[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 215 & 216. (Patreon)

Chapter 215: Intermission - Reverse card.

It was like one of those super cliche scenes you’d see in anime, specifically those aimed at girls. She didn’t hate it, though.

Noelle stepped out onto the school’s rooftop and saw Oliver there as he looked down through the chain-linked fence, a hand in his pocket and another in the fence’s links. The soft, cold breeze moved his wavy black hair, and the fact that he was so handsome helped her case, as did remembering that this was a school with Japanese roots. But this was no anime. The only reason they were talking at the rooftop was for privacy’s sake.

“It’s even colder here,” Noelle said, chuckling softly as she walked up to Oliver.

“Want to go somewhere else?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Better not risk it, right?”

“Right.” Oliver sighed. He kept as straight a face as he could, but Noelle noticed that his grip on the fence was hard enough to bend and stretch some of the links. “So Isabelle and Alice told you everything.”

“That… That you’re dating Milana, Grace and Sarah, yes.” Noelle’s mouth was dry, and she hid her hands behind her back to prevent him from seeing them shake. “And that Alice… likes you, too.”

Oliver closed his eyes for a moment and bit his lip before he opened them again, looking straight at Noelle, keeping eye contact.

“It happened before I even realized it. One day I only have one person in this school I can barely call an acquaintance, and the next there’re three girls who want to hang out with me all the time. I couldn’t wrap my head around it.” He had a small, self-deprecating smile as he spoke. “I could barely speak to them, I wasn’t anyone special, I had no charisma… Yet these girls still wanted to hang out with me. For a while I thought it was all a joke.” The self-deprecation faded, and his smile became genuine. “But it wasn’t a joke. These girls kept throwing hints at me, until one day I took a gamble and asked them all out. They said yes, and even said they would’ve asked me if I hadn’t done it myself.” He shook his head with a chuckle. “It’s been about three months now, and things are only getting better between us.”

There was a light sting in Noelle’s chest. Oliver was happy, and that was good. She believed his words, and now understood that his relationship with the girls was something that developed naturally between them, which was also good. However…

“Then they came at me with this outrageous… Proposition? Request? Whatever it was, they said they’d like me to…. be with other girls. That they’d not only support it, but were looking forward to it. If it wasn’t because of… how well I know them by now, I would’ve thought it a trick or similar, but no, they were serious. And when I finally accepted their idea, the first person I thought of… was you.”

Noelle’s heart skipped a beat. Her eyes widened, her cheeks burned and her mouth half-opened, but not a sound came. She held one of her hands tightly with the other.

“I didn’t know what to think of it. I was already dating those three, I was happy, satisfied, but when the possibility that I could also date you appeared, I…” He bit his lip again to stop it from quivering. “Ever since we started talking, I tried to deny to myself that I liked you. But the more we hung out, the more I fell for you, and the worse it felt. How could I even ask you to be part of this? It would be the most selfish request, but… I just can’t deny it.”

Oliver looked at her firmly, resolutely. He stood with a straight back, he looked taller. Looking back at him made her heart beat faster.

“I like you, Noelle. I’ve never clicked with anyone so quickly, and the time we’ve spent together has been amazing.” …It was the same for her. Her chest tightened. “But I can’t in good conscience ask you to go out with me.”

Wait. Huh?

“What I’d want is for you to accept that I’m going out with other girls, but I wouldn’t want you to see other guys, and that’s…” He clicked his tongue. His face was a frustrated grimace. “That’s absolutely ridiculous! What I have now with Mila, Grace and Sarah is something they agreed to from the start. It was their idea to begin with. Suddenly asking you to accept it would be the most egoistic thing I could do, and I just… can’t.”

Wait. Wait. Wait. So…

“I’ll understand if it’s hard for you to see me right now. That said, I don’t want us to stop being friends.”

Was this right? Was this really what was happening? Was Noelle… getting friendzoned?

At what point did she start believing that…? Isabelle told her yesterday that Oliver really liked her. Alice told her just that morning that she’d be okay with her dating him, too. They made it sound like… like Oliver was going to ask her out. At what point did she start believing the decision lay solely with her?

Noelle really liked Oliver, but she wasn’t sure she could accept sharing him as a boyfriend with other girls. She had come here with the resolution to tell him just that and reject his proposal. But… But…

Now it hurt more. He DID like her, he DID want to be with her, but he was choosing NOT to ask her out. The decision wasn’t hers. She thought it was, that she had the ‘luxury’ of refusing. She thought… that she could be with him if she wanted to, but chose not to. Now a door she thought open to her was closing before her very eyes.

Her parents always told her, when she stayed in her room alone, that she’d never experience new, amazing things if she kept saying no to the possibility of those experiences. Was this what they were talking about?

She liked Oliver. She liked him more than she’d ever liked a boy. She… She wanted him, and for a moment, she could’ve had him, but now… he was going to move on from her.

No.

No. No. No.

She wouldn’t accept it. Was she going to miss out on being with the guy that made her crazy over some prude, socially constructed values? Was Noelle going to let that stop her from experiencing something potentially amazing? Alice certainly wasn’t. She was going all in. Why couldn’t Noelle do it, too? She thought she could say no, but now it wasn’t up to her, and that made it hurt even more.

This was it. Another chance to experience something new squandered by fear.

…

…

…

No. It didn’t have to be that away. She still had a say in the matter.

“I’d like us to still hang out,” Oliver continued. “Because I’m not going to give up on…”

“Oliver!” Noelle interrupted him, not quite catching those last words. “C-Can I talk to you later?”

“Huh?” Oliver looked taken aback, and with good reason.

“Later. I promise we’ll talk later today, but… there’s something I have to do. I’m sorry about this.”

“O-Okay…?”

With his answer, Noelle bolted out of the rooftop.

If she was going to do this, she had to at least be proper about it. If she was lucky, Milana, Grace and Sarah would still be close to the school.

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

Chapter 216: Intermission - His girlfriends.

“It really looked like I ran away from him…” Noelle lamented, hiding her face in her hands. “I hope he’ll forgive me. I wasn’t thinking straight.” She was now, though, and her initial idea still seemed like the correct one.

Her phone buzzed and Noelle looked at it immediately. Alice had answered.

-Alice: They said they’re still at school. They were waiting for Oliver, but they say that if you want to talk to them alone, they’ll text him to go ahead without them.

-Noelle: Yes, please tell them that. I need to see them.

-Alice: Okay. I won’t ask now, but will you tell me later?

-Noelle: I promise.

-Alice: Thanks. They’re in their classroom.

Noelle didn’t have the number of any of Oliver’s three girlfriends, so she had to ask Alice to contact them for her. She went to the fourth floor and found them alone in their classroom.

Milana was sitting on a desk next to the window, looking at her phone, Grace was sitting on the chair, looking out the window, and Sarah was standing behind Grace, leaning against the wall as she texted on her phone.

Okay. No cold feet, Noelle. You either do this or you lose. Simple as.

“H-Hello…” she said, nervously stepping into the classroom.

“Hey,” Milana waved to greet her with an easy, welcoming smile.

“Come in, come in,” Grace said, chuckling. “I know Sarah looks the part, but she doesn’t bite.”

“Hey!”

“Usually.”

“Hey!”

A snicker escaped Noelle. “Sorry to ask you to meet me so suddenly.”

“It’s no problem, but it is curious,” Milana said. “Did you finish talking with Oliver?”

Of course they knew. It was no wonder, but it did say a lot.

“That’s… what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Sarah nodded. “We sort of expected it. Go on, then. No fear.”

Noelle nodded back. “I’ve… got questions. So it’s true that you three…”

“...Are dating Oliver?” Milana asked. “Yes.”

“...At the same time?” Grace asked. “Yes, too. And it was mostly our idea.”

“And it was also our idea to encourage him to ask you and Alice out,” Sarah finished.

Wow. These girls were on point. Those were already three answers she was looking for. She knew all that already, but she needed to hear it from them.

“If… If it’s not a problem, c-could you tell me why?” Noelle asked. “Why are you okay with it? Why do you encourage it?” She was asking with genuine curiosity. She needed to understand.

“It’s fucking crazy, isn’t it?” Sarah said, smiling. “But it’s probably the best decision we’ve ever made.”

Seriously?

“It started on a whim,” Grace said. “For Sarah and I, at least. Mila had her eyes on him for a while before she finally talked to him.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah.” Milana chuckled. “Couldn’t decide if he was a sweet, soft spoken guy or a cringy edgelord trying to look mysterious. Once I realized it was the former, I went for the jugular!” She laughed. “I had to, or these two would’ve taken him from me first.”

“We were at Thomas’ birthday party,” Sarah said. “We drank a bit, we talked, and then… You know.”

Noelle believed she was avoiding outright saying it out of respect for her, but her tone said enough. Sarah wanted her to know it had happened.

And… of course. Of course they would’ve… done it already. It made Noelle feel awkward. It was the same feeling as when Isabelle told her she’d done it for the first time. A feeling of inadequacy, like she was now suddenly talking to girls more experienced than her. It further hammered in the reality of it all, and because of it Noelle pushed through.

“We liked it… and him enough that we wanted to keep seeing him,” Grace said. “It wasn’t anything serious at first, so we caused the poor guy all sorts of grief. We didn’t realize he didn’t understand what we were doing.”

Milana grimaced. “He couldn’t believe we wanted to be friends with him, much less that we liked him. It took a while and a lot of talking things over, but when he finally realized that we were serious about him, he asked us out.”

“Ran to ask us, even.” Sarah laughed. “We said yes immediately.”

“But… Don’t you get… jealous?” Noelle asked.

“We thought we might, but no,” Grace answered with an easy smile. “In fact, it’s exactly the opposite of that.”

“Huh?”

“We like it,” Milana said. Her cheeks reddened, but she spoke with confidence. “I like kissing him only slightly more than I like seeing him kiss Grace and Sarah.”

Sarah sighed. “It’s a turn on. If we can’t do anything about it, we might as well embrace it.”

“Which, in time, led us to ask Oliver if he liked any other girls,” Grace followed up. “After, again, a lot of talking to keep everything crystal clear, he ended up admitting that he liked you and Alice. We told him we’d support him if he wanted to ask you out. It’s… for our pleasure as much as his.”

“He’s just too much for any one woman,” Milana lightly pouted. “He looks all cute and handsome and innocent, but in reality he’s a monster!”

“A… A monster?”

“In bed,” Grace clarified bluntly, making Noelle’s entire face burn. “Even with the three of us, he still outlasts us. It’s an experience that’s out of this world. Honestly, it’s almost as frustrating as it is hot. But it’s not just that. Oliver is special. There’s something about him that you only understand once you let him into your heart. Then you start understanding him more, to the point it’s almost supernatural. The main reason we can confidently tell him to be with other girls is because we’re so stupidly sure he’s madly in love with us. It’s impossible to feel jealous after you feel so, SO wanted.”

Feeling wanted. That… made some sense to Noelle. It made her envious, even. She was 18 years old, had never had a boyfriend, never kissed. She had friends, but had never felt wanted in that way. She wanted it.

“So?” Milana asked. “Did he ask you out?”

Noelle swallowed. “He… friendzoned me.”

“HAH!?” The triple echoed exclamation startled the redhead.

“He did what!?” Sarah asked.

“Are you sure?” Milana asked.

“That’s… not what we expected.” Grace said. “At worst we thought you’d say no, but this?”

Noelle pursed her lips. “I… I was going to say no. If he asked me, I was going to refuse because… because I didn’t think I’d be comfortable sharing him as a boyfriend.”

“Which is fair,” Sarah said.

“There’s a ‘but’ there, isn’t it?” Grace said.

Noelle nodded. “When he said he couldn’t ask me out, so he wouldn’t, I… I felt like I lost him.” Worse than that. She felt like she almost had him, could’ve had him, and then lost him. “I’m still not sure if I can do this, but I now know I’ll regret it more if I don’t. Which is why I wanted to talk to you.” Noelle took a deep breath. “W-W-Would it be okay if I asked Oliver to go out with me, too?”

She didn’t expect it, but the three girls grinned.

“Go for it,” Sarah told her. “Zero objections from me.”

“It’s actually reassuring that it’s you,” Grace said. “I don’t know why Oliver would ‘friendzone’ you, but don’t believe him. He’ll be thrilled.”

Milana hopped off the desk and walked up to Noelle. She then held her by the shoulders and turned her around to face the door.

“E-Eh?”

“We’ll talk details later, God knows there’ll be a lot, but for now, just go!” She laughed. “Go and do whatever feels right. You have our support!”

“W-Whatever feels right?” Noelle asked, looking back at Milana.

The Russian girl winked. “Whatever feels right.”

“B-But he must’ve left school already.”

“Nope.” Sarah said, holding and waving her phone, grinning. “Told him to stay right where he was. He’s still on the rooftop. Go eat him up.”

E-E-Eat him up!?

Noelle swallowed. It was the strangest thing. A part of her didn’t want to share a boyfriend. That was natural. And yet… Having these girls’ behind her, supporting her… It warmed her heart and filled her with confidence.

“I’m going, then!”

“You’re gonna kill it!” Milana said and gave her a pat on the back. “Go!”

And so, Noelle ran as fast as she could back to the rooftop.