[Spirit of Lust 2] Chapters 484 & 485. (Patreon)

Chapter 484: There’s a proper time for everything.

Of course Diana knew. Why wouldn’t she? Maria loved gossip like I love a nice cookie. It wasn’t a big deal, anyway, but it almost made it sound like I was hiding something when in reality we just had other things to talk about first.

“Cute Brazilian fan?” Mila asked, then her eyebrows shot up. “Oh! Is the stalker back?” she asked, grinning.

“Wait, stalker?” Diana asked right after.

“A regular at the coffee shop,” Grace told her. “This really cute, sexy girl with darkish skin that we thought just really liked coffee.”

“Until we heard her listening to one of Oliver’s videos on her phone,” Sarah said with a huge smirk. “Then we realized she liked the waiter more than the coffee.”

“She ran away and was never seen again,” Noelle said. “Until now, apparently. Was it really her?” she asked me.

I let out a heavy, drawn out sigh and nodded. “Turns out I was right. She’s the daughter of a man I know from the gym. They stopped by the shop early Saturday morning to buy breakfast. I talked for a bit with Mr. Carlos because he’s a genuinely great guy who helped me out a lot when I was starting out at the gym. Then Maria was taking his order and I tried to talk to this girl for a bit. Her name’s Fernanda and she… Well, she doesn’t like to talk much.”

Diana smiled sympathetically. “Her too, huh?”

I nodded. “She’s not like you, though. She was clearly uncomfortable, avoided eye contact and answered questions in two or three words.”

“Oh, so like you,” Sarah said.

“Yep.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “Though there was this one thing she said. She… Um… She told me she watched my videos, liked my music and was a fan.”

Alice pursed her lips and scratched her cheek. The others also stopped themselves from saying what they were about to. I had an idea why that was.

I sighed again. “You think she was just saying that because she likes me?”

They all flinched and looked away.

“I’m sorry, dear,” Diana apologized. “It’s not fair to you, but it was the first thing that came to mind.”

“I mean, it’s what I would’ve done,” Sarah admitted. “Your music is good, but if my objective was to get closer to you, that’s what I would start with.”

“It’s not that we don’t think she might actually like your music!” Noelle hurried to say. “It’s just…”

“No, I get it. Don’t worry.” Yeah, it was a downer thought, but I couldn’t deny it could be true.

My self-esteem had gotten better after all this, so I was no longer at the point where I didn’t believe a girl could like me. Sure, I could still think of reasons for people to dislike me, but I could also see why girls would find me attractive. I just… wanted to believe I had a fan who actually liked my music more than my looks.

“Well, whatever,” I said. “Doesn’t really matter in the end. Even if she said my music was shit I’d still keep playing.”

“...” I noticed Diana staring into her glass. She was only drinking mineral water with her food. I got the strong feeling there was something on her mind, but couldn’t tell what.

“Diana? Is something wrong?” I asked her.

She pursed her lips then moistened them in preparation for what she was about to ask. “So do you… like this girl?”

I felt my chest grow colder. The only reason I didn’t instinctively panic was that there was no accusation in her tone. I decided not to overthink her question and to trust our connection.

“I think she’s very beautiful, but I barely know her so I can’t say I like her. That said, I… Have a similar feeling about her as I did with you. I think… we could hit it off if we had the chance. That’s about it.” 

Diana then turned to look at the other girls. “And none of you seemed surprised by this, huh?”

“W-Well, you know…” Mila giggled nervously. “We told you we encouraged him to go out with you. At the time, when we asked him if there were any other girls he was interested in, he mentioned you and this girl.”

Diana’s cheeks took a pink tint. “I see…”

“Having second thoughts?” Grace asked her.

I had my heart in my throat, but Diana easily shook her head. “It’s not that. I just find it amusing that just this Friday his mother asked me what I’d do if and when Oliver found another girl he liked.”

“What did you tell her?” Alice asked.

“That I’d have to wait and see. That if I liked her, I’d welcome her. If I didn’t, I’d tell him.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much our stance, too,” Sarah said.

Dianna nodded. “Yes, I figured that’d be the case. It’s just that…”

“Wait a moment here,” I interjected. “I know we’ve talked about this and I know you’re all mostly okay with the idea. But I’m not asking out another girl now. Not happening. I mean, we’ve just started getting to know Diana!”

“And what if she disappears again, Oliver?” Mila asked me.

“Then that’s too bad,” I told her firmly. “I love being able to date all of you, I know you like seeing me with other women and I’m not against… meeting new people, but not if it’s to the detriment of what we have now. So yeah, I have a good feeling about that girl but that’s it.”

Diana smiled, relieved. “Thank you. I’m not against it, but… It doesn’t seem like the right time.”

“Well, we ARE in the middle of some big changes in our lives,” Alice said. “So yeah, I agree it’s not the time for something like that. That said and for what it's worth, I’m not against you giving it some thought for the future, either.”

Mila, Grace and Sarah looked at each other, sharing a wordless conversation like they often did. They had something in mind, I just knew it. They didn’t say what it was, but I was sure I’d find out soon enough.

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

Chapter 485: Choices and arcade fun.

The rest of the afternoon we spent it having plain fun. We tried to and succeeded in forgetting about our troubles and focused only on the present and the things we were looking forward to about the future. In fact, it was in the middle of us bowling that I got a very sudden, very important email. So important, even, that I read it to myself before bringing it up to the girls.

It was an email from Luke telling me he had found three large plots that seemed ideal for the type of house I had in mind. Though the type of house I had in mind was mostly his idea but I didn’t mind. Every time I tried to picture my own house I thought of something way too small.

There were pictures attached, but considering they were barren land mostly, it didn’t make much of a difference. What I should be paying attention to was locations. Two were in the outskirts of the city and the last one was even further away, about a full hour away, kind of like Sarah’s house but in the complete opposite direction.

That should’ve made me dismiss that option from the get go. I mean… it should have. But dammit, that plot… There was a fucking gorgeous shot that showed the mountain not too far in the distance and a large pond nearby. The greenery all around also made it more appealing to me. It looked like a picture straight out of a fantasy series or something. I had the thought of sitting on a porch or a balcony with Cake on my lap and a cup of coffee in hand and just… being there, taking it all in. Seriously, I didn’t know we had places like this one nearby! But then again this past year was my first time going out of the house so much.

It was the most tempting choice, but also the most impractical. So far from the city, we’d have to commute every day for an hour or more. Yeah, more than an hour when you consider the distance to the university and traffic at the usual peak hours. It ended up being far closer to two hours.

…

Anyway, this wasn’t a choice I’d be making on my own, so there was no point in overthinking it.

I was brought back by Noelle’s gleeful cheer at getting a strike. She turned around and gave us two V-signs with that cute smile of hers.

Since we were seven players, Diana, Mila, Noelle and I were using one lane while Sarah, Alice and Grace were playing in the court next to ours.

“Shit, she might actually beat me…” Mila muttered, standing up to take her turn. “Okay, time to kick it up a notch!”

“Don’t go TOO hard,” Diana advised.

“Please, I’ve got this.”

Noelle sat down next to me after I high-fived her for her strike. She giggled and kissed my cheek out of nowhere. The only other people bowling were using the lane at the opposite end of the alley, so I was happy to indulge in a bit of intimacy.

“At the rate you’re going, you’ll actually beat Mila, Grace and Alice. Hell, you’re not that far off from me,” I told her.

Noelle giggled more. “But Diana’s still kicking our butts, though.”

“I used to play a lot,” Diana told her.

“And she believes it’s rude to hold back,” I added.

“Well, it is,” Noelle agreed.

“CRAP!” Mila cursed as her ball went to the gutter.

“Diana warned you, Mila,” Alice told her from the next lane just before she took down eight pins in one shot.

“Come on! I don’t wanna be last!” Mila moaned. “At least let me beat Grace! She sucks at this!”

“Hey!”

We laughed, but that email must’ve left me more distracted than I realized because Noelle suddenly held my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Did something happen?” she asked me. Diana turned to look at me as well.

I shook my head and smiled at them. “No. Just… I got an email that got me thinking. It’s kind of important, but we can talk about it later. It’s not urgent.”

I really did leave it for later.  We kept playing until our full game was over. Diana did indeed kick our asses, followed by Sarah only 6 points behind her. Noelle and I tied, Grace was right behind us and Mila, in a desperate attempt at a comeback, failed most of her shots and came in last.

“I hate bowling. Whose idea was this?” she asked.

“Yours,” we told her.

“Now, shall we check out the arcade?” Diana suggested, glancing at me and Noelle. “I see two enthusiasts getting a little restless here.”

“I mean…”

“...Not really.”

Noelle and I tried and failed to play it cool.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Sarah said. “I wanna fight Noelle.”

“Does this place have air hockey?” Mila asked. “Grace, fight me!”

Grace sighed. “What are you getting so worked up for? We both lost in the end. But sure, I like air hockey.”

“Alice, I bet I can beat you at a racing game,” I told her, pointing to the cabinets.

“Oh, those look nice! Oliver, come on!” Alice actually grabbed me by the hand and dragged me in. I was happy to be dragged and Diana followed behind us, chuckling at the display.

Honestly, that race taught Alice more about video games than our whole last session did. Mainly, it taught her a very important lesson: Games are not real life.

I beat her in every race. I CRUSHED her in every race. Diana also did better than Alice and so did Noelle after she finished kicking Sarah’s ass. Alice was fuming in frustration, and though I sympathized, it was also pretty funny.

“Cars don’t work like this! How are you drifting at such a sharp angle without spinning!?” she asked me. “Also, this wheel feels so loose! Are you sure it’s not broken?”

Her own real skills were working against her here. She didn’t push the fake car to its over-the-top limits like Noelle and I were, and since Diana just stuck to conservative driving, she was also avoiding crashing. Alice, meanwhile, tried to race like she would in a real car but found it didn’t respond the way it should.

“Video games suck,” she said, pouting. And yet she slid the card over the machine to put in another credit. 

Mila and Grace returned from their air-hockey match, with Mila as the very proud, gloating victor, so we had them and Sarah continue racing Alice.

“Drive like you’re on the road and push it little by little,” Diana told the blonde. “That’s how I made sense of it.”

Alice nodded and followed Diana’s advice. And now with a clean win under her belt, Alice giggled shyly and said, “Okay, I take it back, this is kind of fun.”

And that’s what eventually led to us having a racing sim setup in the house.