[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 138 & 139. (Patreon)

Chapter 138: Two weeks later.

Saying the next two weeks after I asked the girls out were uneventful would be wrong. My life before them was uneventful, but now I always had something to do. Spending time with my girlfriends (with one, two or the three at a time), hanging out with Thomas and sometimes Ben and Kevin, working out at the gym, studying, and continuing my guitar practice… There was so much to do, and there was yet one more thing I had to add to my schedule.

It had been two weeks, and I hadn't found a part-time job.

I looked everywhere, but I couldn’t find anything that I felt comfortable with. When I thought I found something that suited me, being a stocker at a warehouse, they picked someone other than me. They didn’t give me a reason, but I knew it was because the other guy was taller. It made sense, but I was still pretty disappointed. A job like that where I didn’t have to talk to many people seemed ideal. But I didn’t get it, and since then, I hadn’t found any job offers at all. I wanted to find one before I had to ask my mom for help, if possible. One day, though, an opportunity arose.

Thomas approached me during lunch break and said he was free that afternoon.

“I’ve been hearing a lot about this coffee shop,” he said. “I’m not much for sweets, but I do like coffee. You been there?”

“Maria’s Coffee Shop? Yeah. I’ve been there like three times, and the girls are regulars by now.”

“Any good?”

“I like it.”

“Wanna come with me today? Going to a coffee shop alone is kind of…” Thomas rubbed the back of his neck.

“Sure, two guys going to a place mostly girls frequent won’t be weird at all.”

Thomas snickered. “What? Insecure of your masculinity?”

“I’m worried about yours.”

We laughed and made plans to go after school. The girls were busy, anyway, and I didn’t have to go to the gym that day. We met outside the school and took the bus there. And it was as we were walking inside that I saw it.

There was an ad on the door. A simple paper sheet with clipart of a cup of coffee and a slice of cake at the bottom. Over the pictures read the words ‘HELPER WANTED. PART-TIME. SPEAK TO THE MANAGER AT THE COUNTER’.

Just reading it made my body tense. Working at a coffee shop? Where lots of people come and go, attending customers? That sounded like the complete opposite of what I was looking for, so I ignored it and sat down at a table with Thomas.

“Nice place,” he said, nodding in approval. “Neat, well decorated…”

Hesitantly, I looked towards the counter. A woman was there, and the strawberry blonde hair bordering on pink made me remember her as the woman who had given me a glass of water back when I rushed into the shop. She must have been somewhere around her 20s, maybe closer to her 30s. She came over to us and took our orders.

I kept my eyes on the menu, afraid to look at her. Was she the manager one was supposed to talk to for the job?

…

It really sounded like the worst possible job for me, but I had yet to find anything. I wasn’t the same person I was two weeks ago, though. I could talk to people now. Somewhat. A few words were better than no words at all. What would I have to do? The ad didn’t specify. If I wanted to know, I’d have to ask that lady.

She left to prepare our orders before I had the chance to ask. My eyes followed her as she walked to the big, red coffee machine behind the counter and started operating it.

I swallowed and made up my mind. I turned to Thomas, who was also intently looking towards the counter, almost without blinking.

“Excuse me. I’ll be back in a second,” I told him.

“Huh?” He seemed startled for a moment and stared at me while I got up and walked up to the counter. “H-Hey…”

My heart pounded hard, my hands shook and I didn’t trust my mouth to form coherent sentences, especially not without stumbling over itself. But I had to ask, at least. Remember. Don’t let inaction ruin opportunities.

“E-Excuse me?”

“Hm? Yes?” The lady turned from the machine to me.

Remember, look people in the eyes. Don’t be intimidated. If you look away, you make a bad first impression. Oh, but don’t stare too intensely, either, or you come off as creepy.

…

So difficult.

“I saw the ad at the door,” I told her. Looking at her in the eyes let me see they were of a soft-looking violet color. Contacts, maybe? Doesn’t matter! Focus! “I’m… interested.”

The lady smiled. “Are you now? Boy, and I only put that up today!” She laughed cheerfully. “My name’s Maria. Maria Day. A pleasure.” She reached her hand and I instinctively shook it over the counter.

Then I blinked. “Maria?” I asked. Like the name of the shop and the bakery?

“Yep. My mother’s name is Maria, too, and she opened the bakery across the street. After its success I managed to convince her to open up a coffee shop, too. That one is Maria senior’s bakery and this is Maria junior’s coffee shop. Clever, right?”

I chuckled. “Very.”

Thank God. She seemed nice.  “What’s your name?”

“Oliver Brooks.”

Or at least I thought she was nice at first. Ms. Maria then smiled devilishly at me.

“I remember you, you know?” she said in hushed tones. “You’re the boy who came rushing into my shop and asked three girls out at the same time.”

I went from glad to horrified. My face fell, burning harder than a thousand suns.

“I… I thought I had been…”

“Quiet? Well, yeah.” Ms. Maria laughed. “It would’ve been enough if the whole shop hadn’t gone silent when you rushed in.”

That’s it. I wasn’t getting the job. Ms. Maria probably didn’t want a playboy working here.

“What did they say?” Ms. Maria asked with a huge grin.

“Huh?”

“They didn’t seem upset, from what I could see. Did they say yes?”

I swallowed… “That’s…”

“A secret?”

“Y-Yes…”

“Gotcha. Sorry for prying, but it’s been eating me to this day.” Her devil smile didn’t fade.

It wasn’t like I could blame her or get angry at her. The fault here lay entirely on me. What did I think was gonna happen? People aren’t NPCs who don’t react to what happens around them. Of course Ms. Maria would remember.

“So, about the job,” she continued. “The shop is gaining steam, and while I've been able to handle things myself so far, I need someone else around during the peak hours. Any experience with customer service?”

“N-None,” I admitted.

“Okay. Next, how quickly do you think you can learn to work the espresso machine?”

“...If you give me the model name or number I could find the manual online and study it,” I answered. “I would still need to use it to actually learn, so… a day, maybe?”

Ms. Maria nodded. “Confident, are you? I’ll teach you, too, so you can probably get it in a couple of hours. Still, making coffee is a bit of an art. I’ll handle it mostly, but I may need you to handle the machine if I’m too busy.”

I kept my anxiety in check, or at least tried to. The scenario where there were many customers and I had to make coffee only to royally screw up popped up way too vividly for my own comfort.

“Any previous work experience?” she asked.

Yeah, I wasn’t getting the job. “...None.”

Ms. Maria furrowed her brow in thought. She looked me up and down a couple of times, too. Not entirely sure what that was about. I didn’t think she was checking me out per se. Her look was more appraising than interested.

“Alright. Tell you what. When I was your age, someone took a chance on me and hired me without any previous experience for my first job. Let’s see how you handle things for two weeks. You’re still getting paid, of course. What I mostly need is someone who can wait on tables and clean up, wash dishes, that sort of thing. Think you can handle that?”

Cleaning up and washing dishes? Sure. Waiting on tables? The thought alone raised my heart rate, but I’d needed to give it a try. “Yes.”

“We can work out a schedule, but I’ll definitely need you here on Saturdays for most of the day.”

“Starting at what time?”

“10:00 am?”

I was going to the gym with mom on Saturdays from 9:00 to 10:00 am, but if we left for the gym an hour earlier, I’d make it.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Give me your phone number and email. We can discuss the details later.”

…Seriously? Did I just get a job? It couldn’t be, right?

We quickly exchanged contact info. “Sorry. I made this a work interview on the spot, but I would rather get this done quickly.”

I nodded. “It’s not a problem. Thank you, Ms. Maria.”

“Call me ‘miss’ again and you’re fired,” she joked, laughing. “Now go back to your friend. We’ve kept him waiting long enough.”

Oh shit, Thomas! I nodded again and went back to our table. And much to my surprise, Thomas was looking at me… strangely. It was like he couldn’t decide if he wanted to glare at me or be apprehensive.

What on earth?

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

Chapter 139: A threat?

It was the first time Thomas looked at me that way. Others had, but not him. It nearly triggered some sort of PTSD, making my chest freeze and almost made me want to sink in my chair. But I had spent enough time with the guy to at least be able to ask him.

“W-What’s with that look?” I tried to speak firmly, but I still stuttered a bit.

Thomas shook his head, swallowed and looked towards the counter before quickly returning his gaze to me. With a small grimace, he asked, “What did you talk to her about?”

“Huh?” I blinked.

“I… I heard you both laughing. W-Were you… flirting with her?”

Flirting? What the hell? Confused, I looked at Ms. Mar… I looked at Maria again, seeing things I’d been too nervous to notice before. [Maria Day] She was beautiful, yeah, and in a more… mature way than Mila, Grace and Sarah. She was wearing a black apron over a beige colored sweater, but her chest was still very noticeable. Perhaps as big as Sarah’s? Yes, she was certainly attractive, but…

“I went to ask about the job offer,” I told him.

“Job offer?” Thomas asked, now blinking himself.

“There’s an ad at the door, and I told you I’ve been looking for a part time job.”

“O-Oh.” Thomas straightened up. “But then… Why was she laughing?”

I winced. “She… overheard me asking the girls out. She remembers me for the little stunt I pulled in her shop.”

“Oooooh…” His shoulders seemed to loosen. I hadn’t even noticed they were tense. He looked at the counter again. No, not at the counter. At Maria. “S-So… you don’t…” He shook his head hard. “W-What do you think… of her?”

I had never, in the short time we’d been friends, heard him stutter so much or act so strangely. And the way he turned his eyes every so often, it was like…

Oh.

Oooooooooh.

A smirk slowly began to creep its way across my face, making Thomas flinch. I didn’t say anything because Maria was bringing over our orders. A mocha and a slice of lemon pie for me, and a sandwich and a medium coffee for Thomas. My friend seemed to struggle between looking at her and avoiding her gentle smile.

“Enjoy your meal, boys,” she said.

“Thank you,” I told her.

“T-Thank you!” For the first time, it was Thomas who sounded nervous.

When Maria returned to her seat behind the counter and away from us, losing herself on her phone, I returned my smirk to Thomas.

“Going to ask her out?” I spoke softly.

It’s hard to describe how satisfying it was to watch his face go pale in one second and completely red the next.

“W-What? What are you talking about?” He asked, but when my smirk didn’t fade and I didn’t ask any further questions, he gave up. “I can’t. How old do you think she is?” he whispered. “At least five or seven years older, right? I’m just a brat in comparison.”

“You’re already 18.”

“That’s not the issue!” Thomas dragged his hand down his face, his eyes going back to Maria every chance they had. “Anyway, it was just a passing thought, alright? Forget about it.” He tried to play it casual and hurried to take a sip of his coffee, burning his tongue in the process.

I would’ve laughed at that if not for my sixth sense kicking in again and making my chest hurt. This was happening more often with Thomas. It was random and less frequent than with the girls, but there were times when I could swear I understood what he was thinking. This was one of those times, and it felt like a knife in the gut.

Thomas was afraid of me. Or it would be best to say that he was afraid of what I could do. To him, I was the guy who had three girls wrapped around his finger, and if I wanted a fourth one… I could have her. If that fourth one happened to be Maria…

What is this damn world where someone is afraid that I of all people will steal a girl from under them? God fucking dammit.

Thomas sighed. “So? Did you get the job? Or do you have to come to an interview or something?”

“I got the job.” I looked him directly in the eyes. “But I can tell her I reconsidered if it makes you uncomfortable. I can look somewhere else.”

Thomas almost dropped his cup. “W-What? No! Dude, why would you?”

I kept my eyes firm on his. I felt like I didn’t have to say anything for him to understand. He already did.

He groaned and shook his head again. “Take the job, Oliver. Look, I’m just being dumb, alright?”

I nodded. “You are.”

Thomas chuckled at that. His eyes went to Maria again. “I bet she has a boyfriend already. I mean, look at her.”

“I’ll ask her if she’s single.”

Thomas flinched. “A-At least let me do that myself, okay? If I do. I won’t ask her out. Not now. This could be a sudden thing, right? I’ll forget about it tomorrow.”

“For what it's worth, you don’t look like you’re 18 years old. You look like you’re 21 at least.”

“You calling me old?”

“Old Man Thomas.”

“You’re like a month and a half older than I am.”

I laughed. That was always crazy to remember.

My phone suddenly buzzed. I checked it just in case it was urgent, but seeing the picture attached to the message made my own face begin to heat up. It was Thomas’ turn to smirk teasingly at me.

“Can I see?”

“No.”

It wasn’t that risque a picture. It was a photo of Sarah in front of a mirror, trying on a black leather jacket inside the changing room of that boutique the girls liked. Still, she was wearing a white t-shirt underneath that fit her tightly and showed most of her stomach. She looked stunning, as always.

Two more pictures came, showing herself from different angles. It was still hard to believe this sexy girl was my girlfriend, but it was nearly a daily reminder with how many pictures she sent me. I quickly saved them to my ‘Sarah’ folder and typed a reply, telling her how amazing she looked before putting my phone away.

“You still type as slowly as my grandma,” Thomas said.

“I’m not used to using my phone, okay? I work better with computers. Anyway, sorry about that.”

“I don’t mind. At least you put your phone away. Too many people can’t let go of the damn thing.”

“I’d reply later, but Sarah gets mad at me if I see the picture and don’t answer,” I said, laughing. She got mad, yeah, but it was the endearing sort of mad.

“You know you can set it so it doesn’t show when you read the message?”

“Can you?” It would help, but… “No, better not. I get the feeling that would get me in trouble.”

“Yeah it would.”

We laughed some more, ate our meal and parted ways. I said my goodbye to Maria and she sent me off with a smile, promising to email me the details later that evening.