[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 90 & 91. (Patreon)

Chapter 90: So this is what it's like to have a social life.

So… school life was this busy for everyone else all the time? Up until a week ago, I came to school, paid attention to my classes, went back home and repeated that the next day. It sounds stupid, but now I was finding out that everyone here had so much more going on, and the reason I was realizing this was that I was getting involved.

It wasn’t just classes, assignments, homework and tests. It was people, relationships, problems, events… Everyone around me in that classroom, in that building, had a million things to worry about, so how could they even pay attention to the teachers? I supposed a lot of them didn’t, and I couldn’t either.

If my mind wasn’t showing me pictures of the time I had spent with the girls, then it was reminding me that Thomas had broken up with his girlfriend and that I shouldn’t be feeling happy when a friend was going through a rough time.

I thought I owed the girls an explanation for not hanging out with them before, so during the second recess we went together to the old music room.

“So Thomas and Lyla broke up, huh?” Grace said the moment we went in. “What a bomb to start the week to.”

“W-What? How did you know?”

“Thomas only told you, and you can keep quiet about something like that. The people Lyla told? Not so much.”

“Half the school already knows,” Sarah said. “And of course they do when it’s about arguably the most popular guy in school.”

“It’s such a shame. They looked so cute together. Do you know why they broke up?” Mila asked me.

We sat down at the gym mattress again, only this time Sarah took the spot on my lap. We had plenty of chairs available, but we still chose the mattress. They liked being close to me, and of course I liked having them around me as well.

But regarding Mila’s question… I wasn’t going to tell them about Thomas’ sex life without his approval. “He doesn’t sound completely sure, either. He can think of reasons, but I think a part of him is still bitter about it. He says she broke up with him.” I turned to Grace, and with a bit of apprehension, I asked her, “Do you know anything about Lyla?”

“That she’s a quiet girl that stood out very little,” she said, “Until she started going out with Mr. Popular, that is.”

Mila raised an eyebrow. “You think she was with him for the clout?”

“Can’t say.” Grace shrugged. “But her social media pages got more followers after she started dating him. Whether she cared about that or not, I couldn’t tell you.”

“Come on, Grace. You have dirt on everyone,” Sarah said.

“On the people I need to have dirt on, yeah. I’m not gonna meddle in other people’s affairs for no reason. This is between Thomas and Lyla.”

I was glad to hear that. We shouldn’t be meddling more than we were allowed to.

“...I’d like to cheer him up, if possible,” I told them. “How does one help a friend who’s going through a breakup?”

Mila hummed in thought. “My first thought would be to not assume you know what the other person needs.”

“Oh yeah,” Grace agreed. “We all cope in different ways. Better to ask how you can help than assume you know what’s best for him.”

“Also, I bet you’re not the type to do this, but don’t make things about yourself,” Sarah told me. “Remember Amanda? When Grace broke up with someone, Amanda kept going on and on about how she had handled her own most recent breakup.”

Grace groaned. “I wanted to shut her up so bad…”

“Basically, just be there to support him, Oliver,” Mila told me. “Sometimes that’s more than enough.”

“Should it even be me, though? We haven’t known each other for long.”

“And yet you’re the only one he’s told this to,” Sarah said. “Thomas trusts you.”

“You don’t tell personal things to people you don’t care about, Oliver,” Grace said.

I nodded. “Okay. I’ll go to the park with him after school. We'll play basketball.”

“That’s a good idea,” Sarah said. “That should help him get his mind off things.”

“That’s what I hope.”

Mila then rested her head on my shoulder. “So we’re not doing anything together today, then?” she asked, sounding a little disappointed.

“A friend’s troubles come before pleasure, Mila,” Grace told her. She then turned back to me. “Hang out with him today. Maybe tomorrow too, if he needs it. We can go watch movies when he’s feeling better.”

For half a second I wondered why not tell him to come hang out with the four of us, similar to how he had offered me before. But I immediately realized that was very likely a TERRIBLE idea, considering the kind of… relationship the girls and I had. Sarah was sitting on my lap, for god’s sake! I got jealous of happy couples when I had no one. I didn’t want to put Thomas through the same.

However, knowing that the girls didn’t mind me hanging out with him instead of them made my chest feel lighter. Yeah, we were all disappointed that we couldn’t hang out and do… stuff, but leaving Thomas alone felt wrong. If he didn’t mind me being there, I wanted to help however I could.

“You’ve gotta make it up to us, though,” Sarah said, poking my nose. By her grin, I could tell she was joking. Rather, half-joking. Like she was saying it just to see how I’d respond. And you know what?

“Then… maybe I could invite you three to my house one day. I-I m-mean… if you want.” For some reason, that left them all speechless. “...Too boring?” I asked.

“NO!” the three quickly shouted.

“I want to go!” Grace said, suddenly all excited. “You promised to let me listen to you play guitar.”

“I want to listen too!” Mila said, grinning ear to ear. “And I’m curious about what your room looks like.”

“And didn’t you challenge me to play fighting games?” Sarah remembered. “I’m gonna kick your butt like I did at swimming.”

My heart suddenly started racing. The thought of these three girls in my room was too stimulating. I’d have to ask mom for permission, and try to find a day when Isabelle was out of the house with her own friends, but… I wanted this. I wanted to have friends over at my house.

I wanted to have the girls I liked in my room.

…

I wanted to have sex in my own bed.

…

…

My head was gonna burst.

************

Chapter 91: Venting basketball at the park.

I met up with Thomas at the park after school. We each went back to our houses to get changed and met at one of the six half courts. He insisted we did it that way because he refused to play basketball in his uniform. Plus he had to go get a ball.

So, sporting some sporty wear, Thomas taught me the basics of basketball from scratch because, as it turns out, I was extremely rusty AND I was never good to begin with. Thankfully barely anyone was around, so they didn’t see my awful attempts and dribbling and my clumsy passes. Thomas laughed, but not in a mocking way. He encouraged me to keep trying, constantly showing me how it was done and keeping things at a beginner level. Slowly but surely, I was getting the hang of it. I think my new body had a small hand in it. At least I wasn’t getting tired.

“You’re still  too stiff, but you’re getting there,” Thomas encouraged. “I’m taking back my offer to join the team, though,” he said, grinning.

“Then I’ll join a local team and kick your ass,” I proclaimed, just as I lost control of the ball and had to shamefully run after it. “...In one or two years,” I said when I caught it.

“That could be fun as well, you know?” At least Thomas looked like he was having a good time. “Let’s do some free throws now. I think you’ll be better at this.”

He showed me how to hold the ball and how best to throw. Turns out I’d been doing it all wrong as a kid. No wonder I never reached the hoop! I did my first shot as he instructed, and though I didn’t score, my throw had enough force behind it to bounce off the backboard.

“Hey, not bad!” Thomas praised. “You got it down pretty quickly. Helps that you have strong arms, too. Now it’s just a matter of practice.” Thomas picked up the ball, dribbled a couple of times and shot. It went in with that perfect sound of the ball grazing the net.

“Show off,” I told him.

“Seven years of practice, Oliver,” he boasted.

“Why’d you pick up basketball?” I asked him, picking up the ball and shooting again. Missed.

Thomas caught it just as it bounced off the backboard and shot immediately, scoring again. “I don’t know. It didn’t have to be basketball. I had a lot of energy and frustrations to relieve, so my dad suggested I pick a sport. He said that, since I was taller than most, I should take advantage of it. It was either volleyball or basketball, and I saw people running more in the latter, so I guess that’s why.”

“Frustrations to relieve? At eleven years old?” I took my shot. I was closer this time, but it was only luck. The ball bounced off the hoop and Thomas went to get it.

“You probably know what I’m talking about,” he said. “Little to no friends, I was taller than all my classmates so they made fun of me, not very smart, either. I guess I wanted to shut them up.” He shot again, and once more scored.

“People made fun of you for being tall? Actually, scratch that. They’ll make fun of anything.”

“Exactly. I didn’t expect to like the sport so much, though. At some point I forgot all about the people making fun of me. I made friends playing and eventually no one said anything anymore. Seven years later and I don’t have plans to stop anytime soon.”

I could sort of relate. I picked up the guitar on a whim and didn’t expect to still be playing. Where our stories differed, though, was that I tried joining the music club and found even more hostility there, isolating me more. Thomas was way cooler for succeeding.

I made another shot. This one was waaaay off. I ran after the ball and threw a pass at Thomas.

“You know… I don’t think Lyla liked me playing basketball,” he suddenly said.

“What? What makes you say that?”

“She saw like… three of my games in total, and always looked uncomfortable whenever I talked about the sport or the team. I thought she didn’t like sports in general, but I caught her watching a girl’s soccer game on her phone once.”

“So that’s why you keep thinking she didn’t like you?” I asked softly.

Thomas nodded. He dribbled in place for a moment, looking down. “I mean, when you like someone, you’re happy to listen to them talk about what they love, right? Or was that just me?”

I smiled. “I’d have to agree.”

I liked listening to the girls talk. Mila could be talking about a post she read on social media, even though I don’t use it; Grace could be telling me about a book she’d read, even though I don’t read much; and Sarah could be showing me a meme she found hilarious and I found boring, but even so, I still wanted to hear them talk about it.

Thomas suddenly laughed loudly. “Look at that dumb smile! You’re thinking about the girls, aren’t you?”

“W-What? N-No!” I denied, suddenly panicking for no reason. “Why would I?”

“Because you had the most amazing weekend, right? Come on, tell me about it,” he insisted.

“...I don’t know if I should, Thomas.”

“Oliver, I got dumped and I found out TODAY that another friend of mine was cheating on his girlfriend. I need to know SOMEONE out there is happy.”

“Are you sure?” I asked carefully.

“I’m not gonna be jealous, dude. Okay, maybe a little, but I’m curious. I need to hear this open relationship is going well.”

My cheeks burned from embarrassment. “Why?

“Because it’s cool, Oliver! Most guys, me included, would love to have three girls wrapped around their finger like you do. Seriously, it makes me jealous but I’m also rooting for you.”

I blinked. Maybe it was because he was now single, having just been dumped and with his emotional state all over the place, that he was allowing himself to say those things. It was… a little weird, but I could believe him. After all, nervous as it made me, I was fucking ecstatic that I three girls were willing to share me, even if just as sex friends.

I tried reversing our positions. For starters, I used to be jealous of Thomas’ relationship with his girlfriend, but that was because I wanted to have a girlfriend, too, not because I liked Lyla. If I knew three girls were sharing a random guy, I’d probably be green with envy. If I found out three girls were sharing Thomas… I’d be green with envy too, yeah. But if they were girls I had no interest in, then I’d actually be pretty excited for him, provided things were working out.

Huh. I guess I could believe why he’d be happy for me. It may also mean that Thomas had no interest in Mila, Grace and/or Sarah, which was the biggest relief for me.

I let out a loud sigh. “Don’t blame me, alright? You’re asking for this.”

“That I am!” Thomas nodded nonchalantly.

It was nerve wracking and worrisome at the time, but these days Thomas and I share stories like these on the daily. Sometimes you decide to trust someone and it ends up paying off. Sure, other times it doesn’t happen, but this time it did. I couldn’t ask for a better friend.