Intermission - A secret job (Part 2).

On the one hand, after she said that, she saw the number of viewers go down by about 60. Were those people who became disillusioned with her? It was a heavy blow to morale, really. Were they really here just hoping to get some attention out of a girl they didn’t know?

Maybe that was too harsh. Maybe most of the people who left simply didn’t like the fact she wasn’t focusing on playing the video game and made a fuss about something that happened in chat. That was fair, she believed. She’d need to be more careful about that in the future.

Then on the other hand, the chat was flooded with messages of praise and general encouragement. People saying they respected her more, or that it was good that she stood up for herself. It was nice to read, but she also had to be careful not to fall into an echo chamber, where she only listened to the people she wanted to hear.

Anyway, she couldn’t let the stream get caught up in that drama, so after things settled down a bit, she went back to playing the game and finished her usual night without any other issues.

Once the live-stream was off, Noelle Summers stood up from her desk chair in her bedroom and fell face-first on her bed with a loud groan. She played it cool and the chat forgot about the incident really soon. The numbers went up again when she started playing XIV, even. Maybe to the viewers it was nothing, but Noelle kept replaying the event in her head.

She messaged… YuriaSIMP01 and returned the money he donated. It was only fair. But even so, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She really did start livestreaming out of curiosity and kept doing it because it was fun.

Noelle Summers was a soft-spoken, even shy girl most of the time. She had a hard time opening up to people. Even Alice and Isabelle, her two closest friends, didn’t know she streamed video games as Yuria.

People didn’t know who Yuria was, and that helped Noelle act more outgoing than she was in real life. She didn’t need to worry about what would happen if someone at school found out. She could talk about things without worrying that her schoolmates would start nasty rumors about her like they did with so many other people.

She was being honest when she said she didn’t want to take advantage of people. She didn’t want to build her… ‘fanbase’ on what the internet called ‘simps’, people who showed excessive attention to someone in pursuit of affection or more. It wasn’t fair to them and it was awkward for her.

Her mind replayed her own words over and over.

‘I’m not seeing anyone right now, I don’t have a boyfriend, but I might at some point. I’d rather not lead anyone on, give anyone any sort of false hope.’ That’s what she’d said to her audience.

“Not that I’ve ever had a boyfriend…” she muttered to herself, her cheek pressed against her pillow.

Noelle had never had a boyfriend, but… there was someone she liked. Kind of. It was complicated.

Isabelle’s brother, Oliver. Ever since she first saw him she thought he was cute. Not only that, but he always striked her as kind and caring from what she could tell from her visits to her friend’s house.

He rarely refused a request and seemed to always thoroughly think his words over. What few words he said. Noelle… liked him, yes, but approaching him was difficult. He seemed like he didn’t enjoy people’s company, and sometimes even got a scary look on his face when people approached him. That, combined with Noelle’s own shyness to try to strike up a conversation, meant that they’d never really spoken.

Until now.

She didn’t know what happened, but Oliver was changing. That was plain for anyone to see. Anyone who paid attention to him, at least. Alice was noticing it, too.

That scary look on his face was mostly gone. He was smiling a lot more, not to mention speaking. He looked and felt more approachable, to the point Noelle dared to ask him to help with the cat she found. A little over the line, maybe, but…

She buried her head in her pillow and groaned into it.

Yes, Noelle had sort of liked Oliver since she first saw him, mostly because he was the boy she felt a sort of connection with. But now? Now that he was growing out of his shell? Now that he talked more? Now that he looked like a model in a sports magazine?

Now Noelle REALLY liked him, and it was too damn late.

Three absolutely stunning girls hung out with him all the time now. Rumors said he was three-timing, but everyone knew that was impossible. There was no way he could keep the affairs a secret from those three girls who were close as sisters. But even if those rumors were clearly wrong, one didn’t need to be a detective to know there was SOMETHING between the four.

And so, Noelle was too late. She had a million chances to try to talk to Oliver before, and she didn’t go for any of them. And she was regretting it now that he was better looking? Pathetic.

A small part of her believed she still had a chance, however small. She was going to help him and Isabelle take care of the kitten however she could. That would give her more opportunities to grow closer to him, if only she took them. But like always, she was afraid to.

What if he was already seeing one of the three girls? What if he had feelings for them? What if she was getting in the way? What if she appeared superficial, only showing interest now that he was hotter?

With a knot in her throat, Noelle couldn’t even scream into her pillow.