Doubling Up

"Oh, you guys are back already?" Juliet smiled, with just a hint of surprise in her expression, as Luke and Stefanie returned.

"Well, the food was delicious and the service was phenomenal last time. Why wouldn't we be?"

Luke felt the satisfying sensation of his phone buzzing in his pocket as his compliments registered. Their waitress for a second consecutive dinner date was very much his type, and he hoped with enough small talk, kind words and a decent sized tip, she would be fully dateable by the end of the meal. If not, he knew where he would be taking Rachel for their upcoming evening together.

That would be four women Luke would have arranged dates with via the app in the few days since it had installed itself, raising to five when his dastardly plan to steal Gina back came to fruition. That number felt manageable, restrained even, compared to how crazy he imagined most guys would go with the power he currently seemed to have. Besides, it was easy enough to drop anyone he lost interest in. It made perfect sense to explore his options fully.

Luke had two targets to try and hit tonight. As well as pushing Juliet towards her first full heart, he was also aiming to complete his actual dates third. That would be the point where things started to really heat up. He very much fancied ending his evening with a fully nude Stefanie giving him a blow job.

He estimated both tasks were around the same level of challenge. The first heart was pretty quick to fill, but he would be seeing Juliet only fleetingly throughout the evening. In contrast, he would have a large chunk of one on one time with Stef to raise her affection level, but by the third heart that had become a slower process which took greater effort - just as the user guide had set out.

"We thought we might start with a cocktail at the bar" Luke told Juliet.

"Great choice. I can actually serve you there as well. We're a little short staffed today, so I need to double up"

"Wow! You're so attentive, and multi-talented too! Whatever they are paying you here, it isn't enough!"

Luke could feel his phone going off again. Thankfully, Juliet seemed like a sweet-natured person who took compliments well, and raising her affection level appeared to be fairly straightforward, at least at this early stage.

The pre-dinner cocktail had turned out to be an effective tactical move by Luke - Stef counted her drink as a gift, and he got to both compliment Juliet's mixing skills and give her a nice sized tip. She then led them both to their table and handed out the same menus they had ordered from the previous evening.

Despite the fact he was trying to fill two women's virtual hearts at once, which meant Luke had to stay fairly alert and on top of his game at all times, this date actually felt more natural and relaxed than the previous one had. With or without the Romance Mechanic, it had at its heart been a first date, with all that entailed. The conversation had never been raised too far above small talk, and Luke had been concentrating mostly on agreeing with whatever his dinner companion said, which made any real or meaningful conversation difficult to accomplish.

Tonight, everything just felt easier. It really did seem like Stefanie's affection for Luke was higher now. She began to open up to him more, telling him personal things and reaching over the table to place her hand on his occasionally. Even what she was wearing made her seem more invested in this date than she had been on the last one.

It was nice to get to know Stefanie better. It made her feel more like a genuine romantic interest he was pursuing and less like the hot girl who made his morning coffee that he was using a magic app to get into bed.

She began telling him about her dream to become a psychiatrist with her own practice. She already had a first class degree in the subject and was currently studying for her masters. The job as a barista was keeping her going financially for now as she gained her desired qualifications. It was weird, in hindsight, that Luke had never even considered that the girl who served him his beverages each morning might be far more academically accomplished and ambitious than he was.

He wasn't sure if it was down to the Romance Mechanic or not, but by this stage Luke felt he was sparking with Stef way more than he should have been able to with someone he had only really known for a couple of days. It was a nice feeling, one he hadn't had in a while.

Juliet walked over with an offer to top up their wine glasses, and Luke remarked to his prospective future date about how wonderfully astute her timing was, before resuming to what had become a very enjoyable meal with his current one.

The way the conversation was now flowing meant that Stefanie's affection was being raised quite naturally, without Luke having to resort to cheap tricks like pretending to agree with whatever she happened to say. In fact, the constant buzzing of his phone had become an unnescessary annoyance - he knew things were going well - until it vibrated for longer than usual. He had learned, by this point, those were the alerts that needed checking.

He waited for a break in conversation where it wouldn't look too rude to check his messages, then quickly saw that Stefanie was now on three full hearts. When he read the update that had broken that news to him, trying to maintain a neutral expression suddenly became extremely challenging.

Congratulations - you just filled the third of Stefanie's hearts, and now things start to get really exciting! She will willingly strip naked for you whenever and wherever you ask her to, and will also provide blow and hand jobs on request. Enjoy!

She'd do what? Luke knew nudity was unlocked on the third heart, but any time and anywhere he demanded it? That hadn't been clear before! Okay, so he wasn't going to actually make Stef strip here during their meal, but the fact that he apparently could was just so hot to think about. God, he had to at least know if it would work. They seemed to have a good enough rapport by now for him to pass what he was about to try off as a joke if it backfired.

"Stef..."

"Yeah"

"Would you strip naked for me right now?"

"Of course, if that's something you'd like me to do"

To Luke's astonishment, his date stood up gracefully from her chair and began to dutifully unzip her dress, as if his request had been an entirely reasonable expectation of her.

"No, Stef, stop!"

"Huh?"

She looked confused at the sudden and emphatic u-turn, perhaps understandably so.

"Sorry, I changed my mind, You should just sit down and finish your meal"

"Oh, okay, if that's what you would prefer"

Switching back to the pleasant but pedestrian conversation they had been having before Luke was granted his powers to make Stef strip wasn't easy. It was such a difficult thought to shift from his mind - and would he prefer a hand job or blow job first? He knew he shouldn't let such lewd thoughts dominate his might right now, but it was difficult not to indulge them.

He managed, with some effort, to regain his composure and resume the successful date he had been enjoying before the disruption. He had two, potentially even three, more hearts to unlock for Stef yet after all, and things were only getting better with each one. He needed to keep up the good work, not get distracted by what he had already achieved.

When the meal was over, Juliet brought them the bill, which Luke again happily offered to cover as he began to build his way towards a fourth heart for Stef. He had recently checked his progress with Juliet, and she was tantalisingly close to having a full heart herself and becoming fully dateable. He wasn't sure the tip was going to be quite enough to push her over the line though.

"Thanks again, the service was absolutely excellent as ever!"

Nope, nothing. She had heard the same compliment from Luke too many times in one evening. It had become so ineffective that his phone didn't even bother to buzz.

As he examined the bill, Luke realised he was going to have to take drastic action to seal the deal tonight.

Fuck it. It was only money, and if he didn't wrap things up now he would have to come back and pay for another two meals anyway.

"Double it"

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Just double the bill and take the extra as gratuity. You've certainly earned it"

"Wow, that's extremely generous of you sir!"

Luke's phone let out a prolonged buzz from within his pocket. He knew what that meant by now without needing to check.

"Would you like to go on a date with me some time?" he asked his server before she even had the chance to offer him the receipt.

"Sure" she nodded with her usual friendly smile "How about now? I'm just about to finish for the day, if you don't mind giving me ten minutes to get changed?"

Now?

Luke hadn't been expecting that. Now he planned to take Stef back to his flat so he could command her to get naked and give him a blow job. Then again, he thought back to the sacred words of the Romance Mechanic user guide, which he had pretty much committed to memory by this point.

It is fine to romance multiple connections simultaneously .... You can even take multiple connections on the same date - or into the same bedroom - at the same time!

"I tell you what, why don't you come back to my place for a date once you've changed and, Stef, I was thinking it might be nice if you came back to mine as well for a post meal drink?"

"Sure"

"Sounds good"

Holy shit. Was there nothing this app couldn't do?