The Affection Multiplier - Chapter 226: Olivia takes you… what? (Patreon)

“Just wear comfortable clothes that you won’t mind getting dirty. I’ll take care of everything else.” Olivia tells you during the first recess. “We’ll be doing a lot of running, but you’re okay with that, aren’t you?”

“I guess I am? I wish you would just tell me what we’re doing.” You answer.

“Come on, David. That’s not how surprises work. I thought you were smart.” She grins and crosses her arms.

“Fine. I’ll stop asking.” You shrug. “This Friday, then?”

“This Friday.” She nods and smirks confidently. “Don’t worry. I know you’re gonna love it.”

“Hey, if I’m not allowed to know, you’re not allowed to say things like that.” You frown. “It only gets me more curious.”

“Alright, I’ll stop teasing.” She sighs, but then grins as she asks a question. “How did your date with Jessica go yesterday? I’m asking, but I know it went well, or she wouldn’t have that stupid smile on her face.”

“Well, you seriously have a great friend in her, that much I know.” You chuckle.

“And water is wet, yes. Tell me something new.” Olivia shakes her head.

“We’re officially together now, as you may already know, but she wants to wait for me to make up my mind about you and Lilian before we take things further.”

“Of course she’d say that.” Olivia sighs, frustrated. “I want to call her stupid for it, but I would’ve said the same.”

“Where is she, by the way?” You ask. “Lilian too, for that matter.”

“They’re with your girlfriends, believe it or not.” She says. “They invited me, too, but I needed to speak to you.”

“I see.” There’s a warm feeling in your chest. They really are trying to get along.

“And on that note, I’ll be heading there as well. If I keep talking to you I’ll end up spoiling the surprise.” She grins.

“Alright. See you this Friday, then.”

“Yep.” Olivia turns around and starts heading towards the cafeteria.

That was, bar none, the most normal conversation you’ve ever had with her. And it felt pretty amazing.

______________________________________________________________

So on Friday afternoon, you get in Olivia’s car and she drives you to the outskirts of town to a random part of a forest where you see no signs of anyone living and nothing more than trees and a few abandoned buildings. She turns and enters the forest through a small dirt path and parks in an opened space.

Yep. This is a murder attempt.

When she gets off the car, opens the car trunk and takes out a pistol out of a small, black cardboard box, your blood runs cold.

“What the fuck!?”

“Calm down. It’s an airsoft gun.” She says, looking at you like you’re exaggerating and even shoots towards a tree to prove it before flipping a small switch on it.

“O-Oh.”

“This is my surprise.” She grins. “We’re playing airsoft.” She says, turning the gun and handing it to you from the grip. “It has the safe on, but still, careful with the trigger finger.”

“R-Right.” You say, taking the gun.

Airsoft? That… sounds really fucking cool, honestly. And you’re not particularly a firearm savvy guy, but you’ve played enough games to recognize a M1911 handgun when you see one.

“You like it?” She asks with a knowing grin.

“This is really cool.” You say, unable to contain the goofy smile. “But how are we playing?”

“I’m part of an airsoft group. We don’t let strangers in, so everyone new has to be invited by a core member. The rest are coming here in about an hour.”

“And you’re just inviting me all of a sudden? Is that alright?”

“Hey, I feel like I know you enough to trust you not to cheat. That’s the biggest issue in airsoft.” She explains. “Unlike paintball where you get a big stain in your clothes, here you have to call when you’re hit. It’s why we always play with the same people and trusted guests.”

“I-I see. Well, thanks for the trust, but I’ve never even held a gun. At most I’ve fired a light gun at the arcades.” You tell her.

“Good enough. I figured that would be the case, which is why we’re here an hour early.” She grins and starts getting several other boxes of different sizes. Five boxes in total.

“Are all of those…?”

“Yep. Just a few from my collection.” She nods proudly. She then looks at your dumbfounded face and shrugs. “Hey, Lilian likes clothes and make up, you like video games, I like airsoft guns, okay?”

“I’m not judging.” You quickly say. “It’s just that I never would’ve guessed, but at the same time it kind of fits you to a T.” You chuckle.

“Yeah, yeah.” She dismisses your comment with her hand, though she still looks a bit embarrassed. “You can try any of these you want, except this one.” She says, opening a box and taking out a very realistic looking assault rifle. Again, you’re no expert, but the way she’s handling the weapon and holding it like it’s second nature easily tells you she is. “It’s an upgraded VFC Umarex HK G3A3, officially licensed by H&K. This one’s my baby.”

“Uh… I know H&K is a weapon’s manufacturer, but other than that, you lost me.” You don’t really get it, but you can at least see that the weapon is of extremely high quality. You have to wonder how much it costs.

“N-Never mind.” She says, shaking her head with a bit of a blush on her cheeks.

“Sorry. I just don’t know that much about guns. Only what games have thought me and I don’t trust them as a very reliable source. I can tell you’re passionate about it, though.” You smile. “Alright! I’m ready to learn. What do I do first?”

After a relieved smile, Olivia takes a backpack from her car and throws it for you to catch. “First, you put these on. No buts.”

Curious, you look inside and see a plethora of equipment. Elbow and knee pads, gloves, a metal mesh half mask, goggles, a tactical vest and even a pair of shoes!

“The shoes should fit. Lilian told me your size.”

“Eh?” You suppose you did try out shoes during your date with Lilian. Wait. “Did you BUY these just for today?”

“Only the shoes.” Olivia nods. “You’ll need good ones. The rest are my spares.”

Oh boy. This is a reminder that, just like Lilian, Olivia is also loaded. She has to be to have such an expensive hobby.

As you start putting everything on, Olivia is checking the rest of the guns and loading the magazines with BBs and filling them with gas. She makes it look effortless. She’s probably done it thousands of times by now.

“Since when have you been into airsoft?” You ask.

“Since I was 13.” She says, loading a magazine. “An uncle of mine has a collection of real guns. He showed me, I liked them and I asked my dad to get me one. Of course, he refused completely but he ended up giving me an airsoft pistol for my birthday with the promise I’d only use it in these games. I ended up liking these more than real guns because, well, you can use them.”

“So 13-year-old you wanted a real fire arm?” You ask, raising an eyebrow.

“What? You didn’t? We’re all idiots as kids. Of course it hadn’t hit me that guns are used to KILL people. I just thought they looked cool. The first time I got hit with a BB in a naked arm I realized I was stupid for asking for a real gun.”

“That’s fair.” You nod. “I guess I’m the one that thinks swords are cool, even though they were also used to kill.”

“See? Then you get it.” Olivia nods, satisfied.

Alright. You can see her point.

Once you’re in full gear and with a pistol in your hand, Olivia points to a metal target you hadn’t noticed. It has a vague human silhouette and it’s a few meters away.

“Shoot that for a while to get used to it. See how you like the gun.” She tells you before quickly showing you how to turn the safety on and off, how to get the magazine out and how to load the BBs. It’s all pretty simple, really. “I’m gonna get changed while you’re doing that. Peek if you want, but I expect to get a look at you in return.” She smirks.

“Don’t tempt me.” You laugh. Really, this girl has zero subtlety for anything, but it’s not like you’re any different. It’s actually charming in its own way.

You start shooting towards the target as you aim down the sights. The handgun is heavy enough to feel like you’re handing a real weapon, yet light enough to not be uncomfortable. Slowly, the shots that weren’t hitting anything start making contact with the metal target. Not precisely where you want them to go, but they’re hitting.

“That didn’t take long. I thought you’d be worse.” Olivia says approvingly as she walks up to you from behind.

“So… should I address you as Lieutenant Hughes now or is the rank too low?” You ask when you see her in her new outfit. She’s dress in a dark green camo uniform that resembles military gear. She also has a dark vest on top of the jacket, gloves, elbow and knee pads, a metal mesh mask, goggles and a helmet. With her gun hanging from her shoulder with a strap across her body, she makes for an imposing and intimidating sight.

“Very funny.” She says, sounding unamused.

For the next 30 minutes, Olivia teaches you to shoot with the different weapons she brought. There’s another pistol, a bigger one than the M1911.

“Is that a Desert Eagle?”

“Yeah.” She says, and you while it’s hard to see because of the mask, you can tell by her tone that she’s grinning. “I like how hefty this one is.”

A part of you wants to ask her if she’s more comfortable with it than she is with a bra, but now’s not the time for referential jokes only you’ll understand.

There’s also a slick SMG modeled after an MP5, a sniper rifle you don’t recognize and lastly another assault rifle modeled after an M16.

“M4, actually.” Olivia corrects you and points out the differences between the two. “Want to try this one now?”

“Sure.”

After some more shooting and reloading practice, the last 20 minutes are spent on Olivia giving you an airsoft crash course. She covers the basic game modes, player etiquette, safety rules, how the referee always has the last word and some other specifics, like how real knives aren’t permitted and how you have to touch someone for two seconds for it to count as a close stealth kill.

It’s pretty impressive how they have rules for most of these things, but it also shows just how much the game relies on people not cheating. You have to yell “hit” when you feel a BB hitting you, but it’s no surprise that some people simply decide to ignore that.

“Don’t worry. I’ll say when I’m dead.” You assure Olivia after she insists for the third time that you HAVE to “call your hits”.

“I know you will. I wouldn’t have invited you if I didn’t think so. But we had a guy once who cheated whenever he could.” Olivia sighs, frustrated.

“What did you do with him?”

“I aimed for his crotch.” She says, casually twirling the dessert eagle in her hand. “That made him yell. I would’ve emptied the mag, but that would’ve gotten me kicked out.”

“…” That’s right. Olivia had no qualms with kneeing you in the groin back then. “You don’t hold back, do you?”

“He deserved it. I told you, we try to keep this place with people we can trust.”

“How did you meet these people?” You ask, curious. She told you the only people she really trusts are Lilian and Jessica. How come she can play with whoever else is coming later?

“They’re all around our age or just a bit older. They’re the sons of some of my parents’ friends. I play airsoft with them, I think they’re okay, but I wouldn’t call them friends. Acquaintances at most.” Olivia tells you as she checks her gun. “I only ever see them here.”

You decide to keep any comments to yourself. She’s made it clear that she has trust issues, so it’s no wonder she’s keeping her distance even from people she plays with. But you can’t help but think that this would’ve been a good opportunity for her to make friends.

Instead, you ask something else. “You don’t bring Lilian and Jessica here?”

“I tried, but they hate it. They can’t aim, they panic easily and are too afraid to get shot, even if you can barely feel the BBs with gear like I’m wearing.”

“I guess it’s not for everyone. Hell, we’re about to see if it’s for me.” You laugh.

In just a few more minutes, the rest of the people start arriving in their own cars. They’re 13 people total, all of them guys from 18 to 26 years old and already in full gear. Olivia does a quick introduction.

“This is the guy I told you about. He’s David, a classmate of mine. I’m trying to see if I can get him into airsoft.” She tell them.

“Wow. Our Olivia has other friends? What sort of crazy world did I enter?” One of the guys comments, eliciting laughs from everyone else.

“You do realize I’m aiming for you because of that, right?” Olivia answers, crossing her arms. The guy who spoke starts complaining while the others just laugh and give him their condolences.

Huh.

“Anyway, good to have you here with us, David.” Another guy says. “I guess Olivia told you, but we like to keep this group to the people we trusts. Keep to the rules and we’ll get along great.”

“I’ll make sure to do just that.” You tell him. “It’s my first time playing this, so please stay still when I’m aiming.” You ask jokingly.

That managed to get a few more laughs. Good.

“What are we playing today?” Olivia asks to one of the two guys with a bright orange jacket, who you assume will acting as the referees for the game. They came in a car with a logo of an airsoft company, so they must be the ones who own this area.

“Capture the flag. With your friend, we have equal teams of 7.” He says. “Though since he’s a newbie, let’s move Cole to your team.”

There’s a few talks about team composition, but what matters to you is that you’re in the same team as Olivia. That’s good both because you don’t want to shoot her and because her shooting you would be even worse.