After getting out of a pretty lengthy shower, Claire decided to hasten her escape out of my lair. Smart girl. The two girls combined their efforts and, after scouring both my wardrobe and clothes that Olivia relocated to this apartment, managed to get a decent enough combination for Claire to wear. I refused to let her leave wearing the club dress, unless she wanted me to escort her all the way to her place, that is.

I also insisted on getting her a taxi, but she refused, motivating it with the fact that it was just a quarter before five in the afternoon, and it wasn’t that far away.

When the time came to say the farewells, I got her flustered again, asking if she wanted a goodbye kiss. Curiously enough, she agreed. This time I gave her a light peck on the cheek and wished her a safe journey.

***

After the apartment door closed, I felt a weight on my back. Olivia hugged me tightly and pressed her face between my neck and a shoulder. I just waited for her to say anything, letting her stay like that as long as she wanted.

“Hey, honey,” she started fifteen minutes later. “Let’s go on a date.”

“Sure,” I agreed without any hesitation.

“Just like that?” Olivia asked for confirmation.

“Yep. Why would I refuse a date with you?” I questioned back.

“It’s just… well. I felt scared that you lost your interest in me,” my girlfriend whispered, her breath tickling my neck.

“Nope,” I said, turning around and embracing her. Only now I noticed that she was trembling. “Still as interested as ever.”

I hugged her closer, kissing the top of her head, and started slowly stroking her back, trying to chase her anxiety away.

“Can you say my name, please?” I heard an odd request.

“Olivia.” I wasn’t sure what was going on, but either way, I was happy to oblige.

“Again? Please,” another whisper.

“Olivia.” Still the same reasoning.

“And, one more time, please.” OK, that started worrying me.

“Olivia,” I still followed her request.

I kept hugging her in the quietness of the hall.

“Hey, honey,” the girl in my arms broke the silence. “Let’s go on a date.”

“Sure,” I agreed without any hesitation.

***

I looked at Olivia, who was currently busy choosing what to wear for our date. I would never understand people who can do that, by their own volition even.

“Do you have any concrete plans in mind?” I asked the busy girl.

“Oh,” followed a surprised exclamation. Looks like my girlfriend was lost somewhere deep inside her pretty head. “I have an idea, but now that you asked, I’m not certain whether it’s a good one or not.”

“Well. If you want my opinion, I need more details,” I joked. “You know, I still can’t read minds.”

My mistress halted what she was doing and turned to face me. The serious expression on her beautiful face caught my attention, but the fact she was wearing only her underwear right now made my thoughts drift a bit.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“So, ugh, where to even start.” I heard her mutterings. “Yesterday, after you left, Bella and I, we had a talk, right?”

“Yes?” I nodded.

“Now that I think. Do you want to hear what we were talking about, honey?” Olivia changed the topic abruptly.

“If you want to tell me, yes. If not, then I don’t,” I answered her question, nonetheless. “But that’s not what we are talking about right now.”

“Oh, yeah, so, back to the original topic.” Whatever was the thing on her mind, it clearly brought up a lot of her insecurities. “So, one of the things that we talked about was the matter of keeping your interest. Um, I also finally understood just how loaded this term is for you.”

“Olivia, focus,” I called her out again.

“Yes, right, sorry? I… just feel so very nervous right now,” my girlfriend apologized. “So, Bella, she asked me to call her like that by the way, told me she had no clue how to do that. Then she said that, in her case, it’s most likely because you two always have multiple types of connection. So, whenever your interest in her as a lover goes away, you still keep being around for some other reason.”

“That… actually sounds plausible,” I nodded along.

Bella was a lot of things for me, being my lover was just one of them. But then again, she was a special case, even if I, myself, couldn’t put a finger on what exactly that meant.

“And, so, I had this idea. Ugh, it is a little childish, but, it’s like I’m grasping at straws right now,” Olivia drawled. “I was thinking what type of connection we have right now, and, well, however I tossed and turned it inside my head, it boiled down to one thing. Money. You are, as a customer, paying for the product. Me, as you put it, being your mistress.”

“Sounds about right,” I acknowledged. The actual situation was a lot more nuanced from my perspective, but, I guess, this was one way to look at it.

“And, well, after this week, I, ugh, this is a lot harder to say than I thought. I would like to try adding a different layer to our relationship. As I said, it’s a bit childish, but I just couldn’t think about anything else,” she stumbled.

“Yes?” I voiced a token of my attention, mixed with a bit of encouragement.

“Heaven help me, this is so hard to say. Michael, if it’s possible, I want to put aside the monetary side of our connection, and, well, try to start a second relationship between the two of us. Not just Olivia, your mistress, but as Olivia, the girl who wants you as her boyfriend for real,” she finally let out her words. “I know it’s a bit delusional of me, as well as me being greedy and wanting to have it both ways at the same time…”

“Sure, let’s do that,” I interrupted her. “It's not like our relationship is anything but complicated already.”

“Just like that?” And haven’t I heard this question a lot lately?

“Just like that.” I returned the same answer as usual. “As I said before, being your boyfriend sounds a lot like a good time to me.”

A moment later, I caught the Olivia-shaped missile into my arms, who then dragged me into a deep, passionate kiss. I let her do so, understanding that she needed a relief after the stress she, undoubtedly, felt. And not like I had anything against kissing a gorgeous girl wearing only underwear, either.

***

Ten minutes later, everything got back to the initial point. I was watching the busy Olivia, who returned to choosing her outfit for our date, while happily dancing along a catchy tune. Well, I guess some things were better now.

“So, what’s the plan for our date?” I asked again.

“Oh! Right. Sorry. Completely went out of my head,” she apologized. “So, I was thinking about this date being, for the lack of a better term, a ‘normal’ date. Normal from my perspective, I mean. The plan was to hit a local mall. Going window shopping, then hitting a food court, maybe checking out a movie theater in case something will catch our attention. Something along those lines. Just loitering around, doing whatever, like a normal couple.”

I weighed down her words, trying to think when was the last time I did something like that. If ever.

“Sounds fun,” I told her a bit later.

“Yep!” my girlfriend agreed with a brilliant smile on her beautiful face. “Ah, as an extra enticement, I thought about buying new underwear, and I will need your opinion on what looks good on me.”

“Huh? I think that your current style is very fitting,” I told her my honest assessment.

“Well, I also think so,” Olivia nodded at my words. “But I want to add something, well, with extra oomph, into my collection.”

“In that case, you should ask Bella for a good atelier. Cheap lingerie is usually pretty low quality,” I gave her advice.

“Honey! Stop giving me your valid thoughts, and repeat after me. ‘Yes, Olivia, I would love to help you to choose your underwear, and I’m looking forward to a show.’” Her tone was stern, but I could see the sparks of laughter inside her oh-so-expressive eyes.

“Yes, Olivia, I would love to help you to choose your underwear, and I’m looking forward to a show,” I played along with a deadpan.

“Good boy.” The vixen even patted my head before starting doubling down from a laughing fit. Well, I was glad she had gotten over the previous anxiety.