Performance enhancing magic.

Chapter 4 – Finally Making some Progress. (continued)

Jason let the girls chat during the drive, focusing mostly on the road, and not getting directly involved in their conversation. It had been a little while since his two roommates had had a chance to catch up with Chloe, and she was explaining things that had been going on in her life recently, omitting only her new relationship status since she wasn’t quite ready to tell Heather about that yet.

It was a quick and simple matter to get both Chloe and Alex in on guest passes, but then they followed Heather into the girls locker room, while Jason went alone into the other room, where he found a secluded spot and opened up the MRE app on his phone, scrolling through the branching effects until he found the one Chloe had suggested.

Enduring Stamina: ‘This effect allows you or another target you have a relationship with to replenish energy and resist strain and injury for up to one hour per 9 energy used to activate it, up to a maximum of 8 hours. During this time you or the target will not tire, will recover from exertion such as climax almost immediately, and be able to sustain an aroused state for as long as you will it. At the end of the duration, the effect will fade gradually, leaving you or the target with a similar amount of energy as when it was activated, regardless of how strenuous the activity was during the effect.’

So Jason activated the effect for 2 hours.

Immediately, everything seemed sharper, and his energy levels seemed to peak, even stronger than the one time he’d downed an entire can of energy drink. He changed quickly, and left the locker rooms, his eyes wandering around, taking everything in. He watched people moving back and forth, some already getting started on their workouts, others returning from a run, or from the weight room. He was startled when someone poked him in the shoulder, and turned to see Heather there, smirking up at him.

“Don’t go perving on random gym bunnies.” She said in a teasing tone.

“Not a chance, none of them can hold my attention next to you.” He told her, then danced out of reach before she could react.

“Oh, ho! Is that how it’s going to be?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged, “It’s just a compliment.”

She shook her head, “What are we gonna do with you? Did you want to work out with me this time?”

“I might want to stick with Alex and or Chloe. Though if you want to go around all four of us, that could be good.”

“Yeah, alright. Let’s do that.” She agreed, and followed Jason’s gaze as he saw Chloe and Alex emerging together. Chloe was wearing her borrowed gym clothes sans hoodie, and Alex had changed into a pair of red jogging shorts with a baggy black t-shirt, not one of his for a change, with the straps of a pink sports bra peeking out of the collar over one shoulder.

“Alright, we’re going to start with some stretches then jogging.” Heather explained, taking charge and leading the way to the indoor track.

Jason didn’t notice much difference while stretching. He kept an eye on Chloe, since she wasn’t used to this sort of thing, and Heather coached Alex through it, though his sister insisted she knew how to stretch.

But then they got on the track, and after advising them each to go at their own pace, they started off. Jason pulled ahead of the other three, even though he was jogging at a moderate pace. But once he got about halfway down the track he decided to push himself a little. He increased his speed, waiting to feel the burn in his lungs and legs that didn’t come, and then kept increasing his speed until he was flying down the track, moving much faster than he had a few days earlier when he’d raced against Kate.

He only slowed down when he realized he was approaching Alex and Chloe from behind. Alex looked a little winded, but Chloe was keeping pace with her despite looking like she could probably handle running a bit faster.

He overheard Chloe talking as he drew close, “…for track runners?”

Alex shook her head, “Just the one.” She panted out. “Coincidence, I guess.” She added after a moment.

“You doing okay, Alex?” Jason asked, as he came alongside her.

She nodded, but didn’t reply, focusing on her breathing, as he glanced at Chloe. “Thanks for sticking with her. I’m going to do one more lap, then see what Heather wants to do next.” He advised.

Chloe gave him a thumbs-up, and he took off again, not quite as fast as before, but definitely fast enough that he knew he’d have felt the burn under normal circumstances. When he caught up with Heather, she glanced at him and raised her eyebrow again. “Shit you so happy for?” She asked, her breathing even and steady.

He shrugged again, “Getting back into the swing of things, I guess. Feels good. What’re you planning after this?”

“Thursday is weight room.” She advised. “Did you just lap me?”

Jason nodded, and smiled.

“Show-off.” She put on a burst of speed, and Jason quickly sped up to catch up and match her.

He kept pace with her as she sprinted for about 50 yards, then veered off the track, and jogged in place to cool down.

Jason smiled and continued his own sprint, until he got back around to his starting point one final time, then made a show of doing his own cool down close to Heather, waiting for the other two girls to catch up.

Chloe jogged up to them and leaned over, hands on her knees, breathing heavily.

“Where’s Alex?” Jason asked.

“She decided to walk.” She got out between breaths. “I decided to sprint the last bit.”

“Well, don’t stop moving as you cool down.” He advised, then glanced behind her, and spotted Alex rounding the bend in the track and moving their direction when she saw them together. She was also breathing heavily, but looked like she was already cooling down.

“What’s next?” She asked as she drew close.

“Weight room.” Jason and Heather said simultaneously.

Heather offered Alex her water bottle, and she took a few gulps. “Not too much, Shorty.” She warned.

Alex nodded, handing the bottle back. “Guess I should get my own.”

“If you plan to come regularly that could be a good idea.” Jason replied.

They took a minute helping Alex and Chloe to cool down before moving on to the weight room.

Heather’s routine was quite different than what Jason and Kate had done on Monday. She was interested primarily in sustained intensity, wanting to burn as many calories as she could in a relatively short time, but that was something Alex and Chloe couldn’t keep up with. So Jason and Heather coached the two girls through lighter workouts while they helped each other with a more strenuous version.

Jason matched Heather at first, but eventually wanted to test the limits of his magical effect, and discreetly increased the weight on one of his machines before pushing himself to go faster. He wasn’t able to raise more than he would have normally, but any twinge of muscle ache almost immediately disappeared no matter how fast he went.

But at some point, Chloe caught his eye, and shook her head, so he eased off a bit, glancing around to make sure no one was paying much attention to him. That was how his own attention was caught by Heather right as she was doing a leg press. Her thighs and calves tensed as she pushed the plate upwards, her arm muscles equally pronounced as she gripped the handles while breathing out. Her reclining position caused her chest to flatten out a bit, but her figure was still amazing.

He glanced away when she began to turn his way, but he was fairly certain she’d caught him staring. Even so, he refocused on his own lat pulls, but didn’t quite go back to the same intensity as before.

Altogether, they stayed at it for a good 30-40 minutes, and only Jason wasn’t sweating by the end. Chloe came up to him as they finished, a towel around her neck and her dusky skin glistening, to give him a hug. She smelled a bit salty from her sweat, but her natural cinnamon scent was still stronger.

“How’s it going?” She asked, breathing in his scent before pulling back to look up at him. “I saw what you were doing.”

“I was a little worried it would give me a ‘problem’ I would have to hide. But that hasn’t been an issue even a little, not even when I was caught staring at Heather on the leg press.”

“Think I didn’t see that shit?” They both turned, startled, as Heather came up to them, Alex at her side.

“It wasn’t intentional.” Jason insisted, “Just a momentary lapse.”

Heather sighed, but then smiled, “Woulda been fuckin’ disappointed if I hadn’t caught you at least once.”

Alex chuckled, still winded, but gave her blonde roommate a playful shove. “Don’t be mean to him.”

“Hey, I think we’re getting along better than we used to, right Brat?” Jason responded.

“Right, Dick-head.” She replied, causing both Alex and Chloe to share a look then smile.

“Well that’s amazing. Bout time you started to recognize what a beef-cake my Jason is.” Chloe said, nudging Jason in the side.

“Your Jason?” Heather raised an eyebrow at the Navajo girl’s declaration.

“Yeah, he’s been my best friend since Kindergarten.”

There was an almost pained expression on Heather’s face, but it was gone so quickly, Jason could almost believe he’d imagined it. A week ago, Jason might have put it from his mind. But he thought Chloe must have been rubbing off on him, because he immediately began wondering what could be the cause.

He followed the girls as they left the weight room and headed back towards the locker rooms, but his mind was occupied. He remembered Heather’s relationship with him was listed in the app as a rival and roommate. He also remembered that one of her higher attitudes was resentment. So what exactly did she resent him for? Was it something to do with Chloe? He didn’t think that could be it, she and Chloe had never been that close. But she and Kate were. But Kate was closer to his age, and had hung out with him a lot when they were younger, particularly when doing sports or other athletic activities. Kate and Alex were best friends, just as he and Chloe were.

He was rinsing off in the shower when a thought made him pause.

Alex was Heather’s best friend. But Alex and Jason had always been close, just as Alex and Kate had always been close. Maybe Heather felt left out. Maybe she wanted a friendship as close as… well any of theirs. Maybe she saw herself as a sort of second choice. Jason had more than one best friend, but Kyle didn’t resent that he was a little closer with Chloe.

Honestly, that was a bit of an understatement. He and Kyle were not quite as close as they once were, and here he and Chloe were dating. She was the first and only person he’d considered sharing the existence of the MRE app with.

He thought he might be on to something here. But by the time he was finished getting dressed, he had decided to consult with Chloe before moving forward with these revelations. He didn’t want to jump the gun, in case he was wrong.

But he checked the app once more before leaving the locker room.

Heather Chase

Relationship: Crush’s Brother (Revealed), Rival, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Jealousy 29 (Revealed), Affection 24 (+2), Resentment 15 (-1), Hostility 13 (-2), Loyalty 13, Dominance 12, Lust 10* (+3), Beholden 7, Playfulness 5 (+1)

Special Traits: Cocktease, Drama Queen

Hidden Traits: Secretly Bisexual (Revealed)

Active Effects: Awaken Attitude (Lust)

Well… he guessed that answered any lingering questions on that front…

Alexandra Kelly

Relationship: Brother, Confidant, Secret **** Partner

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 94, Love 72, Friendship 72, Playfulness 70, Loyalty 61, Protectiveness 49, Trust 45 (+1), Admiration 38, Worry 31 (+1), Lust 28, Submissiveness 14

Special Traits: Fantasy Crush, **** Kink, Taboo Kink

Suppressed Traits: Secret Shame*

Active Effects: Suppress special trait (Secret Shame).

Temporary Traits: Physical Exhaustion

Not as much change, though he chuckled a little at the physical exhaustion trait.

Chloe Yazzie

Relationship: Boyfriend, Co-Conspirator, Gaming Buddy

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 90, Friendship 74, Affection 70 (+1), Lust 63, Trust 59, Playfulness 46 (+1), Love 44, Protectiveness 42

Special Traits: Confidante, Partner in Crime

Hidden Traits*: Deeply Rooted Trauma, Self Loathing, Taboo Geass

Active Effects: Reveal hidden traits and details.

Even less change for Chloe, but he was happy with what was there. Then he checked Kate’s profile, but there were no changes, not that he really expected much.

But at that point, he felt he’d lingered long enough. He grabbed his things and exited the locker room to find Chloe and Heather waiting. “Alex doing okay?” He asked.

“I think she’s taking a little extra time under the shower.” Chloe explained with a shrug.

He nodded, but then turned to Heather, “Would you be willing to double check on her, just to be sure she’s not cramping up or anything?”

Heather gave him an odd look, but then nodded and went back inside, leaving her duffle bag on the ground beside them.

As soon as she was gone, he turned to Chloe, “Did you see that…” “I figured out some…” They both tried to talk at once, but then laughed. “You first.” Chloe said.

“I figured out something about Heather.” He repeated.

“That’s what I was going to say, you saw the look on her face when I called you a beef-cake?”

“It’s not just that.” He said, moving close, and getting out his phone. “I can’t show you right here but…” His words were cut off, and he glanced around, realizing there were more than a few people who were probably in earshot, even if they didn’t seem to be paying attention.

“Some things were revealed.” He said softly, leaning right up next to her to say it.

“I guess you’ll have to show me.” She said, her eyes sparkling.

It was then that Heather and Alex returned from the locker room, and Jason suppressed the urge to step away from Chloe, knowing that would look more suspicious than them standing so close together.

“Ready to head home?” Jason asked, stepping forward to get a better look at Alex, whose hair was still damp as she gave him a tired smile.

“I may have overdone it a bit.” She responded.

“Let’s get you home then.” Heather said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and guiding her out towards the car.

Chloe fell into step with Jason a little behind the other two girls, “You should offer to give her a massage when we get home.” She said with a smile. “That worked on Lynn.”

Jason chuckled, “It did, didn’t it? That’s a good idea.”

They had a lot to discuss, but Alex came first. He gave Chloe a one-armed hug before separating to unlock his car and get into the driver’s seat.