[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 480 & 481. (Patreon)

Chapter 480: Properly talking to Fernanda. Kind of.

Saying that seeing her again was a shock would be an understatement, but thankfully my surprise didn’t show in my face. Still, on the inside, I was practically stunned.

I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t remember her. I mean, I’ve only mentioned her a few times. She was a regular at our coffee shop until she suddenly stopped coming. We had never had a proper conversation. The most we’d talked was me greeting her, taking her order and then wishing her a good evening. Really, the only reason she was still on my mind was due to a similar reason Diana was before I even knew her. I had this odd, inexplicable gut feeling that she and I could hit it off. Oh, and she was hot as all hell.

“We were on our way home from the airport and my wife said she wanted coffee,” Mr. Carlos explained. “We were nearby and Fern said this shop was good.”

I smiled. “Yes, I remember her.” The girl flinched and looked away. I had an idea why. The last time I saw her, she… Um… We caught her watching one of my videos. For the longest time I believed she stopped coming simply out of shame. That’s what I would’ve done. Of course, I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable by bringing that up. “She was a regular here. Cappuccino and half a dozen cookies, usually.”

She turned to me with wide eyes and reddening cheeks, but didn’t say a word. Mr. Carlos laughed heartily. “Yes, that’s what he has most of the time! I can’t believe you remember her usual order!”

“Yeah, he’s good at that,” Maria said from behind the counter, grinning. “It’s part of why our customers like him. So I take it you’d like your order to go?”

“Yes, please,” Mr. Carlos said, stepping up to the counter. “My wife is waiting in the car.”

Maria took his order and began to prepare it on her own. Three coffees, two pastries and a sandwich were easy enough to get done. The problem was that left me alone with this girl in an awkward silence. I could’ve easily excused myself and gone to clean up or something, but… I had been hoping to see her again. After I made up my mind (and with a strong push from the girls) to talk to her, she disappeared. I couldn’t waste this chance to at least share some small talk.

“U-Um…!” She spoke before I did. She had one of her hands gripping her opposite forearm, and I noticed it was to stop both from shaking. “F-Fernanda. I don’t… I never told you my name, did I?”

I smiled. “Ah, so that’s why Mr. Carlos calls you Fern. I’m Oliver.” She likely already knew, but if I was in her shoes, I’d be grateful to be given an out of looking like a stalker.

…

You know, maybe she WAS a stalker and I was making a very big mistake, but I decided to take my chances. You know, because of my instincts, not because she was every bit as hot as my girlfriends and exactly my type.

“I’m glad to see you again,” I told her. “When you stop coming I got worried thinking something might have happened.”

She mindlessly rubbed her forearm and looked towards Mr. Carlos. “Went with my dad back to Brazil.” I expected her to say more, but she didn’t. 

“What for, if you don’t mind me asking?”

It took her a short moment to answer, like she was gathering her thoughts. “To see some family.”

“Ah, that’s nice. Are you guys back for good or is it temporary?”

She paused before speaking again. “For good,” she ended up saying.

“I see.” Aaaand I could tell we were heading back to an awkward silence. She was difficult to talk to, huh?

…

…

…

Oh God. So THIS is what it was like talking to me back then? Mila, Grace, Sarah… I might need to build them a church instead of a house.

Man, this was rough. I had learned that most people love talking about themselves, so asking questions was a good way to keep conversations going. But maybe Fernanda just didn’t want to talk and I was bothering her. Maybe it was better I give her space.

“Well, it’s good to see you again. I hope you’ll drop by again. Now…” I was about to excuse myself, but Fernanda spoke up.

“H-Hey, you…” I stopped and looked at her. She pursed her lips and swallowed hard. Her hand gripped her forearm hard. “I… I h-happened to find your music channel. I’m… I’m a fan. Thanks for all the videos. They really… cheer me up.”

I blinked, and for a moment I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. I mean… She was talking to me, right? Talking to me about MY channel. A real, flesh and blood person I couldn’t even really call an acquaintance was saying she was a fan of my music.

“A-Anyway, that’s all I wanted to say! S-See ya.” She turned around and went out the door before I could say anything. That reset my stun gauge.

I heard a heavy sigh behind me. Mr. Carlos gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder, the bag with his order in his other hand. “I’m sorry about her, my boy. She’s not very sociable. Thank you for talking to her. I’m sure it meant a lot to her, and it means a lot to me. I have to go now, but we’ll see each other again at the gym, won’t we?”

His voice and the weight of his hand brought me back to earth. “Yes, of course. And it’s no problem. You don’t need to apologize. It’s good to have you back, sir. Please tell her I’m happy she likes my music.”

Mr. Carlos grinned. “I will, my boy. Take care.”

The big man left as well and we were back to an empty shop. Slow day.

I turned to Maria and saw her with her hands on her face. “God, I’m gonna lose SO many customers when you’re gone…”

“Just… Buy a radio ad,” I told her, sighing.

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

Chapter 481: Sharing stories with Alex.

I had plans for that next Sunday. In the afternoon I would get together with the girls to have lunch, then play bowling and maybe sneak in some games at the arcade if the mood was good. We had some stuff to talk about. Before that, though, I had a promise to keep.

I was already at Knights of the Wheel, Alice’s brother’s shop. Closed on Sundays to the public, we had the place all to ourselves just to repair a single motorcycle. He lent me a clean coverall and we got to work.

For the first hour, Alex taught me some basic things about bikes and the tools we’d use. It was a lighthearted lesson, but one I still paid attention to. When he had enough of that and we had practically disassembled the entire bike, we got to talking about some more personal stuff. Before I knew it, he had gotten out of me most of the story of how my sister and I drifted apart before reconciling.

“That’s crazy to me,” he said as he examined some parts, setting away the ones that could be fixed from the ones that had to be thrown away. We were sitting on the floor across from each other. “I always thought twins were, like, inseparable or something.”

“We used to be, I guess,” I told him, cleaning the muffler with a rag as best I could. “Now we just go our own ways, though we have some projects together.”

“Oh yeah, Alice told me. Your music channel, right?”

I nodded. “She does the editing, handles the uploads, stuff like that. I just play the guitar.”

“Glad that you fixed things. Siblings fight all the time, sure, but a rift that big is just… sad.”

I smiled. “You and Alice are really close, huh?”

Alex laughed. “I was an annoyingly overprotective big brother. Even after she learned to walk I still watched her closely fearing she might fall on her face. I guess that got her really attached to me, ‘cause he’d follow me everywhere. For a long time I didn’t mind. I played with her all the time. But then I grew older, got into high school and priorities changed.” He sighed. “I started getting annoyed at her for no reason. Screamed at her not to follow me. Chose to hang out with friends and with girlfriends over spending time with her. I wouldn’t say we drifted apart, but I know I made her sad. I didn’t care at the time. Told myself she needed to grow up.” Alex clicked his tongue. “Great time I chose to ignore her. Just as she was becoming a woman.” He shook his head. “I met my wife at the street races. When I introduced her to my family, she immediately hit it off with Alice. Like, not only did she not mind having her around, she liked her company. It hit me like a sack of bolts. I shouldn’t have to choose between my family and my friends. I started hanging out with Alice again, and that’s when I realized my little sister was going through some awful shit. You could’ve stabbed me five times in the chest and I would’ve told you to keep going. Never been so mad at myself.”

“...” It was easy to empathize. I didn’t need to go through the exact same to understand how bad it must’ve hurt. “She’s doing well now.”

Alex smiled at me. “More than well, I’d say. But dammit, I didn’t bring you here to tell you stories about me. Come on, tell me more about you guys! How’s Alice when she’s with you all?”

“The voice of reason most of the time,” I told him. “She tries to moderate when we have drastically different opinions and sees the advantages in all sides. Also, she laughs at very random things.”

“RIGHT!?” he said, pointing at me with a headlight. “Her sense of humor is weird! She likes puns a lot.”

“I’m terrible with jokes. I can’t even think of puns.”

We continued talking, and the topic went from mostly Alice to the type of comedy we liked, then to what kind of shows we liked, to then recommending each other movies and shows.

It was only a couple of hours, but we had a good time and I could now name at least half of the parts that make up a motorcycle.

***

After that, I changed back into my regular clothes and went to the mall to meet the girls. We would have lunch at a restaurant there, the same Diana and I ate at on our first date. I was a little early, though, so I waited outside by the entrance to the building. It was like a small plaza, and watching the people walk past, I noticed I wasn’t the only one waiting. Friend groups, couples, families… I’ve heard that malls kind of died in lots of places, but this one, at least, is still a place for people to spend time. Maybe because there’s stuff like the cinema, the bowling alley and the arcade on the top floor, some good restaurants and the food court, department stores, and also a supermarket on the first floor. There were more reasons to come here beyond mindless window shopping.

Then I saw something… interesting. I’m not one for gossiping or caring much about other people’s personal lives, but this still caught my attention.

Eric was also here. I don’t think he had seen me, and he was restlessly looking at his phone every other second. Was he waiting for someone, too? I got my answer really soon.

A girl walked up to him. Short, plump body, big chest, long, dark brown hair. Cute, roundish face if a bit too heavy on the dark make up. She was wearing a back short-sleeve t-shirt, which showed that her left arm was fully tattooed from the wrist up. I recognized some artwork from the album covers of death metal bands.

The two greeted each other cheerfully, though Eric seemed a lot more nervous than the girls. Still, she seemed in good spirits and the two went into the mall. Eric didn’t see me at all.

Well, what do you know? I didn’t want to assume anything, but still I wished him the best.