The Affection Multiplier - Chapter 224: Lilian takes you shopping. (Patreon)

It’s Friday at 4:00 pm and you’re waiting in front of the mall for Lilian to arrive.

It’s so fucking weird to think that you now have a date with a girl who used to treat you like walking trash. What’s more, she’s the one who asked you out. And after getting the okay from all your girlfriends, there was no reason to refuse.

In fact, that she was the one to ask you out is particularly interesting.

You had Jessica confess to you a few months ago, but the moment wasn’t right to pursue a relationship with her. There was still too much tension between her and your girlfriends, with certain events still fresh in everyone’s minds. Still, her feelings haven’t changed and she’s actually a very nice girl. You like her and want to see where things go with her.

Something similar happened recently with Olivia. She confessed the last day of camp and you ended up kissing her because you couldn’t help but find that mix of uncharacteristic bashfulness and confidence in herself very attractive. Not to mention she’s incredibly hot. She’s been trying to show you she’s changing for the better, and you want to give her a chance, too.

But Lilian is a little different. She likes you, but you wouldn’t really know that if the AMA wasn’t telling you her scores.

-Reed, Lilian-
Affection Score: 70
Love Score: 21
Lust Score: 40

Her affection score is high, and you can sort of guess why. You’d rather hear it from her, but it’s most likely because you saved Olivia’s life that one time. It can also be because you explicitly forgave them after all they did to you when they apologized. You’ve helped her study and she thanked you for it. So even if you’re not really close friends, she has a really good opinion of you.

But she’s never shown any kind of hint that she has any romantic interest in you, even if the app says there’s some. Emily and Megan spoke to her, and they told you some of that conversation. It seems Lilian finds you attractive, which would explain her lust score, too. But she also finds you “boring”. You don’t really get what that means, but before you could even consider if that claim had any merit, the other girls shut it down immediately.

Well, the heart of the matter is that you want to use this date with Lilian to spend some time with her, get to know her and let her get to know you. Talk about your interests and, if the chances presents itself, try to figure out together what you want out of each other.

Lilian arrives, and the sight is nearly enough to stun you. The blonde girl is wearing a white halter dress that reaches just above her knees, showing a generous amount of her smooth legs. Her pumps are of a pinkish, golden color. Over the dress, she’s wearing a small, stylish, sky-blue denim jacket that compliments her dress nicely. You also shouldn’t be surprised about this, but her makeup is tastefully done. Finally, a small purse of the same color as her pumps hanging from her shoulder completes her outfit.

And as you’re busy looking her over, she’s doing the same to you. You decided to wear your white polo shirt and blue jeans. The weather’s nice, so you didn’t bother with a jacket.

“How come we ended up matching clothes?” Lilian laughs.

“No idea.” You join her. “You look amazing, though.”

“Thank you. And so do you.” She grins. “You somehow manage to look both casual and elegant at the same time.”

“Coming from you, I will take that as high praise.” You chuckle. “So? What are we doing?”

Lilian smile fades and her good mood is replaced by a complicated expression. “I was thinking about what to do, but in the end all I could think of was going shopping.” She says with a small, nervous smile.

Shopping, huh? You refrain from saying anything, but sadly it’s not the best idea. You have money, sure, but not enough to go around looking for things to buy on a whim. You’re also not the biggest fan of going along with a girl as she picks clothes, but you can make the effort.

“Alright then.” You nod. “Let’s go in. Anything you’re looking for in particular?” You ask her as you both head inside the building.

“N-Not really.” She sighs. “I guess this was a bad idea, huh?”

“Well, we can walk around while we browse from shop to shop. I mostly want to talk, really.” You tell her, smiling reassuringly.

“Okay.”

And as you start walking you strike up a conversation with the first topic that comes to mind.

“By the way, how’s your job going? You work with your mother at a cosmetic store, right?”

“It’s been good enough, I guess. You get some really annoying customers every once in a while, but I guess that’s retail for you.” She sighs tiredly.

“How long have you been working there?”

“Only a few months.” She says before keeping quiet for a moment. She looks at you as she purses her lips before she continues. “It was… right after we had that first talk with you. Back when we apologized.”

“Oh.”

“We realized you had a point, so… we started trying to get our lives in order. Olivia started working with her dad in managing their hotels, Jessica started getting more serious about acting and I started working with my mom.”

“I see. That’s admirable.” You tell her with an honest smile.

“Is it? I find it annoying more than anything, but at least I’m actually getting paid now. It’s more than the allowance they used to give me.” She says. “You don’t have a job, do you?”

“I’m a little ashamed to say it, but no.” You smile wryly. “Since I’m living on my own, my family sends me a monthly allowance to cover my expenses. Whatever I have left, I save.”

“Oh. Then I guess shopping was actually the worst idea I could come up with.” Lilian says, blinking.

“Nah. Actually, now that we’re here it might be a good opportunity to buy a few shirts. I only have one.” You chuckle.

“…I can give you some advice.” Lilian says. “If you want, I mean.” She quickly adds.

“That’d be helpful. I don’t really trust my fashion sense. I usually go with what’s comfortable.”

“You can totally mix both.”

The two of you start your shopping, going from store to store with the vague goal of looking for clothes that interests you. You try different shirts. Some with patterns, some with dots and while Lilian says some of those look good on you, you prefer to buy the single color ones because they can also double as formalwear on occasion.

Lilian also looks at clothes, but doesn’t try anything out because nothing catches her interest.

“The ones I find cute I already have.” She says.

But when you find yourselves in a swimsuit section in a store, Lilian gives you a teasing look.

“Why don’t you try a swimsuit or two? Pool season is coming in fast.” She grins.

“Sure, but only if you try some, too.” You say, casually shrugging and answering teasing with teasing.

“Alright then.” She nods.

Wait. What?

“I guess I don’t have the chance to ask a guy’s opinion very often.”

…

The naïve side of you wants to take her words at face value, but being surrounded by nothing but women for months tells you there’s hidden intentions here. It’s only at times like these you wish the AMA would also let you read minds.

You’re starting to feel embarrassed and self-conscious, but Lilian seems serious. She’s already looking through the different bikinis. You’ll admit, it’s kind of exciting, but also kind of very weird.

Nevertheless, you do need an extra swimsuit. Especially if you and the others can go through your plans of going on a beach vacation.

You browse through the selection of swimming trunks and pick a black one that should reach just below your knees. It doesn’t have a very elaborate design, but it seems of good quality. Not that there’s that much variety of swimsuits for men to choose, and you’re not wearing a briefs any time soon.

“You picked one?” Lilian asks you.

“Yeah.”

“Go try it on, then. See if it fits.” She grins.

Okay, she just wants to see you half-naked.

You go into the small changing room, and after putting on the swimsuit, you decide to give the girl what she wants and even take off your shirt. You open the door to let Lilian be the judge of whether it suits you or not. She looks at you up and down, and with slightly reddening cheeks, she nods approvingly.

“Yes, it looks good on you.” She says. “You’ve really toned up since the start of the school year, haven’t you?”

“Consistency pays off, it seems.” You nod. “The fact that I don’t feel like dying after five minutes of exercise is also welcomed.”

“I bet.” She laughs. “My turn. I want your honest opinion, alright?”

“Sure.” You go back into the changing room and put your clothes back on. You then meet up with Lilian, who tells the lady in front of the entrance to the women’s changing rooms that you’re with her so she lets you in. Looking around there’s a couple of other guys waiting and looking at their phones. They’re probably also waiting for their girlfriends.

You’re tempted to look at the AMA while you wait for Lilian to get changed. She does have to get off that dress, after all. But no, you decide against it. Looking at the numbers will only get you feeling paranoid.

But the most surprising thing is that it barely took Lilian any time to get ready before she opened the door! That was, what, a minute tops?

And you can’t help but swallow when she opens the door and lets you see. She’s wearing a zebra patterned cross halter bikini with a small window in the middle of her chest that gives just a small peak at her modest inner boobs. Her slim figure, pale-ish skin and flowing blonde hair make for a very mesmerizing sight. And it’s all enhanced by her straight, confident posture. Even if her head is turned to the side, trying to avoid your eyes, she stands there with a hand on her hip and a level of self-assurance that speaks volumes of her own self-esteem.

You furrow you brow a give her a nervous smile. “I’ve always known this, but you really are beautiful.”

She flinches at your words, but after a quick shake of her head, she looks straight at you. “You really don’t know how to control your eyes, do you?” She grins.

“Guilty. But I’ll say the same to you. You weren’t being subtle at all before.” You grin back.

“So long as we’re both on the same page it’s fine, right?” She shrugs. “So? How does it look?”

“The zebra pattern fits you really well.” You tell her. “It looks really good.”

“Alright. I’ll keep that in mind. Time for the next one.” She nods to herself before closing the door.

Wait. Next?

For the next ten minutes you’re treated to what’s basically a one-woman fashion show. Lilian tries out swimsuit after swimsuit, and every single one fits her perfectly. It’s enough to make you believe that she’d look hot in anything.

______________________________________________________________

A couple of hours later, you stop by a coffee shop inside the mall to rest. Lilian says she came here with Emily and Megan the other day and it was pretty good. You leave your bags below the table before ordering some food. You haven’t bought many things. Only a swimsuit and three shirts. But Lilian isn’t holding back. Out of the eight swimsuits she tried on, she bought three; she got some new sandals to go with them, too; and she said she might as well buy some beach towels, as well.

The girl really has money to burn. But hey, she’s earning it through her job. But the thing is neither of you have bought even a quarter of the clothes you’ve tried on.

“Man, it’s been fun.” Lilian says, letting out a heavy, tired sigh but ginning anyway. “For me, at least. How about you?”

She’s asking? Huh. Character development.

“I’m not the biggest fan of shopping, but the view more than makes up for it.” You smirk.

Getting to see Lilian try on different outfits has really been the highlight of all this.

“I can agree on the view.” She mirrors your smirk. “See what a little more thought on how you dress can change your looks?”

“I’ve never doubted that. I’ve just always had other priorities for money.” You tell her.

“Video games, I bet.” She sighs.

“Hey, don’t judge.”

“I won’t. But David, you’re a guy with 8 girlfriends. You should take more care of how you look. You’re working out, yes. You’re hot, yes. But that’s only the first step.” She insists. “I bet any of them would enjoy seeing you in a more well-thought out outfit every once in a while. You do know they dress nicely for you, right?”

“Y-You’re right.” You sigh, resigned to her arguments. “I guess they do enjoy when I dress up for a date.”

“See?”

“Fine. I’ll keep that in mind. And I guess I can count on your advice on this?”

“I wouldn’t mind.” She nods. “Say what you want, but I like shopping.”

“I noticed.” You chuckle.

Your food and drinks arrive, and as you start digging in a small silence settles between you. And it would be just that normal silence that happens when two people have their mouths full if it wasn’t for Lilian making a complicated face.

“What’s wrong?” You ask her.

“I… wanted to ask you something.” She says, sounding hesitant.

“Shoot.” You nod.

“It’s about Katherine.”

“Yes?”

“I… Look, from today I can see that the two of us can hang out with no problems. You’re… actually a lot more fun than I gave you credit for.”

“Glad to hear that, but go on.”

“Well, I know Katherine is making an effort to forgive us, but I know we should also make an effort as well. I just don’t know what we can do. We don’t have many things in common, you know?”

“So you want to know how you can talk to her?”

“Yeah. Exactly.” Lilian nods.

You ponder on it for a moment, but coming up with the answer is easy enough. “Well, to start, you’ll have to be the one to step out of your comfort zone. If you don’t have many things in common and Katherine is still hesitant to talk to you, you’ll have to look into HER interests.”

“That’s fair, I guess. But how do I do that.”

“Easiest thing I can think of is to watch anime.” You shrug.

“Isn’t anime all about showing girls with big tits to get nerds to buy the merchandise?” She asks. “No offence.”

“Well, you’re not wrong, but you’re not right either.” You sigh. “Like all media, there’s something for everyone. Just watch Katherine’s favorite show and see for yourself. I get the feeling you’ll like it.”

“What’s it about?” She asks, though with a bit of a resigned tone.

You tell her a bit about the show, she looks up a few images in her phone, and although it doesn’t pique her interest in the slightest and even says it look ugly, she says she’ll still give it a try.

You finish eating, grab your things and start leaving the mall.

“You came her by bus, right?” Lilian asks. When you nod, she tells you to go with her. “Come on. I’ll drive you home.”

“You sure?”

“It’s not like it’ll be too much of a bother.” She says.

“If it’s a bother in the slightest, then you don’t have to.” You tell her, not having any of that yes-but-no attitude.

“Fine. I want to do it. You happy?” She sighs.

“Very. Then I’ll accept.” You nod, satisfied.

You go to the parking lot and to her… expensive looking car. Yeah, it really shouldn’t surprise you by now, but your working girlfriends drive more modest cars.

You don’t talk much during the trip, but that’s mostly because you’ve already said most of what you wanted to and you’re both a little tired. But when Lilian parks close to your place, you realize it’s the sort of moment when you have to ask that one question. From the co-pilot seat, you turn to her but she speaks before you.

“Don’t.” She says with a tired sigh. “Don’t invite me in. I… It wouldn’t be fair.”

“Fair?”

“Olivia and Jessica let me ask you out before them, even when they didn’t like the idea. I’d be trash of a friend if I let you invite me to your place.”

“I see.” So that’s what happened. At least that’s enough to give you an idea.

“Look. I asked you out to see how I felt about you. And to be honest… I really do like you more than I did before.” She gives you a small, shy smile. “I take back what I said. You’re not boring. Thanks for going along with me all day.”

“Hey, I had fun, too.” You tell her. “I said I didn’t like to shop, but I guess it’s all about the company.”

“Glad to hear that.” She says and takes a deep breath. “And although I don’t feel like it’d be right if you invited me into your place… there’s one thing I’m behind everyone else.”

She leans in and presses her lips against yours. And after shaking off the surprise, you start kissing her back. You put one hand on her waist and the other on her knee. You slip your tongue inside her mouth and she lets out a sweet, quiet moan.

Kissing from the two front seats is a little awkward, but it doesn’t stop Lilian from turning and wrapping her arms around your neck to deepen the kiss. She reciprocates with passion, rolling her tongue around yours. She’s getting fiercer, wanting more. And so do you. But as if remembering her own words at the same time, you both slowly pull away.

“Holy shit.” She says, gasping for air.

“Did you just kiss me with that dirty mouth?” You ask her, grinning.

“Oh, shut up. You know what I meant.” She grins back. “Well, I didn’t really need something else to convince me you were worth the effort, but that’s gonna be a good reminder."

“Agreed. I’m looking forward to more.” You tell her.

“Much more.” She agrees.

You say goodbye with a short, final peck on the lips. You get off the car with your bags and watch Lilian drive away.

Really, there’s so much more to people than first impressions.

-Reed, Lilian-
Affection Score: 82 (+12)
Love Score: 41 (+20)
Lust Score: 60 (+20)

Available points: 490 Friendship points / 350 Love points / 550 Lust points