[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 122 & 123. (Patreon)

Chapter 122: At Thomas’s home.

I’m ashamed to admit that I almost backed down. Almost. Minutes before I left my house, my mind was assaulted by several bad scenarios that made me scared of going to Thomas’ house that night.

The guys were friendly enough, but what if they found me annoying now? What if I wasn’t able to keep a conversation going? We were so different that I couldn’t think of any topics that we might have in common. What if I just sat there awkwardly all night, and in turn made them all feel awkward?

But like I said, I almost backed down. I didn’t. What pushed me to go was that I had promised already, and the fact that I would have to explain myself if I suddenly told them I wasn’t going. Not only would that paint me as a flaker in the eyes of the guys, but I was sure the girls would question me, too, and be disappointed that I wasn’t able to do something so simple. That last thought scared me twice as much as the first.

Weirdly enough, Isabelle saw me getting ready to leave, but didn’t ask where I was going. Perhaps she heard me talk to mom about it? Or was she still mad from that morning? Well, I was thankful that I didn’t have to explain myself to her. She didn’t explain herself to me when she was going out.

In spite of my brief wishes to bail out, I still made it to Thomas’ house five minutes earlier than we agreed. I rang the doorbell anyway, and my heart almost jumped to my throat when it wasn’t Thomas who answered.

A woman with long, curly auburn hair stood in front of me. She had brown eyes, like Thomas, and her face was beginning to show the first signs of wrinkles. Maybe somewhere between 45 and 50 years old? She was dressed in an elegant, if ostentatious, golden dress and wore plenty of jewelry.

“Hello,” she greeted amicably. “How can I help you, young man?”

My voice caught in my throat. I wasn’t prepared for this. OF COURSE HIS MOTHER WAS HOME. Why wouldn’t she? At least I was assuming it was his mother, considering how similar they looked.

Don’t think about the stripper thing. Don’t think about the stripper thing.

When I didn’t answer, the lady tilted her head a bit and narrowed her eyes.

“Mom! Is that Oliver at the door?” came Thomas’ voice from further inside.

The lady smiled. “Given your silence, I’m assuming you’re the friend Thomas has been telling us about.”

I woke up. “A-Ah. I’m s-so sorry. Y-Yes, I’m Oliver. Um…”

“It’s fine, dear. I’m Thomas’s mother, Dahlia Pierce. Just call me Mrs. Pierce.”

“Y-Yes. A p-pleasure, Mrs. Pierce.”

Thomas’ mom smiled encouragingly. “I’d love to stay and talk, but you caught me just as I was leaving to meet my husband. We’re having dinner out tonight. Make yourself at home!”

“T-Thank you! We’ll be careful.”

“That’s a relief to hear,” she chuckled. “You must come some other day, when my husband and I are home. Thomas talks so much about you.”

I blinked. He did?

“Well, have fun boys. Thomas, I’m leaving!” she called back inside.

“Have fun, mom! Eat something nice!”

Mrs. Pierce nodded to me one last time before she went to her car and drove out. Well, that almost gave me a heart attack.

Hesitantly, I stepped into the house, looking around for Thomas. He came out of the kitchen, smirking at me.

“I sent my mom to open the door. What that too mean?” he asked. He knew exactly what he had done, huh?

“It took me by surprise,” I admitted with a weak, embarrassed smile. “And speaking of, what do you tell your parents about me?”

“Hm? I told them about that time you saved my ass at the tournament, and that we’ve been hanging out. Told them that you were really reserved, too. Sorry. Should I not have?”

Surprisingly, I found myself smiling. “It’s fine. You get along with your parents?”

“Yeah, I guess.” He laughed. “We talk a lot, and I don’t hide much from them. Much. They know Lyla broke up with me, but I didn’t tell them why.”

“That’s cool. No wonder they trust you with the house.”

“Exactly. There are idiots who laugh at me for being close to my parents, but I’m the one who has to sneak around to go out.” He nodded to himself, arms crossed. “And you? Get along well with your mom?”

“...She’s mostly at work, and while it’s never been a bad relationship, I… sort of ignored her for a few years. We’re trying to fix things now, though.”

“That’s good to hear,” he said, smiling genuinely. “Well, Kevin and Ben should be here soon. Want to have a drink?”

“...I don’t really like beer, Thomas.”

“I noticed, which is why I got you something.”

Curious, I followed him to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a six-pack of transparent glass bottles, 350ml each. The liquid inside was transparent as well, and the bottles had pictures of fruits and ice cubes.

“Lime cocktails, pineapple cocktails, blueberry cocktails… These are sweet, and you might like them more. Drink carefully, though, or you’ll be drunk before you know it.”

“I suppose it can’t hurt to try?” I said carefully. It did sound better than beer, but… Well, I needed to be aware and, like he said, drink carefully.

He opened one of the bottles for me and a beer for himself. We walked out to the backyard and sat down at the glass table by the pool. I couldn’t help but remember that this was the same table where I first sat with Sarah, Grace and Mila. I drank like two or three beers that night, and though I could feel myself getting drunk, it didn’t make me more talkative. Looking back, good thing it didn’t, or I may have started relying on it.

Carefully, I tried the lime cocktail. It was… sweet, and a little sour, and cold. The aftertaste of alcohol was barely noticeable.

“So? How is it?” Thomas asked me.

I nodded. “I think it’s good?”

“Remember, drink slowly. Down it in one go like soda or juice and you’re asking to pass out on my couch,” he warned with a laugh.

Noted.

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

Chapter 123: Boys night.

It was 10 minutes later that Kevin and Ben arrived, carrying a six-pack of beer each plus bags of chips.

“Hello, hello!” Kevin greeted cheerfully. He looked at me, then towards the drink in my hand and raised an eyebrow. Before I could greet them back, he said, “Why are you drinking that, Oliver? That’s for girls.”

I flinched and began to feel heat going to my face, but then I heard Ben snorting. “Like you have any right to judge people for their tastes, Mr. Pineapple-on-Pizza.”

“This again? It’s delicious!” Kevin argued back.

“It’s disgusting,” Thomas told him. “We’re not ordering pizza with pineapple again.”

“Alright, alright. Then what are we having?” Kevin gave up. He and Ben sat down with us at the table outside.

Thomas picked his phone up and began typing. “I don’t know. What toppings do you want, Oliver? Or do you prefer something other than pizza?”

I shook my head. “Pizza’s good. Um… maybe bacon?”

“I always knew you were one of mine,” Thomas said, grinning.

“Mushrooms too,” added Ben.

“And olives,” said Kevin.

Thomas nodded. “Olives I can get behind.” He made the order from his phone, and while he did, Kevin turned to me with a mischievous grin.

“So? When does the stripper get here?”

My heart skipped a beat. They didn’t really…?

“Please tell me you didn’t actually hire one,” Thomas said dryly.

“No, but we considered it.” Ben laughed and opened his beer, the can giving off a nice, loud hiss.

“Look, I know you guys think I need to get my mind off of Lyla, but I’m doing well, seriously.”

“Have you talked to her since then?” I asked hesitantly.

Thomas shook his head. “And it’s awkward because we’re in the same class. But it could be worse.”

“How so?” I asked.

“There were these classmates of ours last year,” Ben started. “They broke up and would actually start yelling at each other in the middle of class. At least Thomas and Lyla broke up in… okay terms.”

“Ah. Y-Yes, that'd be worse…”

“Do you want to get back together with her?” Kevin asked Thomas.

“...Kind of?” Thomas admitted, sighing. “But even if we did, it’s not like the problems we had before will go away.”

“What problems DID you have?” Ben asked, crossing his arms and leaning back on his chair. “You guys never fought, that I know.”

I shifted uncomfortably and took another sip of my drink. I was still on the first one, and I’d barely had half of it. So Thomas told me about his problems with Lyla, but didn’t tell these two?

“...Seems like we wanted different things, is all,” Thomas settled for answering, not wanting to go into detail and taking a good, long drink of his own can of beer.

Kevin nodded. “Then you want to move on or stay single for a while? I ask because there’s like five girls already asking me if you’re looking for a new girlfriend.”

I flinched. “It’s not even been a week,” I muttered to myself, but apparently I was loud enough for everyone to hear me. Ben nodded in agreement.

“You know…” Thomas grunted. “I have no idea what I want. On the one hand, it doesn’t feel right to go to another woman just after breaking up, but on the other…” He groaned and shook her head with eyes closed, frustrated.

I felt like I could hazard a guess. Throughout the entire time he and Lyla dated, their sex life wasn’t satisfying. It was probably one of the main reasons they broke up. Now Thomas was single, and apparently not lacking in potential partners.

“I say you find another girl.” Surprisingly, it was Ben who said that. I don’t know why it surprised me, but he gave me the impression of being a bit more reserved on these matters than Kevin. “It doesn’t need to be serious, but I think it’ll help you move on. She broke up with you, right? She can’t complain.”

“Do we know if Lyla’s been hanging out with another guy?” Kevin asked carefully.

“Not that I know of,” Thomas said, sighing. He then turned to me. “What do you think, Oliver? Should I just find another girl?”

I swallowed more of my drink. Without realizing it, the bottle was nearly empty. I blinked at it twice then refocused on Thomas.

“I think… I think Ben’s right,” I admitted. “She broke up with you, and you remember what she said, right?” I didn’t quote her words since Thomas clearly didn’t want to spread this around. “If that was the reason she gave you, then I think it’s fine that you move on. If that’s what you want, of course.”

As Thomas told me, Lyla’s excuse for breaking up with him was that he should find someone more suited to him. Regardless if she truly meant it or not, those were her words. No one should hold it against Thomas for taking them at face value.

Kevin and Ben looked at me with raised eyebrows. I suppressed a wince, noticing I’d just admitted to know more than them. I should’ve picked my words more carefully, dammit.

Thomas groaned again and rubbed his face with one big hand. “Dammit, I didn’t bring you guys here so we could keep talking about this.”

I offered him a sympathetic smile. I wouldn’t like to keep being questioned if I was in his place. I should’ve known that. Still, Thomas didn’t look all that uncomfortable and his annoyance was all mostly theatrics.

Then I felt a sharp sensation on my head. Not pain of any sort, but something oddly familiar. For some damn reason, my sixth sense kicked in, and looking at Thomas, I understood it perfectly.

My friend was extremely sexually frustrated. I thought I understood it before, but not like this. It was like a cluster of conflicted emotions rushed into my head for a split second. My sixth sense was working on Thomas, I knew. At the very top of that cluster of emotions was the desire to just disregard everything and find himself a woman to sleep with. I think our advice was pushing him even further towards that.

“...I’ll consider it, alright?” Thomas finally said. “Even if I were to move on, it’s not like I want to start dating the first girl I come across.”

“What’s frustrating is that you could if you wanted to.” Kavin barked a laugh, betraying his own words. “You have like 10 girls who’d jump you the moment you offered.”

“Dude, shut up, you have a date tomorrow,” Ben told him, grinning into his beer. “Let’s cut Thomas some slack, okay? We’ve pressed him enough.”

“I agree,” I said, smiling.

“Now let’s press Oliver for details of what happened on Wednesday.”

“I do not agree,” I said, no longer smiling.