[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 174, 175 & 176. (Patreon)

Chapter 174: To the cafeteria again. Alone.

It wasn’t like the girls and I spent every minute we were in school glued to each other, but at the very least we always ate lunch together. It caught me off guard when they said they’d eat with Lena and Amanda that day.

I was at a loss for a moment. If I was alone, there was no reason to go to the cafeteria. I could just eat at my desk in the classroom. It wasn’t empty, but there were fewer people.

I sat down, brought out my lunch box and looked inside. Divided by compartments were some left-over sliced beef from last night, some mixed salad and some fruit. The other people in the classroom were in their own groups, also busy eating and talking, so they didn’t pay attention to me, which was good. Still, this felt… wrong.

I was changing, wasn’t I? If so, why did I choose to be alone here? Mila, Grace and Sarah weren’t the only people I could talk to anymore. I could get along well enough with others, I knew that. But old insecurities don’t go away just like that. It was the same stopping point as always.

‘The others are probably busy. I shouldn’t bother them.’

I bit my lip, closed the lid on my lunch box and carried it from the classroom to the cafeteria. Even if the others were busy, I felt like this was a step I had to take. Just one step.

Once there, I looked around. No empty tables, yet available seats. The same story as always.

…

Well, I was at the cafeteria already. I had to find a place to sit or walk away without even trying. Swallowing, I started making my way towards an available seat, one where three other people were having a lively conversation.

Just… think about it like you do at work, Oliver. Smile politely, be formal, ask with a soft tone of voice. That seems to work.

“Excuse me?” I spoke with a small smile. The three guys turned to me with curiosity. They were all seniors. “Would it be a problem if I sat here?”

The guys shared a quick look for confirmation before one of them answered. “Of course not. Go ahead.”

My smile widened and I gave them a little nod. “Thanks.”

I was about to sit down when I heard his voice.

“Yo! Oliver! Come over here, man!” Thomas called from three tables over.

“Ah!” I hadn’t seen him. I turned to the three guys with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I didn’t see my friend there. But thanks again.”

“Sure, man. No problem.”

I felt my hands shake, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it used to be. I don’t know if this was for better or worse, but I went over to Thomas’ table nonetheless. When I got there, I saw the two other girls sitting across from him.

“Thank God you’re here, man. I need backup,” Thomas told me.

“Backup?” I asked, sitting next to him and nodding a greeting towards Alice and Noelle. Thomas was friends with nearly the entire school, so seeing him with them wasn’t that weird. Still.

“I’m getting bullied here. The basketball team is in danger, Oliver.”

“W-What? N-No! That’s not it at all!” Noelle quickly interjected.

“Don’t be a baby, Thomas.” Alice said. “I’m just telling you that the basketball club will be getting a budget reduction starting next month. The club has fewer players this year, right?”

“Well, yeah, we got about ten less people than last year, but…”

“That’s ten less people’s worth of equipment the club needs. And that money can go to other clubs who struggle to get what they need.”

“Come on, Alice…”

“The balls are in good enough condition and the gym doesn’t need repairs. If you guys don’t make it to the national tournament this year, it might get reduced again, you know? The school can’t give you money for transportation and lodging in other towns if you’re not gonna use it.”

“Ruthless!” Thomas groaned and lightly punched the table with his fist. “Our president is ruthless!”

“Her policies appeal to the frugal person in me, so I agree with her,” I told him. “You can make do with what you have.”

“Right?” Alice chuckled. “At least someone understands.”

“It’s always difficult to give the news to club captains,” Noelle said, frowning. “Whenever we tell them about budget cuts, they take it out on us.”

“The ones who get the angriest are the ones who misuse the money, so I don’t feel bad about it,” Alice said.

“Do you really have that much control over how much money the clubs get?” I asked her.

“Hmm. Yes and no,” Alice said. “We check the amount of money each club uses, analyze it and make suggestions on how to distribute the school’s club budget. The final decision lies with the principal, and he can make any changes he wants.”

“That said, Alice’s proposals are so thorough that the principal implements them as they are,” Noelle said, smiling proudly.

“I think it’s more that going over them is more trouble than it’s worth for him,” Alice clarified.

I grimaced. “Being the president sounds tough.”

Alice smiled. “It’s good training. Getting used to dealing with this sort of work will help me in the future.”

“...I see.” I smiled. “Yes, that’s a good way to look at it.” I could learn to think a bit more like that, too.

“Now, abruptly changing the topic,” Thomas said. “How come I still haven’t met the cat, Oliver?”

“Hm?”

Noelle’s eyes brightened. “You haven’t met Cake, Thomas?”

“I haven’t even been to this guy’s house yet,” he said, pointing his thumb at me. “And I’ve invited him over to my place twice already. Can you believe him?”

“You never said you wanted to meet Cake,” I defended myself. “Also, aren’t you a dog person?”

“So are you, and now you have a cat sleeping on your chest at night.”

Alice and Noelle began giggling.

“She sleeps on your chest?” Alice asked.

“When I wake up, she’s there,” I answered with a sigh. “Some nights she sleeps with me, some nights with Isabelle. Now she’s getting into the habit of watching TV with my mom.” I grimaced. “Sorry to say that the bed you bought her is kind of going to waste. She doesn’t want to sleep there.”

“That’s fine, that’s fine!” Noelle laughed. She had a warm soft laugh with a slight high pitch. It was cute. “I bet she’ll start growing a bit more distant when she gets older.”

“You think?” I asked. “The way things are going, I’m worried she’ll turn out spoiled. Isabelle looks at her and she just melts and gives her everything.”

Alice laughed. “I bet it makes you look like the bed guy when you say no.”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“Huh. So you’re the strict kind of parent,” Thomas said, giving me a look-over. “You don’t look it, but I think it makes sense.”

“What do looks have to do with it?”

“You look like the type to baby-talk to animals.”

“Really?” Noelle blinked. “I think Oliver can look pretty intimidating at times.”

I gaped at her, my chest feeling cold. “D-Do I really?”

“N-No! Wait! I meant imposing! Imposing!” she corrected, her face reddening deeply.

“I agree,” Alice said with a grin. “Which is impressive for someone so short.”

I winced.

“Ouch. Hit a man where it hurts, prez,” Thomas said. “You’re not earning yourself any votes for your next term, you know?”

“Please, I’m just joking. I’m sure there are plenty of girls who like short guys.”

I felt a completely different kind of chill, and my sixth sense triggered with it.

Alice knew. I was sure by now that she was the girl Grace had first told me about. Alice was close friends with them. There was a big chance that they had told her. Call me paranoid, but I was sure. Alice knew I was dating her three friends.

But if she did, she didn’t mind it.

Interesting.

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

Chapter 175: Inviting Thomas over.

“Do some gardening, man,” Thomas told me.

“Do you take care of your garden at home?” I asked him.

“Hm? No, my mom does.”

“Then I don’t want to hear it from you.”

I invited the big guy to my house after he pretended to be offended that I had yet to show him my place. I showed him the backyard, he saw the sorry state it was in, and that was his answer to it.

Mom still wasn’t home and Isabelle was out buying more of Cake’s formula. It was just us two dudes right now. Well, two dudes and a tiny kitten struggling to keep up.

“I have no idea why you’d want to come over,” I told him as we went up the stairs to my room. “It’s not like I have anything interesting here.”

“I want to check the browser history on your computer.”

“I use incognito, and so should you.”

“But it’s my computer…”

“One day someone’s gonna find out you’re into MILFs.”

“W-When did I ever tell you…!?” Thomas caught himself before finishing that sentence, but it was too late. “I hate you so much.”

I laughed. “I’d say it was a shot in the dark, but not really. But hey, I don’t judge. So long as you stay the hell away from my mom, that is.”

“Dude.” It was one of those cases where a single word said little, but the tone carried all the meaning.

“Just setting boundaries.” I opened the door to my room and went in. Thomas followed after.

“Big words from the womanizer,” he said as he looked around. Cake, meanwhile, climbed on my bed with more ease than before.

I wanted to reply with some witty comeback, but I couldn’t. Something regarding that matter was bugging me, so I changed the subject.

“So? How’s the basketball team doing? ARE you in danger of not making it to the national tournament this year?”

“We’re always in danger. The province itself has really good teams.” He went on to tell me most of it in more detail. How training was going, the attitude of his teammates, the opponents he was most worried about, all of it. I listened closely while I also played with Cake on my lap.

“I didn’t know team captains had so much responsibility,” I told him.

“The school leaves most of the club’s activities up to the students, with teachers only acting as advisors most of the time. In our case, our coach is more hands-on about it, but I’m still tasked with watching over everyone.”

“I never realized. No wonder the student council has so much work, then.”

“Right? They have it worse than me, so it’s hard to complain too much when they tell me they’re reducing our budget.” Thomas suddenly narrowed his eyes. “Speaking of the student council…”

I had a bad feeling about this.

“Hm?”

“Did… something happen between you and Noelle?”

I felt my chest freeze. “What? What do you mean?”

“For starters, you seem comfortable talking to her.”

“Do I? I’ve gotten better at talking to people in general,” I defended myself. But defended against what? Thomas wasn’t implying anything. Yet.

“Fair enough. But she was looking at you a lot today at lunch.”

“I mean, we were talking, right? Isn’t it rude to look away?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I don’t, actually.”

“I think she likes you, Oliver.”

I groaned and left Cake on the floor. “You’re seeing things.”

“Maybe, but I’m usually right about this kind of stuff.”

“We played games here the other day,” I told him. “Everyone was here. Mila, Grace, Sarah, Isabelle, Alice and Noelle. Somehow we ended up playing fighting games all day. It was… fun.” I sighed. “Even if she does like me, there’s nothing to do, and you know it.”

“I suppose,” Thomas admitted. “I just, you know, wondered what you thought about it.”

“Huh?”

“Do you like her?”

“What’s this? Are you into Noelle?” I asked, trying to deflect.

“Me? Nah.” He shrugged easily. “A bit too nerdy for my own tastes. Also way too short.”

“What’s wrong with being nerdy and short?”

“So you do like her.”

“...” I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “I think she’s cute, and I was surprised to find out we share some interests. But that’s it.” I grimaced. “That has to be it.”

“Ah. Gotcha. Sorry.”

A heavy silence loomed over us. It was awkward. But then, after looking around, Thomas saw my guitar and asked, “Hey, can you play Wonderwall?”

I blinked. “You know what? I… can’t. Huh.”

Awkwardness gone. We spent some time watching random videos after that. I can’t believe I’m friends with a guy who enjoys videos of people falling. He laughs, but I always feel like it’s happening to me.

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

Chapter 176: Intermission - Pet camera.

Isabelle had completely forgotten she left it there. She didn’t tell Oliver, and by the looks of it, he hadn’t noticed it. It WAS rather small. For all that is good and pure, she did not mean to spy on him or anything! It was an accident. A damn accident!

She forgot she left the pet camera in his bedroom, and that the thing also came with an internal microphone. A crappy microphone, but it had one. She bought it like two days ago, tried it and wanted to show it to her brother, so she went into his room. He wasn't there and her mom called her, so she just left it on the floor next to his computer desk.

The camera was connected to her phone, so as she waited for the lady at the animal store to bring her Cake’s formula, she decided to check if it really did work from anywhere. And it did.

Why? Why was she catching Oliver’s secrets by accident!? She didn’t mean it! And now she was finding out that Noelle seemed to have a crush on Oliver, and that her brother also sort of liked her friend.

It was shocking enough that her brother was going out with THREE GIRLS, but now this? And of course he’d say something like “It has to be nothing.”

God, what should she do? Should she even do anything? To her, the answer was obviously no, don’t interfere. But if Noelle had a crush on Oliver, she was only going to get hurt, and the last thing she wanted was for her brother to end up hurting her friends, even if he didn’t mean it.

“Dammit, Oliver. Why’d you have to become such a handful?”

“Did you say something, miss?” the cashier asked her.

Isabelle blushed deeply. “N-No! Sorry, haha. Just talking to myself.”

Isabelle didn’t know what to do. The most sensible thing that came to mind was trying to make Noelle forget about Oliver, but… the idea of one of her best friends dating her brother was… neat.

“I’ll just see where things go, I guess.”

Oh, and she had to get that camera out of his room without him noticing. THANK GOD she only caught him talking to Thomas and not doing… something else. Whatever that something else was.