their conversation.

It was long enough for Mia to notice. She shifted her glasses and looked at both of them, her eyes narrowing. "Fuckery is afoot. Explain."

"I was about to, I-"

"Not you," Mia shushed him, focusing on Stacy. "The vile harpy."

Stacy tucked her phone into her jeans, sipped her drink, and contemplated how she wanted to play this. Even if she'd changed, some things never did. There wasn't much Stacy liked more than a little interpersonal chaos and petty drama. While she didn't sow as much of it as she used to, how was a girl supposed to say no when the opportunity presented itself?

"Ollie wasn't kidding," Stacy draped her arm around his shoulder and pressed her chest against his back. "It really is a funny story! You see, I was getting harassed by this creepy ass barista when all of a sudden, our little friend here showed up and saved the day! Ah, you really should've seen him, Mia. So brave, so dashing. Really, the entire thing was just so... nostalgic."

Mia's brows furrowed at the word.

Oliver smelled the shit Stacy was stirring and quickly tried to play damage control, blushing as he shirked Stacy's physical affection and walked closer to Mia. "She's blowing this way, way out of proportion. It wasn't a huge deal, I just-"

"Silencio," Mia didn't even look at him, only held her forefinger to his lips. "The Council has yet to determine your fate. Continue, harpy."

"Gladly," Stacy smirked. "After my little knight in shining armor whisked me away, I said he could have anything he wanted as a reward for his chivalry."

"You absolutely did not fucking put it like that-"

"I was down for anything, but all he wanted was some advice on how to look better," Stacy puffed out her already puffy lips in mock disappointment and crossed her arms. "So I took him to the salon my friend works at. He got himself a haircut and a perm, and then I helped him pick out a bunch of clothes at a nice store. It was a grand old time, wasn't it, hon? Why, we practically spent the whole day together! It was almost as if we were on a-"

"I don't possess nearly enough command over the English language to properly convey how much I hate you," Oliver fumed, his gaze forced onto the floor in humiliation as Stacy got off on his reaction.

"Oh, are you still on about that? Please. If you really hated me, you wouldn't have asked for my phone number."

Mia pinched the bridge of her nose. Her eyes were closed. Behind them, Oliver was certain there was only fury. "Ollie?"

"...Yes, Mia?"

"You know that stupid thing that always happens in brain-dead romantic comedies where the characters have a misunderstanding that could easily be solved by talking it out for like, not even five minutes?"

"...Yes?" He asked, suddenly a bit more hopeful.

"I'm better than that. I know she's just trying to get a rise out of me-"

"Guilty," Stacy shrugged.

"And I completely and one hundred percent trust you and your version of events, but I'm also gonna warn you that no matter what you say, I'll still be grumpy. Telling you ahead of time so that when I get real quiet and make a pissy face for the next couple of hours, you'll know that I'm not actually mad at you."

Oliver sighed in relief, coinciding with another shotgun blast of three notifications.

--- Mia Lost 1 Affection!

Mia's First Heart Event Canceled!

Don't panic! This isn't a big deal and always has a chance of happening max affection is lost before the event occurs. To resume the upcoming heart event, simply raise affection back up to max. ---

"The real story is that I went to get coffee, Stacy was there, and yeah, I stepped in because some dude was giving her trouble. I did ask her for her help, and we did hang out for most of the day. I told her I wanted to look nicer for you and..." Oliver briefly lowered his voice. "She wanted to make up for what happened in high school, if only a little. I only wanted her number to ask for more advice in the future..."

There was a slight mistruth in there somewhere, but did it really count as a lie if he didn't even understand his own feelings? Better to be safe than sorry, so he pulled out his phone and added, "I'll delete it right now if you-"

"Not that insecure, Ollie," Mia said, already booting up a pretty powerful resting bitch face. "Good on you for hanging out with her. Probably wasn't easy for you, I bet, and hey. Not about to pretend the bitch didn't make you fucking hot. Keep her number. Hell. Use it. Get even sexier for me."

Oliver was extremely thankful that Mia warned him she would look very pissy because if she hadn't, he would've interpreted her comments just now as sarcasm. Instead, he took them as genuine, meaning his face was scarlet after being called sexy. "Thanks for being so understanding. Mia... oh, by the way... later tonight, did you still wanna...?"

"Yes." Mia puffed out her cheeks and stormed past him to hang her jacket on the coat racks, don her apron, and attach three anime pins to the space above her name tag.

Stacy leaned against the wall and sighed, accepting her defeat. "Gawd, you two are boring... fine, be that way. Just keep standing around and being perfect for each other, why don't you?"

"Planning on it," Mia grumped. "Pay close attention, la puta. Might learn by example and figure out how to have a meaningful connection with someone who isn't yourself one of these days." She then stormed off to join the circle of other employees who were doing their own thing and wisely not engaging in whatever the heck was happening with the three of them.

Oliver knew he had to go over and join her, but before he did, he looked to his once-bully, who was utterly unbothered by Mia's insult. "Stacy, what the fuck was that about? Just yesterday, you couldn't stop going on about how much you changed, and yet here you are-"

"Think of you and Mia as two halves of a rubber band," she smirked, then mimed holding a rubber band between her fingers, acting out her metaphor to prove a point. "What happens when you pull a rubber band apart, hm? It snaps back into place, that's what. She's gonna be all over you after she's done being pissy."

"Bullshit," Oliver rolled his eyes. "You just wanted to mess with us."

"And who says I can't have myself some fun while helping you get laid, hon?" Stacy gave him a suggestive look that was so, so much more than he could handle at that moment in time, especially when coupled with the mental image her statement came saddled with.

Oliver marched to Mia's side, blushing and forcing the inappropriate thoughts from his mind. Stacy joined them a moment later.

Tessa barged in with little fanfare, keeping the door open behind her as she walked into the throng of her mildly intimidated employees. She had a harsh look on her face, somewhat harsher than the norm. In Oliver's experience, that didn't bode well. Right about now was usually when he would've started wondering if Tessa would take out her frustrations on him or not. Instead, he found himself worried whether her cats were doing all right.

The real reason she was pissed thankfully had nothing to do with her feline friends, but the downside was that it was about to become everyone else's problem.

"Morning, associates. Let's not beat around the bush, shall we?" Tessa heaved her shoulders. "If any of you have came in through the back this morning, you might've noticed we've got ourselves an early truck today."

The room collectively groaned. This was a rare occurrence, but it occasionally happened thanks to scheduling errors or overachieving truckers. It meant they'd have to unload a little faster than usual to keep up the pace since not all of the part-time employees who helped unload were present and accounted for.

"I know, I know. Trust me, I'm just as pissed as the rest of you. That being said, it's not all bad news. I-" Tessa paused as her eyes briefly centered on Oliver.

For a moment, he panicked as he met her gaze. Oliver really didn't want his boss to make a big thing of his new appearance in front of everyone. Last Thursday's morning meeting was embarrassing enough, and the last thing he wanted was a repeat.

"Huh," she remarked.

--- Tessa Gained 1 Affection! ---

"Anyway, I managed to fill the vacant position Stacy so kindly opened last Wednesday."

Thank God, Oliver thought. Didn't expect the boss to care one way or the other, though. That's... mildly interesting, I guess?

Also mildly interesting to Oliver was the new hire. At this point, he half-expected Tessa to wheel out some problematic new girl who would be registered as a heroine and cause all sorts of workplace shenanigans. These days, it felt like anything and everything was in the cards, especially since he'd gone and purchased Lucky Bastard.

He wasn't that far off.

"Mr. Brody, why don't you come in and say a few words about yourself while everyone else pretends to give a shit?"

A voice that sounded like it was playing out of an old-timey radio echoed from beyond the open door, completely missing the boss's sarcasm. "Gladly, BOSS!"

A little of Oliver's soul left his body out of sheer exasperation. This fell straight into 'I really should've seen this coming and now feel incredibly stupid because I didn't' territory, and he fought the temptation to shove his head into his palm.

Bradley walked into the employee lounge, already wearing jeans, a white polo, and his own green apron with the Payless Foods logo emblazoned across his chest. His red bow tie was fixed around the collar of his work shirt, his smile radiant as ever. Before he could even say anything, Mia tilted her head.

"Weren't you friends with that guy back in high school?" She mumbled to him, grumpiness getting momentarily pushed to the wayside by her curiosity.

"...Best friends, actually," Oliver mentally shrugged.

"Pretty sure I bumped into him once, and he helped me pick up my books," Mia added.

"Oh shit, I remember Bradley!" Stacy said excitedly. "He was in cheerleading with me!"

Oliver felt mildly annoyed, though the reason wasn't entirely fair to himself. Oliver never wanted to use his powers to explicitly influence the minds of others. When he purchased Your Best Bro, the skill description didn't imply it would retroactively insert false memories of Bradley's existence into unsuspecting people. Bradley himself indicated that was the case, but Oliver hadn't considered how sweeping these changes might actually be or met with any egregious examples yet.

How many hundreds of people out there who Oliver had crossed paths with now had artificial memories of an artificial man? He didn't want to think about it, and it made him especially worried about the next time he spoke with his parents. He dreaded hearing about dozens of sleepovers that they vividly remembered yet had never actually happened.

At least it was harmless enough in the grand scheme of things and wasn't something Oliver intentionally sought out. People misremember shit all the time, he justified to himself, remembering things he'd heard about how suggestible people's memories actually were. The only difference is that now they're misremembering someone who never existed. No big deal.

"Greetings, fellow [Wage Slaves]! My NAME is [Bradley Brody], and the ONLY thing that matches my [Unquestioning Loyalty] to my bestest PAL, Oliver Chase," Bradley interrupted his introduction to shoot some finger guns at the man of the hour, just in case there was somehow room for doubt about who he was talking about. "Is my PASSION for [Laboring Under Capitalism]! When I'm NOT engaging in [The Problem], I enjoy the [Knocking Back] of [Cold Ones] with Oliver, consuming [Slices of 'Za] with Oliver, AND [Exploring Vista Venus]! I look FORWARD to working with you, Oliver, and company!"

Oliver went through a four-year downward spiral in his teenage years, survived two years of complex therapy, and two years of working at a shitty dead-end job. Not even once through all of that had he ever felt compelled to just fucking end it all... until right here and now, that is, entirely out of embarrassment.

All his coworkers stared at him as Bradley smiled like an innocent dog, blissfully unaware of the trouble it had just caused its master. He closed his eyes, hoping it would all go away. When he opened them, it... did, surprisingly. No one seemed to care, and Tessa moved right along as if the words coming out of Bradley's mouth were nothing out of the ordinary.

"Great, welcome to the family, and so on and so forth," Tessa said, completely unable to muster up the slightest of shits to give. At least until she looked in Oliver's direction with a smile so minute you'd need a microscope to see it. "Thanks for telling your friend here to put in an application, kid. Nothing makes me happier than getting a new cog for my well-oiled machine."

--- Tessa Gained 1 Affection! ---

There was plenty of sarcasm in what she was saying, but Oliver could tell at least the first half of Tessa's statement was legitimate. Between that, the smile, and the satisfaction of seeing a number go up- or down, in this case- Oliver would've blushed if he wasn't already doing so out of humiliation.

"No problem, boss," he forced out.

Bradley winked at him across the room, which Oliver took to mean he went out of his way to make sure Tessa knew it was his idea. Though he was annoyed about getting put on the spot, Oliver appreciated the gesture. Anything that endeared him to Tessa was not unwelcome.

Tessa rushed through the rest of the morning instructions. Bradley worked a flexible schedule like Oliver, and Tessa explained he'd work with Stacy in the mornings and be put on cashier duty if he stayed past her part-time shift. She then told everyone where they were needed and broke up the morning meeting shortly after.

Before getting on with his job and heading to the truck with Mia, Oliver briefly excused himself to do what needed to be done, gesturing for Bradley to follow him off to the side for a second.

"Bradley," Oliver started.

"Best friend," Bradley greeted him casually, still smiling.

"I'm not gonna ask you to explain yourself because I'm pretty sure I get why you're here-"

"To support YOU and create opportunities for you TO pursue your [Workplace Heroines] should the CHANCE present itself!"

"Right, that's what I thought. That's okay and everything. If you really want to work here, I won't tell you you can't. You're your own person, I just... don't fucking do that again, okay? New rule. If you're about to reference me in front of a large group of people in a way that will draw attention to me, don't."

"Understood! Follow-up question. How much [Wiggle Room] does this rule HAVE?" Bradley straightened his bowtie.

"Absolutely none."

"ALSO Understood!" Bradley said, which would've been great if it hadn't been followed by one of his unsettling winks.

"Don't do that."

Bradley winked again, eliminating the last bit of willpower Oliver had with which to wage this war.

"At least promise me you're not gonna say anything weird to Stacy..." Oliver sighed.

"You HAVE my [Solemn Vow]!" There was no wink after that one, thank Christ.

As much as Oliver would've liked to break down how they would make this work, there wasn't time. Tessa wouldn't want them standing around for much longer, and Oliver and Mia were on truck duty while Bradley wasn't. Stacy never worked in the back, and by extension, neither would Bradley. He would have to trust him to behave himself, and oddly enough, Oliver believed in his friend.