Love Collector Ch. 10

God it feels so much better to be back to writing cute shit. Very excited for the future, I think Mia and Oliver have a ton of chemistry.

---

"I dunno where to start, really..." Oliver expressed. "It's not like my problems are all that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things."

"So what?" Mia shrugged. "Even privileged white boys like you have things weighing them down."

He laughed at that and eased up even further. "Man. As a privileged white boy, it feels amazing to finally be validated for once in my life."

"Thought it might," she smirked softly. "Go on, then. Plenty more where that came from."

"It's kind of like... hm... how do I put this..." Oliver closed his eyes for a couple of seconds to sort out his thoughts. When he spoke again, it all just spilled out of him. "Have you ever felt lost or listless in life?"

"Once or twice."

"That's pretty much how I've felt for a while now, only way worse. Everything always vaguely sucks in a way I can't fully explain, and I haven't made much progress towards being a successful adult."

"Still living with your parents?"

"No, I'm not talking financially, though I could be doing better on that front, too..."

"Emotionally, then."

"Yeah, that's a better way to put it. I've always had issues with depression and negative thinking, but these days, it really feels like I don't have much to look forward to in the future and that I'm going nowhere as slowly as I can."

"Fuck, dude..." Mia shook her head passively. "That's rough, Ollie. If it's any consolation, I was being facetious when I said once or twice."

"Wow. Here I am going out of my way to be real with you, and you won't even meet me halfway? Not sure how our partnership is gonna last after this tragic betrayal."

She chuckled and nudged him in the elbow. "Had to make sure I could trust you with my power level. I'm saying I get where you're coming from, like, a lot. Been feeling that way myself for a while now."

"I guess that's just kind of where our generation is at..."

"Yeah," Mia rubbed her right wrist and let out a small sigh. "Sucks to suck, but what can you do?"

"Beats me. Would love to hear some suggestions."

"In my experience, it helps to set little goals for yourself and try new things. Go visit a new store you heard about, watch that show everyone's been talking about that you've been putting off, check out a game you wouldn't normally give a chance..." Mia looked away and mumbled, "Learn how to bake chocolate..."

"What was that last one?"

"Nothing," she shook her head. "Might be jumping to conclusions, but you strike me as a shut-in-adjacent kinda guy, yeah?"

Oliver mentally cringed at how much of an understatement that would've been a few years back. "You're... not wrong, yeah..."

"Not judging, I'm the same way. You and me? We're the kind of people who live in little bubbles. Nothing inherently wrong with that, but you might find life a lot more worth living outside of your bubble than inside. No way of knowing for sure until you give it a try."

He took in the words Mia said for a long time in silence, doing so for long enough that it started to worry her. "Ollie? Did that cut a little too deep or something...?"

"Oh, no. Sorry. It's not that. I'm just trying to reconcile the silent Mia who barely says a word I've known for a year and a half with the self-help guru sitting next to me."

Oliver was blessed with the sight of Mia's facade melting away as a blush the color of her crimson-dyed tips filled her face, her heated embarrassment practically fogging up her glasses. "...Just practicing what I preach."

"So. what... you decided recently to start talking more as another way of popping your bubble?" He asked, then watched as she meekly nodded. "I wish you tried it sooner. Talking with you like this is... really nice."

Mia got quiet for a few seconds before firing back, "You could've tried chatting me up."

He blushed and hung his head. "Yeah, I could've... but I guess that ties back into what you were saying. I didn't know I'd like talking to you this much, so I never made the effort."

"Yes. Exactly." Mia seemed strangely satisfied to hear that and was nodding with vigor.

"I'll try and make it up to you?" Oliver offered her a conciliatory smile. "We'll talk so much from now on that Tessa will get on our asses about it."

"Big words."

"Not really," he laughed. "She'll take any excuse to yell at me."

Mia chuckled back, "Valid. Either way, I'll be holding you to it."

They two smiled at each other, and as they did, Oliver got the impression that he'd just made a major leap forward with Mia. He now felt comfortable when talking to her. Relaxed, even, at least with casual conversation.

"With that said, I think you should take a personal day. Go home and chill. Not like Tessa would be mad at you for that."

Oliver looked at Mia like she was crazy. Tessa would definitely be mad at him for calling in when he was scheduled, but her puzzled expression told him she thought she'd said nothing out of the ordinary. He got the feeling that asking her more about that would make Mia more worried about him, so instead, he asked, "I thought you didn't want me driving?"

"You won't be. I'm gonna walk you to my place, and you're gonna crash on the couch." Things got quiet after Mia said that, but he noticed her face was mildly more red following her proposition.

The notion of going over to Mia's place was too stimulating for Oliver at his current level of exposure to women, and he lit up even brighter than she did. "Mia, that's super nice of you and all, but... I think what I need is to ground myself, you know? Work sucks, sure, but it also helps clear my head."

"I'm not gonna fight you on this, but I still say it's not a good idea."

Oliver was grateful for Mia's pushiness. If the circumstances were different and he had the balls required to say yes, he might've taken her up on her offer. There was a reason he wanted to stay at work, however, and it wasn't just to spend time with Mia.

He'd met two different heroines thus far, and Oliver was morbidly curious whether anyone else he knew fit the bill.

The notification announcing them as heroines mentioned that he'd gained one hundred 'LP' from Stacy and Mia, and Oliver's intuition told him this was probably a good thing. Whether LP was a form of personal experience points or currency, meeting more heroines seemed to be in his best interest. Oliver didn't have any guarantee that more existed beyond Mia and Stacy, but if they did, he wasn't going to run into any while crashing on Mia's couch.

Maybe he would take a personal day tomorrow if he still needed it, but he figured he had more to gain from staying than he did from leaving. There was a chance that more weird stuff might happen throughout the day, meaning he'd have more material to work through when he sat down and reflected on everything happening to him later that night.

His mind was made up.

"Thanks, Mia. I really appreciate the offer, but I'm gonna stick around."

She frowned and looked away. "Didn't mean to get all pushy. Sorry. Bad habit."

"You don't have to be sorry," Oliver chuckled. "It's... kinda nice, honestly. I like seeing this side of you."

Mia gave him a skeptical side-eye while rubbing her right wrist. "Really? You're not just saying that?"

"Yeah. Like I said, I'm used to you being quiet and keeping to yourself, so I, um..." Oliver froze up before he could say what he wanted.

Words were tricky things. They could be your best friend if you knew how to use them, and they could just as quickly stab you in the back if you didn't. Oliver wasn't good at using his words. He was afraid of trying, and most of the time, he couldn't think of anything good to say, anyway, so it was a moot point.

This wasn't one of those times.

Oliver had something, but it was risky. Years of anxiety stood in the way of him expressing himself, and that was without even thinking about how Mia might react. Doing so would only scare him more, so he forced himself to not even bother. He made Mia's number go up once.

He could do it again.

"...I think it's kind of cute."

Everything went quiet as an emptied church as Mia slowly lifted her head to look at him. She stared, her face unreadable as the seconds passed them by. Oliver was doing a good job battling his anxieties, but his mental defenses wouldn't hold out for long if she reacted poorly.

He had to be brave and wait for her to say something.

"Cute, how?"

"Huh?"

"I'm asking if you're calling me cute, Ollie. Are you?"

Oliver didn't expect Mia to pose such a dangerous question and was caught wholly off guard. Her expression and tone of voice were as impassive as ever, making the correct answer even more challenging to discern. As nice as seeing the affection meter was, he would've traded it for some multiple-choice dialogue options right about now.

"I... um... that's kind of hard to answer..."

"Don't see why it would be," she tilted her head and blinked innocuously. "Only two options."

"True..." Oliver laughed uncomfortably.

"So. Which is it?"

"W-Well... if I had to say-"

"You do," Mia put her foot down without missing a beat, unwilling to allow Oliver the chance to stall. "Can't just throw that out there and pussy out."

"You're not willing to give me even a little bit of wiggle room, huh?"

"Not an inch. Get on with it."

The way Mia grilled him like he was the perp in a police procedural should've made Oliver nervous. Somehow, it had the opposite effect. Seeing how stubbornly Mia pursued his answer showed Oliver how badly she wanted to know. She wouldn't have cared so much if there wasn't a specific answer she was fishing for, and it didn't take a genius to guess which one she wanted.

"...Yes."

"Yes, what?"

"Yes, I was saying you're cute when you get all stubborn and pushy like this. You got me." Though his phrasing was rough, and he'd sped through his delivery, Oliver was smiling by the time he got the truth off his chest. "Are you happy now?"

"Well," Mia rubbed her chin while staring into the distance. "If I had to say... then... yes."

--- Mia Gained 10 Affection! ---

Admitting the truth was already its own reward in and of itself, but hot damn.

Oliver's eyes widened at how huge of an impact his admission had, but he didn't have time to reflect on his massive success for long. Mia stood up from the bench and looked back at him with a soft yet subtly satisfied grin, her sleepy eyes gazing at his with an unmistakable glimmer of affection.

"Last chance to ditch, Ollie. You coming?" Mia asked, almost managing to sound playful.

He didn't really have much choice but to follow her after how hard his heart was beating. Hell, Oliver would've followed her anywhere after all that.

"That desperate to get rid of me?"

"Nah. I like you right where I've got you."