"If you're sure both of you just want to be friends, then we won't say anything more. But please don't just push his feelings aside selfishly before even consulting him. A simple question will resolve everything, and if it turns out he does have feelings for you, well, then you can rest easy in not feeling like you're leading him on."
These words of advice auntie gave me keep repeating in my head over and over, but I still don't quite know what to make of them. Lem, he's an important friend to me, but I don't want him to like me like that. If possible, I'd really like for this all to really just be me reading way too deeply into things, and that he really doesn't see me in a romantic light. Of course, now that I've said all that I've said, the chances of that being the case are way too narrow.
"We're back." Issei announced to Lem and dad as they continued to work on the house, "The Hulk's rage has been quelled with some emotional talks with his family, so we're all good now."
"Yeah right, he looked like he wanted to rip Lem's head off of his shoulders!" Dad grunted from the second story's frameworks, "And don't think my Eyesight's gone poor, Nelly! Did you seriously go outside still dressed like that?"
"Sorry, I..." I muttered.
"Let her be, she's had her head in the clouds the entire morning." Uncle defended me.
Ah, I guess even he noticed something's wrong with me, though I guess it isn't that much of a surprise. Even though I said I was immediately going home to change, I still found myself following Issei and him to where Lem was. Glancing at that guy, standing in front of the would-be front entrance to the house, he quickly composed himself to at least act like he was busy with work. Yeah, I wouldn't wanna look at me either if I was in your shoes...
"Lem, sorry to bother, but can I ask you something?" I called out for him.
"Hm? S-Sure." He dropped everything he was doing, "Hey, you don't mind if I just run to the house real quick to grab some water. I'm... parched."
Hm? I didn't even say it properly, but he somehow already guessed correctly that whatever I wanted to ask required us to be away from the adults. Again, we really do think alike, which really makes these situations easier.
"Hold up, Lemmy." Dad stopped us.
"You can work without my buffs for a minute, can't you?" He retorted.
"Not that." Dad shook his head before tossing his own bottle, "Refill mine too, would ya'?"
Phew, I thought he had us figured out, but thankfully that wasn't the case. That being the case, I have less than a minute of alone time with Lem to call off the bet, so I better finish this off quickly.
"About tonight..." I braced myself for the embarrassment as the doors opened before our very Eyes.
"Ah, ma'am!" Lem resorted to jokes the moment he saw mama's face, "Found your kid dancing around bonfires in her nightgown, so I was wondering if there were any monetary rewards in it for me?"
"I was not!" I quickly corrected the story, "I was at the Saints' house, stop lying!"
"Haha, I believe you, Nel." Mom chuckled, "That being said, Lemmy, I'm afraid she's not a lost dog, so I can't quite give you any money."
"Fine, guess I'm keeping her." He pulled me closer to him and away from her.
"That's not what you're supposed to do with lost pets though." She yanked me back to herself and away from him, "In such cases, wouldn't reporting the missing dog to the police be the proper way to settle it?"
"Didn't you just say she wasn't a dog, so the laws regarding such cases don't apply?" He tugged back.
"Then, let's use the proper term—Kidnapping." She finally won the tug-o-war with a smug smirk, "If you're planning on taking a human for yourself, that's called kidnapping, no? Maybe you're the one who should be taken to the police instead."
"I'm not a piece of rope, stop pulling me from both sides!" I pushed them both off me, "Geez, he just came here to refill their water."
"Is that so?" She stepped aside gracefully, "In that case, access granted. I was just going to the store, so I don't know why you're so defensive anyways."
"Isn't she always like that, though?" Lem asked.
"Mn, fair point."
These two, just how lowly do they think of me? Grr, to think I was actually tricked into offering myself to this guy...! GAH, I definitely need to call that off posthaste!
"Don't glare at me like that." Lem grunted, "I'm doing my best to clear as many suspicions your stupid actions are placing on us as I can."
"Oh, so that's why you were being so sharp-tongued."
"No, I'd say this to you even if you hadn't made that weird bet." He sighed before getting serious, "Now, just to be clear, you called me here because you wanted to call off the bet, right?"
Hm? Did I ever mention that to him before? No, I don't remember, so how does he know? Ah, could it be that—The fact we practically share the same braincell? Oh boy, this is going swimmingly! And here I thought he was gonna be unreasonable and say something smug like "Hah! Like hell I will, your ass is mine!"
"You're giving me those judgmental Eyes again, so I assume you thought I was gonna decline calling it off." He leaned on the kitchen counter as he opened the tap.
"You won't?" I tilted my head "This is your one chance at losing your virginity, you know?"
"Same goes for you if you keep spouting hurtful things like that." He sighed, "Nel, I'm not a monster—If you don't want it, then I don't want it. Besides, it was your idea in the first place, and trust me, I would've said no if you hadn't just pushed me out of your room this morning."
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He's... being amicable again. Every word he said just now is within the realm of reason, and his arguments are sound. He's not lying, and he definitely means every word he says. Which only makes me fear the situation more, because...
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"If I don't want it, then you don't want it." I parroted his words, my throat clogging up from anxiety as I asked, "What a weird way to structure that sentence."
"Hm?" He started pouring a glass for himself next, "What're you on about? Did I make a grammatical mistake somewhere? Cause if I did, the second question is why are you nitpicking it?"
"Lem, I'm being 100% honest here, so please return the favor in kind..." I looked at him, "Why didn't you say: "Neither of us want this?" just now? Instead, you posed the sentence to mean that you only don't want it cause I don't want it."
His head craned back, Eyes wide open. He's stunned that I caught that, I can tell. There's something he's definitely not letting on, and I'm afraid we won't be able to go back to how we were until he tells me what it is.
"I guess you're right." He sighed, "You got me, so I'll be honest too."
Here it is...!
"I'm interested in the idea, yeah." He admitted, meeting my gaze directly, albeit with a carefree swig of his glass of tap water, "It's like you said, after all—This might very well be my one and only chance to relinquish my virgin status in life."
"S-So, can I take that to mean...?"
"But since I'm being honest, I'll also admit that I'd much rather it be with a 10 than a, well... you." He added something unnecessary.
"...What?"
"Well duh, even you'd rather have your first time with an older hunky prince like Meil, right?" He swished his glass, "It's only natural that you'd want the best option, right?"
"Wait, but what makes you think a 10 would want you?"
"That's besides the point, I'm talking about what I would like, not for what the other person would like in me." He retorted.
"Even still, I can understand me not being a 10, but don't think I don't know why you hid my actual rating from me just now!" I pressed him for the answer, "Go on, spit it out! On a scale of 1/10, what am I!?"
"Hey, stop getting angry, we're just talking." He frowned, "I'm not saying anything unless you give me my rating first."
"6/10!" I shouted back immediately, "You're a six, and that's me being real!"
"Eh?! I wasn't expecting an honest answer, dammit!" He sulked, "I thought you were gonna reply with something like "one" and then we'd haggle to raise it some, but like this it's just hurtful!"
"Well I told you I was gonna be honest, so come on, I won't get mad!"
"Sigh, fine..." He took a deep breath before asking one last time, "Just to be sure, you seriously won't get mad?"
"Of course not."
"No matter the number?"
"No matter the number, so go on."
"Ugh, okay..." He shut both Eyes tightly out of fear before creaking one open, "A 7 out of 10."
Okay, what the he-! ...Huh? Wait, that high? With that much prep time, I was expecting him to say like a 3 or something, but I score so highly for him? That's... That's nice to hear.
"Wait, so you don't wanna do it with a 7/10?" I scowled, "Can you be any more hopelessly ambitious? Be grateful, jackass!"
"Well what the hell do you want, woman!? I rate women based on 10 checks:
1) Is her face cute?
2) Is she a decent human being?
3) Is she not fat?
4) Is she smart?
5) Is she as ambitious in life as I am?
6) Would we be good friends even if we weren't together?
7) Does she smell nice?
8) Does she have big breasts?
9) Is the sex good?
10) Is she willing to rule the world with me?"
"Everything was semi-reasonable until the last one!" I yelled, "But wait, that's not fair! Stuff like 3 and 4 can be helped with self-discipline, but I was born with small breasts!"
"Yeah, in essence, your ratings plateaued after 7." He shrugged, "Nothing you can do about it, you were just born a 7."
"Born a 7..." I thought, "That's not the case at all!"
"Sorry, but unless you're willing to take over the world, that's your limit."
"No, there's one more check that CAN be helped!" I announced with my face burning bright Red, "Forget what I said before, we're reinstating the bet!"
"Fueh!?" He jolted, "At this point this is getting way too repetitive, Nel! Just stop and reassess the situation!"
"Oh I did, trust me!" I smirked confidently, "You said it yourself, right? You're game as long as I am, so what's the hold up in making sure magic number 9 holds up or not?"
"That's..."
"You don't wanna stay a 6 forever either, do you Lem?" I asked.
"...Alright, if that's what you want." He finally gave up, "I'm gonna go back to work. We've been here way too long just to refill half a water bottle."
Wait, half? That's right, now that I think about it, dad isn't one to care about sharing bottles with his bros, and neither is Lem for that matter, so he definitely would've just given him his half. Why did he let us go and refill the water then? Is he...? Gah, I don't wanna think about it.
"Then, it's a plan." I waved him off smugly.
"Yeah." He replied with a scary amount of determination, "Wear some good underwear tonight, you don't want to disappoint me."
Heh, who the hell does he think he is? Spouting all that nonsense just to get me weak in the knees! A-Ah, legs, that wasn't your cue to give in. Come on, get it together, it's just one... night... Argh, I did it again! Why did I reinstate the bet, do I seriously want my pipes cleaned that badly!? Stupid! Horny! Succubus Brain!