[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 364 & 365. (Patreon)

Chapter 364: School after the talent show.

The idea passed through my mind for a short while, but I was quick to dismiss it. Going back to school after performing in the talent show… wouldn’t change anything, I was sure.

I wondered if people would treat me differently after it. To some, I was the gloomy guy who didn’t speak and suddenly dared to perform in front of over 500 people. To others, I was the handsome boyfriend of five of the hottest girls in school who had played a nerdy, obscure song from a video game in front of everyone. At first I thought it would change perceptions, but soon after I convinced myself that nobody would care. I mean, I didn’t even win, right? And so I went to school with a light step, focused solely on the music coming from my headphones.

I was wrong, kind of.

After the girls and I left the club room, we walked the hallways to go to our classrooms. And as we did…

“Hey, Oliver, great show the other day!” said an underclassman, some guy I’d never spoken to before. He walked past us giving me two thumbs up.

“Um… thanks!” I shouted after a small delay.

“Do you do gigs?” someone else asked me. “And what was that song from? It was so good!”

“I… don’t do gigs, no. And the song was from…”

Up in the senior’s floor, more people stopped me to talk.

“Hey, I didn’t know you played GG, Oliver. Who’s your main?” one of the guys from Alice’s class asked me.

Since it was someone who clearly knew, I answered “The white bread.”

“Oh. Well, it WAS his theme that you played.”

The people in my classroom also went up to me to congratulate me. Saying the show was really good.

“It was better than the Michael Jackson one,” Amanda said.

“Yeah,” Mark agreed. “Dude was good, but he won because of Michael Jackson’s popularity.”

“Nah, he put a lot of effort into it. He deserved to win,” I told them, smiling. “But thanks. It means a lot.”

It wasn’t like I’d become a rock star, but people did seem friendlier. It also wasn’t everyone, but more people randomly talked to me than usual.

“You’re more approachable now,” Thomas told me during our first recess. He grabbed my head and pushed his thumb down by brow to force a frown. “I always told you that this scowl of yours pushed people away.”

I swatted his hand away and shook my head. “I never did it on purpose.”

“Regardless, now that people have seen you put yourself out there, they’re starting to see that you’re not a weirdo. And since you played a song from a game, most have realized that you’re just a huge nerd.”

“Thanks, Thomas. You’re such a supporting friend,” I told him flatly.

“What? Gonna deny it?” he teased.

I shrugged. “Guess not.”

“Still sucks that you didn’t get third place. I wanted you to treat us to pizza.”

“That’ll have to wait. I have too many things to pay with my next paycheck.”

Thomas chuckled. “Relax, I’m just kidding.”

The most surprising thing that happened that day occurred during lunch hour. The girls and I were making our way to the club room to eat, when someone approached us again. This time it was Eric, the music club’s drummer.

“U-Um… O-Oliver, can we… talk?” he asked, looking down at my feet more than at my face, and he seemed to be actively avoiding Grace’s gaze. His shoulders were down, his back slumped and he was rubbing his forearm awkwardly.

For a moment, he raised his eyes, but instead of looking at me, he looked at Noelle. He flinched and immediately cast his gaze down again. The redhead and I shared a puzzled look.

“Go,” I told the girls. “I’ll catch up.”

The girls nodded and went on their way. Eric turned his face away from them as they walked past him.

We moved to an empty spot in the hallway, a dead end after a turn. “So?” I asked. Again, Eric flinched and sank a bit lower. I must’ve spoken too harshly, so I softened my tone a bit. “What did you want to talk about?”

Eric bit his lip and glared at the floor. His fists were clenched and his shoulders tense. Then, he looked up at me. I don’t think I was that much taller than he was, but with the way we were both standing, him with a slumped back and me with my back fully straight, I had at least some 10 cm over him.

“I… I wanted to apologize.” Odd. Despite what he said, it was like he was bringing the words out reluctantly. “I helped Julian with the rumors about you, and… I shouldn’t have. I regretted it, so I took them back. I… hope that helped in some way.”

Regret? I was about to ask him if it was regret or fear that made him take it all back, but I didn’t. Instead, I asked him something else. “Why did you even spread them to begin with? Because Julian told you to?”

“Th-That was… only… half of it.” Eric grimaced and shot me a weak glare that still took me by surprise. “I… I wanted to see you ruined. I hate you, Oliver.”

I blinked. “...Huh? What did I ever do to you?” I asked him, more baffled than anything else. That had come completely out of the blue.

“I thought you were like me,” he said, now looking away, towards the wall. “I thought you were a loner, an outcast like me. But then you became Mr. Popular, hanging out with the basketball team captain, dating the popular girls…” The more he spoke, the more his bottled up feelings came out. “But worst of all, you… you… You started dating Noelle! You took Noelle away from me!”

My chest froze, but the cold sensation lasted only a moment. Soon, I was glaring back at Eric, and the drummer flinched and took a step back.

“Did I? I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware you two were dating,” I said coldly.

“...W-We… weren’t…”

“Oh? So were you just really close? In some sort of unspecified relationship?” I asked him.

“N-No…”

I clicked my tongue. “Are you even friends? Did you two speak at all?”

“...” Eric kept his eyes down, shaking and biting his lip.

“This is ridiculous.” I sighed, shaking my head. “Worse is that I get it. I get why you’d hate me for it. But you get it, too, right? You’re not a deluded fool like Julian, Eric.” At least, I wanted to believe he wasn’t. The fact that he was apologizing despite hating me said a lot. So, I appealed to his common sense instead of berating him for feeling this way. “If you had feelings for Noelle, you should’ve done something about it. Talk to her, become closer with her, ask her out eventually. I’m not the one to blame for your unwillingness to act.”

Those words resonated in my own head, too. A lesson I thought I had learned, but recent times had made me… complacent. Inaction for fear of the results, ironically resulting in that which you fear the most.

I sighed again. “Talk to Noelle herself if you need some closure,” I told him without fear. I was confident in the strength of my relationship with Noelle. Her talking to a guy who had a crush on her didn’t worry me beyond said guy trying something stupid. “For what it's worth, I’m thankful that you took back your… contribution to the rumors, and if you want to continue blaming me for your problems, I can’t stop you. It’s hard, but I’m still working to be who I want to be, not someone others think I am. Sorry I didn’t meet whatever expectations you had of me.” Needless to say, I wasn't sorry in the slightest.

“...”

“Take care, Eric.”

I turned away from him and walked away. Strange as it was, that felt… refreshing. It helped remind me of the dangers of inaction, something I’d need to keep in mind always.

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

Chapter 365: Some time later.

So… Um… I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that a month and a half has passed and, despite my earnest desire and all my motivation to, let’s say, expand my harem, I’ve… made no progress towards that goal. Not out of fear, anxiety or anything like that, mind! No, I’ll chalk it up to bad luck, and I’m not saying it as an excuse, I swear.

Let’s see. There are two women that I saw and immediately felt attracted to. One of them was a cute, older girl who came to the coffee shop every so often. Problem was, I never talked to her beyond taking her orders and a few, very minute pleasantries, and since that day when we caught her looking up a video of mine, she hasn’t come back to the shop.

Now, you’ll ask me: Oliver, didn’t you suspect that this girl may be the daughter that man from the gym sometimes tells you about? Why don’t you ask him about her?

To which I will answer: Mr. Carlos hasn’t been to the gym in a month, either, and that is even weirder. A more diligent man I have never met, so I doubt he would skip for no reason. He’s also well known at the gym, so if something had happened to him, I’d have heard already. My guess is he had to leave town for a while, and if that girl really is his daughter, then she likely went with him.

Then there’s the other woman, the interim receptionist at that new hotel we went to. Of her I knew even less and also had fewer chances to see her. In fact, I went back to that hotel under the excuse of asking some price questions to see if I managed to see her again. I felt my heart in my throat all the way to the hotel, but then she wasn’t there, the disappointment hit me like a slap in the face. I even asked the current receptionist there if she knew the woman, but while she told me that, yes, there was an interim receptionist for a few days before she got the job, she hadn’t met them.

I WAS TRYING, DAMMIT.

It was so weird. I was determined, motivated. I was trying to find these two women who I liked based on a vague feeling that we might just hit it off. My five girlfriends encouraged my search, even! And yet I couldn’t find a trace of them!

Was this my karma? Was the universe telling me to be happy with what I had and not ask for more? Or was someone up there simply getting a kick out of watching me waste my newfound resolve in a futile search?

Ugh. I’m not giving up, though. Every time I go out I have my eyes peeled for them, just in case I happen to randomly find them. If I do, I won’t miss that chance. Though… I don’t know how I’ll approach them without seeming like a creepy fuck.

Anyway, the good news.

Isabelle and I got our video channel going. We’ve uploaded six videos so far, and we have… a decent amount of views for a completely new and unknown channel. Mila gave us a shoutout on her page, which made the numbers go up a bit, but not by much. She might have a pretty big following, but they’re not there for music recommendations, are they? The point is, we’re doing something and that’s a good thing in and off itself.

On top of that, there’s another bit of good news, and I was ecstatic to share them with the girls. And so, like every other day, I walked from my house to the school early in the morning. I made my way to our little club room, which had since been decorated with new, red curtains, a few potted plants, and… occult looking stuff, like the ouija board, a framed picture of all 22 major tarot arcanas, and another one with alchemy symbols. At least now we gave a vibe that we were a club about… something.

I almost wished I had arrived later so I didn't have to wait, but wait I did until everyone arrived. I stood up from my seat, cleared my throat and addressed them all.

“Everyone, I… have something to show you,” I said, unable to stop grinning.

“I thought you were in an unusually good mood,” Grace said. “What is it? Did you finally find those two girls?”

My smile dropped and my shoulders fell. “I… No, not yet. This is about something else.”

Grace chuckled. “Sorry, sorry.”

“So? What happened?” Noelle asked.

I brought out my wallet, and from it I took out…

“You got your license!” Alice beamed, standing up from her seat.

“Yep!” I slid my new driver’s license over to her and she held it up. “I don’t have a car yet, but I can drive one if I need to.”

Alice ran over to me and hugged me tightly, laughing and jumping with pure joy. “Congratulations! Hahaha!” She kissed me hard all over the face. She was happier than I was, somehow.

“Thanks for being so patient with me,” I told her, hugging her back.

“Patient?” Mila asked, giggling. “Alice couldn’t stop talking about how quickly you were learning.”

“Yeah. Made me feel dumb that it took me like four months,” Sarah said, frowning and crossing her arms.

“Not dumb, Sarah. Just stubborn as a mule,” Alice told her, sticking out her tongue. “You kept trying to do things your way and nearly broke the clutch with terrible gear shifting.”

“...Which is why I drive an automatic now,” Sarah conceded. “Anyway, congrats, Oliver.”

“Thank you.”

“Should we celebrate?” Grace asked. “Sarah, let him borrow your car so he can drive us somewhere.”

“Just because mine is the biggest one, huh?”

“So now I’m the only one who doesn’t drive?” Noelle asked, pouting.

“I can teach you, too,” Alice offered.

“Yeah. She’s great at it,” I told her.

“I… don’t know.” Noelle sighed. “I’ve tried before, but I get too nervous behind the wheel. I sometimes even close my eyes…”

“Ouch…” Alice winced. “Well, it’s not like everyone needs to learn how to drive, but the offer is always there, okay?”

We sat down again, only this time Alice clung to me and sat on my lap. I casually began to caress her inner thigh as we continued talking.

“And are you planning on getting a car, then?” Sarah asked me.

“I’d love to, of course, but it’s not within my budget. I’ll just drive my mom’s car for errands and such. Though there’s a certain beautiful, bright yellow sports car I’d like to take for a spin sometime…”

Alice smiled at me, locked her beautiful blue eyes with mine, leaned in and kissed me deeply and lovingly, licking my lips. “Not in a million years, my love.”

I chuckled. “Well, I tried.”