[TAM: Evening the Odds] Chapters 24 & 25. (Patreon)

Chapter 24: Days go by, relationships improve.

Everything was normal during my date with Emma. We drank, talked and laughed, and as far as I could tell, there was nothing different about her. I had purchased a Trait for her, but it didn’t suddenly change her. I admit I felt relief at that. 

Went back to her apartment to have sweet, passionate sex. Her lust score went down from 100 to 70, which I took to understand that she was satisfied for the moment, but still very much hungry for me.

Of course, I hadn’t been neglecting my new workout plan. I went out on my 20 minute jog on Saturday and then that Sunday when I got home. Add to that, after doing some internet research, I decided to make my own homemade dumbbells to start lifting using plastic bottles, sand and pvc pipes. Was a cool DIY Sunday project. I’d never done something like it and they turned out pretty well. I could also use the wooden beams on the ceiling to do pull ups.

My new goal of having a harem had me restless but motivated. I was determined to not only improve my physical condition, but also get fit, build a bit of muscle. Anything to give myself just another edge. Working out with that in mind felt amazing. Yeah, it was tiring, but I felt my goals pushing me forward.

Huh. That might have been the very first time I felt actually driven.

Emily and Megan seemed to have a lot of respect for me for sticking with the program. Their scores improved over the one week of workout and tutoring. Still, it was a little strange.

According to the AMA, Megan seemed to be more fond of me than Emily, though she didn’t show it much. She was more comfortable talking to me, at least, and that was good enough for now. On her part, Emily openly praised my dedication to the exercise routine but was also quick and harsh in reminding me not to get complacent just because I had lasted a week. Couldn’t argue with that. 

Motivation can only get you so far. Discipline is what you really need. Another one of my dad’s lessons.

On Monday after school I had my workout with them. And, well… Yeah, my new goal of a harem made me see these girls in a new light. I always thought they were extremely attractive, but now I was starting to notice other things, smaller details. Like how Emily had a tendency to lick her lips before starting an exercise set and sticks her tongue out when concentrating too hard on a math problem, or how Megan twirled her hair when idle and hummed when she was jogging.

On Tuesday after school, I was in the library, sitting at a small table doing the finishing touches to the material of that day’s tutoring session when something very strange suddenly happened.

Katherine Brown, the cute redhead from the debate team, sat on the chair in front of me without so much as a greeting and left a three-page document in front of me and on top of my books. I shot her a curious look, silently asking for an explanation of what this was and what she wanted of me.

“Ms. Owens said that if I wanted feedback I should ask y-you first,” she told me with an aggressive frown. Despite that, I felt a small shake in her  “Since you’re the one that tore my presentation apart.”

Oh, she was still sore about that. Well, Ms. Owens sent her, then I’d comply. The least I can do is read… whatever this was. I’m not a man of many talents, but at least I am a particularly fast reader.

It didn’t take me long to see it was a rewrite of her arguments from Friday’s debate. It seemed she actually took my feedback to heart, because every single complaint I had about her data had been fixed, along with wording them in a way that Sophia’s counter-arguments couldn’t have happened.

“Yeah, this is better. You basically fixed everything I said was wrong,” I told her.

She remained silent, looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to continue. Problem was I didn’t have anything else to say, at least nothing she might want to hear.

“…What, that’s it? No telling me what I did wrong, what I have to fix, how I could’ve done better?”

What? Did she…? Okay, let’s try something.

“This is after-debate revision. Of course it’s going to be better than what you did that day. At your level, I’d expect nothing less,” I told her, and she seemed taken aback. Her frown disappeared and her eyes widened a bit, but I continued. My intention was not to flatter her. “You need to ask yourself these questions before the debate happens. What are my weakest arguments? What data can I find that can make them stronger? What are the most reliable sources? If you can do that without falling into an endless cycle of arguing and counter-arguing against yourself, then you’ll definitely improve. You already have great expository skills. Your research just needs to go through a more thorough process.”

Okay, I might have said too much, but I did like debating and this girl was one of the best I’d seen. My school didn’t have anyone at her level, so we always got destroyed in competitions. If she knew that, though, she would probably disregard my advice. 

Katherine remained silent, taking her document and flipping through its pages. After some time, she spoke again.

“How do I avoid that cycle? How can I improve my research process?” she asked seriously.

For about an hour, I talked with Katherine about the art of debating, throwing ideas back and forth. She seemed genuinely passionate about it, in a way that I couldn’t help but deeply respect. After a while, we heard the bell indicating club activities were over. Katherine seemed surprised. It seems she didn’t notice time flying by.

“It’s late.” She clicked her tongue. “W-Well, I’ll talk to Ms. Owens tomorrow,” she said to herself. “See you around, David. I’ll… bring you my next essay so you can give it a look.” With that, she left.

Huh? What? Since when did we become friends?

[Brown, Katherine - Affection Score: 30 / Love Score: 5]

That was surprising. It seems she REALLY appreciated the feedback.

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

Chapter 25: Tutoring at home.

I waited outside school for Emily and Megan and I didn’t have to wait for too long. After they were done with their soccer practice they were ready to go back to the coffee shop, but this time I had different plans.

“Actually, I can invite you to my place now,” I told them. “It’s only a 10 minute walk from here and we won’t need to pay for coffee every time.”

“Your place?” Emily asked me with a raised eyebrow.

“You live around here?” Megan asked, equally curious.

“Since there aren’t male dorms, I was given a… room around here. It was being renovated until Friday last week,” I explained.

The soccer stars looked at each other before nodding and agreeing to go.

“We’d need a better place to study soon, anyway. You’re right that having to buy coffee just to be there is an issue,” Emily said.

“I’m a little curious to know where you live, too.” Megan admitted.

After the 10 minute walk we finally arrived at my place, still a fishy looking shed in an isolated lot. Even with the renovations, it still looked the same from the outside. It took only two weeks to have everything ready. I’m not surprised they did only the minimum.

“THIS is where you live?” Megan asked with an expression of utter bewilderment.

“I don’t believe you. I just don’t,” Emily said. “David, do you realize what this looks like?”

Hm, okay, I admit it didn’t occur to me that this looked like I was taking two girls to an abandoned storehouse. Yeah, really not making a case for my trustworthiness here.

“I swear it doesn’t look nearly as bad inside. Not anymore, at least,” I assured them. The girls followed me in with curious looks and cautious steps. 

They changed their tune once they saw the inside and curiosity fully took over as they looked around. Emily hummed in approval while Megan seemed a bit more excited than her friend.

“Wow, this is really cool!” The brunette says, inspecting everything. “You live here alone?”

I wouldn’t have called it cool, but looking at it as a novelty, I suppose it was.

“Yeah. My parents are overseas, so they sent me here. This is the place the school gave me.”

“It’s not bad.” Emily nodded, walking around the room. “It’s cleaner than I thought it would be, but I guess you always gave off the vibe of someone organized.”

“So you do everything yourself? Cooking, laundry, cleaning?” Megan asked.

“Pretty much, yeah.”

“Mmm…” Both girls hummed, and I wanted to believe there was a hint of admiration in there.

We got comfortable and began the tutoring session immediately. The girls came from their soccer practice, so I doubted they wanted to waste more time than needed. 

I did start wondering if the Great Host Trait was working. Unlike with Great Kisser, it was harder to notice the effects of this one but there were a few things that could be signs of it working. For example, while Megan sat on my chair and used my desk, Emily comfortably lay on the bed on her stomach with her notebooks, casually kicking her legs up and down.

I worked with them, offered them drinks and snacks and they really seemed very comfortable here. It was more of a vibe than anything concrete, but it was like they felt more at ease here than in the coffee shop. And I admit that the sight of these two gorgeous girls in my room, studying and concentrating, was pretty uplifting.

At one point, Megan, who was working on my laptop, asked me for help with a math problem. I remembered that the last time I checked the AMA she had an affection score of 31, so I considered being more casual with her.

I stood behind the sitting Megan and leaned forward. My face was really close to hers and your arm touched her shoulder as I reached for the mouse. She stiffened at the close proximity and leaned to the side a bit. Guess that was a bit too much. I moved a bit further away, too, but not much since I still had to hold the mouse.

“Ah, I see. This is what you did wrong,” I said. “You have to solve what’s in parenthesis first, then powers, then…” As I explained these things to her, I caught her staring glances at me from the corner of my eye. “The order in which you solve this stuff is very important, so don’t forget that. Anything else?”

Just as I turned to ask her that, I saw her staring at me with a look I couldn’t discern, but that was definitely not negative. Honestly, I wasn’t used to getting those sorts of looks from girls (or anyone, really) so it was difficult to tell what it was. It wasn’t strong enough to call it longing or weak enough to just be curiosity. I… couldn’t help but stare back. 

Without noticing, both of our faces began to get closer. I looked into her eyes and saw her looking into mine. When our noses brushed together, it was like a sudden wake up call, like a bucket of cold water. We both pulled away and tried our best to act like nothing happened.

“So, did you get everything?” I asked, coughing to clear my throat. My mouth suddenly felt very dry.

“Y-yes. I’ll try to do it again.” Megan nodded quickly without glancing up at me. She kept her eyes on my laptop, but… it didn’t look like she was concentrating on the problem.

“Done! David, can you check if I have any spelling errors?” Emily asked, having just finished writing the 300 word essay I had tasked her with.

As I read through it, I wondered if Megan was having as much trouble multiplying as I did reading. My mind was all over the place, and I couldn’t help but steal glances at her every so often. When I caught her doing the same, we both flinched and turned to our respective tasks again.

It felt awkward, and stupid… but also kind of funny.

When they left, Emily said goodbye and turned around to walk away. Megan was about to follow her but stopped herself mid step. She quickly turned around, as if in a hurry, and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. That, along with the blush on her cheeks rocked my whole fucking world. I stood there under the doorframe, mindlessly waving goodbye like an idiot as I watched them leave. When they were out of sight, I went back inside and checked the AMA, still somehow feeling the warmth that one second of contact with Megan’s lips left on my cheek.

[Miller, Emily - Affection Score: 36]

[Grant, Megan - Affection Score: 48 / Love Score: 21]

Megan… Megan had a crush on me. 

We just shared one brief glance and yet… A love score of 21? Wasn’t that a lot for so little? Not to mention both girls' perception of me had completely shifted by now. They saw me as something of a friend instead of looking down on me, although they had yet to say that outright. But even if they hadn’t…

I touched my cheek and almost trembled from the joy that rocked my chest.