The stream is a date. The date is a stream.

I threw my laptop sling around one shoulder and picked up my little clutch purse with its makeup, ID, keys, thumb drive, hair ties, compact mirror, mints, and pepper spray, and exited the mustang. Walking up to the coffee shop I quickly spotted Louis sitting out at one of the tables. He had his laptop out and was looking at the screen while putting on some glasses. I hadn’t seen him wear any glasses before but thought he actually looked good in the thick black frames. When he spotted me, he turned back to the laptop, and said something to it before closing it and standing up to wave me over.

As I approached, I had to give Louis some respect. He held out his arms for a hug but didn’t automatically pull me into one. That simple gesture made me feel safer accepting his hug and wrapping my arms around him. “Hi Louis!”

After a squeeze Louis let go and gestured to the seat opposite him. Again, more respect as he didn’t automatically assume I’d want to sit right next to him. Sitting down I went to pull out my laptop, honestly eager to log in and let my own followers know the stream was happening soon, when Louis gently pushed both our laptops closed. “Don’t worry about that. I’m sure you’ve seen my Friday streams before and know they’re more about hanging out and having fun than playing games. Let’s get a cup of coffee and share a bit first. Okay?”

I nodded my agreement and slid my laptop back to its bag. As Louis waved over a barista, I pulled out my phone, turned around so that I could fit both of us in the frame, and snapped a quick casual photo. By the time the barista was at our table I had my social media out for approval with the caption “Here for the Coffee and the Cutie!”.

Louis ordered himself a large black coffee with two shots of espresso. He smiled at me and asked “Lemme guess for you. BabyDoll here would probably like an iced carmel macchiato with blonde espresso, extra carmel drizzle, and four pumps of white mocha. Am I right?”

I wasn’t the biggest coffee drink consumer. I mostly went for black coffee myself or the occasional Americano. But with the diet I’d been on and a lack of any real sweets for a week, that sounded absolutely heavenly. I’m pretty sure I was lightly drooling as I nodded and said “Oh, yes please!”

When our drinks came, I slipped the straw into my mouth and took a big sip, reveling in the quick sugar rush. When I looked up Louis hadn’t even touched his drink and was just looking at me. Worried that I’d dribbled some of the sugary treat on my chin I wiped at it with a finger. There wasn’t any on my chin, but I did get a bit on my lip. With it wiped up on my finger I unconsciously slipped it into my mouth and sucked it clean. Only when I looked back at Louis and saw his goofy turned-on smile did I realize what that must have looked like. Trying not to freak out about looking like that kind of girl I stay in my Princess BabyDoll role and slap at Louis’ broad shoulder. “Okay now Prince LouisLove! Stop that!”

Noticing my lipstick print on the straw, I pull out my mirror and then lip gloss and touch up my lips. I was used to the lipstick I’d used before which lasted quite a while, but it seems that this one was going to wipe off all the time meaning I’d have to mind it closely and probably touch it up constantly. Once I’d pressed my lips together and popped them as Sarah had shown me, I smiled up at Louis.

We grew comfortable and chatted for a bit. This almost felt like the chats online as it was more centered around each of our streams and the games we liked to play instead of getting to know each other. As the sun set and I started to get a chill, I looked up at Louis and asked “So, do you want to go inside for the stream? It’s a little chilly out here. Maybe we could play Call of Honor Five in Zombie mode? I think both our audiences would like that.”

Louis’ smile faltered for a moment. His response was, at least at first, really confusing. He looked over my shoulder as if speaking to someone else and said “Just a sec here guys. We’ll be right back.” He then took off his glasses, folded them up, and cupped his hands over the lenses and arms.

Leaning in he asked “Sadie, you HAVE watched my Friday night streams, right? I mean, like the ones in the past couple months?”

Not wanting to outright lie, I put on a smile, shrugged, and replied “Well, to be honest I haven’t watched them in a few weeks. Maybe six? I think the last time I watched was when you got the DOTA 3 dlc and played that. Why?”

Louis looked down at his covered glasses then back up to me. “Well, a couple months ago I got these. They’re called Streamer Specs and I’m one of the first people trying them in the real world. They connect up to my phone for a real time connection, have a camera, a microphone, and a screen display that I can see. And… well, I’ve been streaming live since just before you got here. I go out and stream real world activities. I thought it would be fun to have a date as our stream. I’ve been monitoring the chat and the audience has loved it so far. It’s my biggest Friday night stream yet. I mean… you’ve been live for almost forty minutes now!”

I sat there staring at Louis for several moments as it all came into focus for me. The seat that Louis had directed me to, so that I’d be centered in his view. Letting me come in to hug him instead of coming in for a hug. Chatting like we were online because we WERE online. Calling me Princess or BabyDoll instead of Sadie. I was right in that this was just us steaming in public. Sarah was right in that this was a date with Louis. We were both right in that this was a live streaming date with Louis!

By the time I refocused on the here and now I saw that Louis had his glasses back on and was obviously now addressing the audience and not me. “Sorry about that guys, just taking care of a technical difficulty. We’re back though.” Louis turned his head and looked back at me and I could now see the little camera, it’s lens at the end of the glasses armature. The other side had the same circle but instead of the shiny lens, it was a little fuzzy microphone. And now I couldn’t help but realize I was front and center of this stream. “So Princess, what do you say? Wanna go catch a movie!? Ready Player One is playing at the revival theater.”

I tried my best to put on a smile again, no matter how faked and **** it felt. I wanted to at least look in control on the outside while on the inside I freaked out, remembering that damned dream of Louis and me in the movie theater. The dream where we made out. The dream where I slipped my hand into his pants and gripped his…

“Earth to Princess BabyDoll!? If you’ve already seen Ready Player One, we can just chat and do other stuff in the theater.” Louis seemed honest enough with his suggestion. I’ve been to see older movies at that theater plenty of times and it was expected that half the audience would be chatting and playing with their phones the entire time. But all I could imagine was us slipping into my dream sequence.

With a shake of my head I probably spoke too eagerly when I suggested “No, why don’t we go to the arcade instead? It’s just across town and has all the old pinball, arcade, and ticket games.”

Louis smiles and nods. “That sounds perfect BabyDoll! Let’s go.”

Standing up Louis holds his hand out and helps me stand up. As we walk to the parking lot, he wraps his arm around my waist and looks down at me. “I hope you don’t mind, but I don’t like driving with these things on. The next bus should be here in just a bit.” Louis’ hand comes up and covers up the microphone as he says to me while continuing to look straight ahead “Hey, thanks for not wanting to go to the movie. I forgot I’d have to end the stream. Now we can stay online.”

I inwardly winced, realizing I could have dropped my online persona if we weren’t streaming. I could have talked to Louis and mentioned that I’d rather not be part of this kind of real life live stream. Now, he’s going to continue and I’m stuck being the ditzy Princess BabyDoll on a date with her Prince LouisLove.

The bus was rather crowded. Being this close to campus on a Friday night it was naturally filled with college kids of every stripe. From those that couldn’t afford to drive to those that were going out to get wasted and wouldn’t want to drive. There were only a few empty seats and none together, so when Louis sat down I looked for the least scary open seat. It’s strange how my perception has changed as before I wouldn’t worry about who I sat next to. Now, dressed as I am, looking like I do, I’m judging each seat with the threat of unwanted contact.

Before I can look past the first empty seat, the one I’d mentally passed over due to the big body builder looking guy sitting in the next seat that was already eyeing me, Louis made my choice for me. With a casual air he wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to sit in his lap. His other hand ended up resting on the small of my back, giving me at least a little sense of security. Looking up at the driver I saw him peek at us in his mirror and just smirk before closing the doors and driving on.

Knowing that I was being streamed live surprisingly helped a bit. I didn’t have to worry about impressing Louis or convincing him I was a real person under my online mask. Instead, I just wore that mask and flaunted it. Did I want to wrap my arm around him and thank him for his gallant seat in a loud giggly voice? No. Did Princess BabyDoll want to do it? Absolutely. Did I want to sit with my back almost painfully upright, pushing my chest out to the man whose lap I was sitting in? Absolutely not. Did Princess BabyDoll? Of course, she did.

I did these things with only the tiniest bit of hesitation. Any question on what actions I should take, any comments I should make, any attitude I should show, was answered with how I would do them if I were streaming this from the pink safety of my room.

When we exited the bus I went with the flow I was establishing for myself and pulled Louis’ arm around my waist. With the combination of his hand on my hip, my heels, the plug in my rear, and my penis being pulled and held back between my legs, I’m sure I was truly strutting. Just before we got in I had Louis turn so that the arcade sign was a backdrop and then took a selfie of the two of us with my patent pending kissey face on full blast. As Louis looked on, I made sure to send out a social media post with “Let’s see if he has game!” and tagged Louis’ stream.

As we stepped in I smirked and turned so that I could look Louis straight in the face. Or more importantly, his audience could look straight at me. “Hey, I have an idea. We both play games, right? Well let’s play against each other. The winner of each game gets to wear the glasses. And not only that, they get to choose a suggestion from the audience for the other to do.”

Louis smiled and nodded. Looking over my shoulder he obviously addressed the audience. “Alright, you guys heard the lady. We’re gonna play and the winner gets to monitor all of you and take one of your suggestions for the loser to do. Ya’ll are talking quick so remember to tip if you want your chat to stand out!”

When Louis turns to me I take a moment, swallow hard, and try to remain in character. A big part of me wants to just call this off. But if I also know that if I can take advantage of Louis’ audience, pull even some of them to be my audience, then its worth it. It’s worth being a flirty sexy girl not just for that audience… but for Louis himself. Because while he’s wearing the glasses, he IS the audience. Taking the bull by the horns I lean in close, put my hands on Louis’ shoulders, and stand up tall enough that I can rub our noses together. With a giggle, feeling my nipples brush up against his shirt which sends its own sparks of pleasure through me, I reach up and pull the glasses from his face saying “And I’m sure my gallant prince would agree that if ladies go first, then a Princess certainly does to!”

As soon as I have the glasses slid off Louis’ face and on to mine I take a moment to adjust to them. The arms are a lot thicker than normal glasses, and I figure that’s where the computer innards must be. While they’re a lot heavier than normal glasses, the weight sits further back which makes them quite stable. When I refocus, I can see a small display in my right eye’s vision. It’s small and difficult to keep up with, but it’s the chat screen from the live stream. I can already see some of the lines sticking out like “She’s so HOT!” and “Yer in trouble dude, she’s gonna have you wrapped around her little finger.”

All thoughts of the glasses are wiped though when I feel Louis’ hands on my shoulders. As I refocus to look at him instead of the chat screen I see he’s moving in close to me. Close enough to…

I let out a little “HeeyyyMMMmm” as Louis tilts his head slightly and kisses me.