[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 119 & 120. (Patreon)

Chapter 119: Unwilling complaining.

"So when are you telling us why you were late this morning?" Grace asked me, shoulder to shoulder with me, poking my cheek. We were sitting on the mattress in the old music room with Mila to my left and Sarah on my lap. Standard setup at this point.

I let out a soft groan. “My sister followed me out the house. I didn’t want her to follow me to this room too, so…”

I didn’t want to explain the entire thing that happened that morning. A part of it was that I didn't want to bother them with my own problems, and the other was that it felt… a little pathetic. ‘Waaah, I had a fight with my sister! Please cheer me up!’ I wanted to avoid sounding like that.

However, my answer earned me three glaring stares.

“W-What?” I asked.

“What are you leaving out?” Sarah asked me.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, say so,” Mila added, “But there’s more to it, right?”

It was at times like these that I really believed these girls had a sixth sense too. Well, if they were asking…

“I… had a bit of a fight with Isabelle today,” I admitted with a sigh. “Or it would be best to say that I got frustrated and told her everything I’d been bottling up.”

“Why don’t you get along with your sister?” Grace asked me.

“Do we really need to talk about this?”

“Yes,” Mila said. “Is it bad that we want to learn more about you?”

I grimaced in defeat. “I don’t understand it well myself. There was this time when we were kids when she badmouthed me behind my back to get friendly with other people. Since then, she's been doing things on her own. Going out with friends, going to parties… We used to be extremely close, so I guess I started to resent her. She’s been antagonistic lately, too. She doesn’t like that I’m hanging out with you, even when it’s none of her business.” I furrowed my brow. I was starting to vent, to let myself say things. My next words came without thinking. “She even snuck her boyfriend home last week and had sex right next to my room.”

“Woah! What the hell!?” Sarah exclaimed, and the three girls looked equally taken aback.

Shit. I was saying too much!

“I mean… ugh. I get it, but still.” Grace groaned. “That’s going over the line.”

“So you heard her?” Mila asked me.

With my face heating up, I nodded. The three girls shared a glance and a wordless conversation like they sometimes did. “L-Look, it doesn’t matter. The point is that Isabelle and I aren’t close anymore, but she has her life, and I’m… starting to build mine. I think. It’s fine like this.”

“In the end, it’s your choice,” Sarah said, running her fingers through my hair. “But you’d rather get along with her, right?”

“...Yeah.”

The girls shared another look, and both Sarah and Mila turned to Grace with an unspoken question. Grace gave it some thought, then shook her head.

“Okay. We won’t bother you anymore,” Grace told me. “But don’t feel like you can’t talk about these things with us, okay?”

“But I don’t want to whine and complain.” Especially not in front of them.

“Oliver,” Mila started, holding my face and pecking my lips. “We whine and complain to each other all the time.”

“Huh?”

“Yeah. It’s not good to keep things inside, as you probably know by now,” Sarah said. “Better to let it out with people who’re willing to listen.”

Grace kissed my cheek. “That’s us, if you haven’t realized it.”

“...” I didn’t want to whine and complain. I didn’t want to be a bother and make them think ‘there he goes again…’ and get tired of me. But I suppose it was a little late to try to build up a strong, confident facade, huh?

I smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“That said,” Grace continued, “do you mind if we talk to her?”

“Ah? Why?”

“She’s your sister. We’d rather get along with her than have her hate us for dumb reasons.”

Dumb reasons? These girls knew something, didn’t they?

“Well, I’d prefer it if you got along, yeah,” I admitted.

“Great.”

“Changing the subject,” Sarah said, “You’re hanging out with the guys this Friday, right? What will you do?”

“Just going to Thomas’ house. Should just be the four of us.”

“Excited?” Mila asked, teasingly poking my ribs to tickle me.

“Yeah. And nervous.”

“You’ll be fine!” Sarah told me. “It’ll be a good opportunity. Don’t let them carry the entire conversation. Don’t be afraid to chip in.”

“But if you guys hire a stripper for Thomas, you’re not allowed to touch her, okay?” Grace laughed at her own joke, as did the others.

However, I furrowed my brow in thought and held my chin. Should we hire a stripper for him? Nah. He probably wouldn’t like it. That was the feeling I got, anyway.

Mila laughed harder. “He’s considering it!”

“I was wondering if it was a good idea or not!” I argued.

“Hey,” Sarah said, pinching my cheek. “If you want to watch a strip tease so badly, I’ll do it for you for free. But only for you.”

“Oh?” I got my arms around her waist and pulled her closer. “Will you?”

Sarah bit her lip and traced her finger along my jaw. “Any day.”

Mila leaned closer to whisper in my ear. Though I say whisper, she still spoke loud enough for the others to hear. “Ask her to do a pole dance!” she said, giggling.

“Ask your mom to install a pole down in the gym,” Grace teased.

“And have the brats start asking what it’s for? No, thank you. Or worse. What if she starts using it?”

We laughed. Just like that, I was already feeling better. A part of me wondered if Isabelle had gotten over our little fight already, and I had to believe she had. Being with the girls cheered me up, and my sister had even more friends. She’d be okay.

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

Chapter 120: Intermission - Them.

That same Thursday after school, Isabelle saw her brother leaving with them again. For the last three years he headed straight home when classes were over. He never had better plans than to go back to his room to play games and practice guitar. Now Isabelle was watching him get into Grace’s car with a smile on his face as the brunette talked his ear off about this book she’d been reading. Isabelle didn’t hear the details.

“Isabelle?” She was startled as a voice caught her off guard from behind. She glanced back to see her friend Alice there, looking at her with curiosity. “What are you doing?”

“I was… Um…” How to explain that she’d been stalking her brother almost the entire day without saying she’d been stalking her brother almost the entire day? She decided to take a page out of Oliver’s book and use misdirection instead.

Yeah, she’d noticed she had fallen for it that morning well after it happened. Crafty bastard.

“Alice? Do you happen to know anything about… Grace, Milana and Sarah?”

“Hm?” Alice tilted her head, a cute habit her friend had. She then managed to see Grace’s car drive by, and she saw Oliver in the co-pilot seat. “Ah. I see.” Alice chuckled, and Isabelle blushed in embarrassment. She’d been caught anyway. How did Oliver do it?

“I’d been meaning to talk about this with you, actually,” Alice said. “I’ve been hearing good things about this one coffee shop in town. Want to go?”

Isabelle nodded. She could seriously use some cheesecake right now.

***

And it turned out that the coffee shop Alice had heard about was owned by the same people who owned the bakery that made her favorite cheesecake. Why hadn’t she heard of this before?

She brought a piece of the sweet pastry to her mouth and she relished at the soft, creamy texture. She could almost feel her headache subsiding.

“Now you’re looking better,” Alice said, a teasing smile on her face. “No wonder you’re so serious about yoga.”

“Yep. I’d be a ball already if I didn’t work out,” Isabelle admitted shamelessly. “I love sweets too much. Thanks for bringing me here. I needed it.”

Alice frowned with worry. “Yeah, you weren’t looking well today. What really happened?”

Isabelle pursed her lips. She knew what was bothering her, but admitting it to others… She was too ashamed to say it out loud.

“I had a… small argument with my brother this morning. It’s been bugging me.”

“What did you argue about?”

Isabelle thought back to that morning and she unconsciously lowered her head between her shoulders. Again, she was ashamed to give Alice of all people the details. She was too proper. Isabelle had no choice but to admit that if she was ashamed to say something, then maybe she shouldn’t have done it in the first place.

“I asked him why he was hanging out with those three, and warned him that they were just playing with him. Then he practically blew up in my face, saying I’ve been a shitty sister for a while, and that he wouldn’t hear anything from me.” Isabelle grimaced. “I realized he wasn’t entirely wrong.”

Alice had a troubled expression. Isabelle didn’t know what part of what she said caused it, or maybe all of it had.

“First things first,” Alice started, now looking a bit more serious. “You asked me if I knew anything about Sarah, Grace and Mila, right? Well, I do.” Alice smiled. “I’ve known those three for years. I know them well. They’re not playing with your brother, Isabelle.”

Isabelle blinked. That… was a shock to hear. Alice, the proper, serious and dedicated Student Council President knew that trio of troublemakers? And was willing to speak up for them?

“H-How do you know them?”

“We’ve been friends for years. We hung out together until our high school freshman year. I started working with the student council to learn the ropes, hoping to get elected one day. It happened, but I got so engrossed in it that we got together less and less. I still talk to them, just not as often.”

It was strange. Isabelle had never seen Alice talk to any of those girls at school, yet as she spoke she had this beautiful, nostalgic smile. “Why don’t I see you talking to them?”

Alice grimaced. “They… got themselves a bit of a reputation, as you know. They knew I wanted to get elected a student president, and as you also know, these elections are, more than they should be, a popularity contest.” Isabelle nodded, hating the fact every bit as much as her friend. “They decided on their own that being seen with me would lower my chances of getting elected. Now we mainly talk through video calls.”

“I… I didn’t know. And the rumors about them…?”

“Overly exaggerated stories of people with too much damn time in their hands.” Alice nearly spat the words out, and it was probably the first time Isabelle saw her make such a disgusted face. Then, that expression softened. “Not everything is false, however. They’ve done things, but they had their reasons. And unarguably good intentions, too. I owe them a lot.”

Isabelle felt her heart being wrung. She knew Alice for about a year and a half already. She'd been a good, supporting friend from the start. Isabelle was more willing to believe her words than that of others. Which meant…

“Does that mean Igacio lied to me?” Her boyfriend had very passionately claimed that those three were nothing but jealous, bitter sluts who were willing to lie to ruin a person’s reputation to get what they wanted. Considering the rumors going around of Grace blackmailing people, it didn’t seem impossible. But if Alice of all people vouched for them…

“Ignacio is friends with someone whom Grace actually did something to. She did blackmail him. She threatened him with revealing some secrets if he didn’t stop doing something. I… won’t say what, but I will still take Grace’s side in this.”

Isabelle compared the way Ignacio had talked about the three girls and the way Alice spoke of everything. Her boyfriend had been bitter, demeaning and offended on a friend’s behalf. On the other hand, Alice, while clearly biased, didn’t resort to insults, didn’t speak ill of others and left room for Isabelle to choose who to believe. Her tone was firm and full of conviction and trust in these girls she knew. To top it all off, Oliver trusted these three girls, and her brother wasn’t stupid.

Looks like she knew whose version to believe. She’d talk to Ignacio soon.

“...This tangent got a little too long.” Alice smiled with embarrassment. “This started because you wanted to talk about your brother.”

Isabelle shook her head. “It helps. It’s more proof that he wasn’t wrong in snapping at me. I… I made him retreat into his shell, Alice. And those girls seem to be getting him out. I feel a little better, knowing you trust them.”

Alice chuckled. “They’re a handful. Oliver has a tough road ahead of him.”

Isabelle raised an eyebrow. “What else do you know? What’s actually happening there?”

“That, my dear friend, is not for me to answer. Maybe consider the answer to that question your short term goal as you try to fix things with him? If he answers, you’ll know you’re making good progress. Because that’s what you want, right? To get your brother back?”

“...” Isabelle smiled painfully as she nodded. “But I don’t have the right to meddle anymore. And believe it or not, Oliver is the type to hold a grudge, even if he himself doesn’t realize it.”

“Take it slow. Don’t get impatient. He’s your brother. Your twin brother. And hey, if you need help, you know where to find me.”

Isabelle was grateful, and she made it known. Because she was sure she would need some help to fix things. Maybe… ask her mother, too?