Kate’s reward doesn’t go as planned.

Chapter 3 – Putting a Plan Together (continued)

The shower was running when Jason and Kate got into the apartment. They each went toward their respective rooms, and once again Jason knocked on his bedroom door as he came in to make sure Alex was decent before he entered. He found her still on her bed working on her homework.

“I take it Heather’s in the shower?” He asked.

Alex shrugged, “I haven’t spoken with her, but that’s probably a safe assumption. She would have finished cheer practice a little while ago.”

“Yeah, that’s what Kate said.” Jason agreed.

Alex was staring at him when he returned from stowing his duffle bag in his closet. “Did you just get back from the gym?” She asked.

“Yeah.” He acknowledged, “I worked out with Kate. In fact, we made a bet, and she won. She’s gonna want her reward in a bit, and we agreed to do it in front of you and Heather so you could see me pay my penalty, I guess.”

“Oh.” She looked down at her lap. “I guess I can come out for that.”

“I’m really sorry for making things so awkward.” Jason started moving closer, but Alex shook her head and held up a hand.

“I’m still not ready to talk about it.” She muttered. “Let me know when you and Kate are ready.” She turned back to her homework, and Jason sighed again, but left her alone.

The shower had stopped by the time he got back into the living room, and Jason schooled himself not to glance back when the door opened followed by the bedroom door opening and closing.

He took the opportunity to check his phone for the first time since he’d gotten off work.

Alexandra Kelly

Relationship: Brother, Confidant

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 90, Friendship 71, Love 70, Playfulness 68, Loyalty 59, Protectiveness 49, Admiration 38, Trust 37, Worry 30, Lust 15 (+1), Submissiveness 13

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

Hidden Traits: Secret Shame

Temporary Traits: Conflicted, Depressed, Lesser Protective Ward

Still not much in the way or progress, or any clue of what he could do to make things better with his sister.

Katherine O’Connell

Relationship: Best Friend’s Brother, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 53, Affection 33, Friendship 30 (+2), Trust 20, Nostalgia 19, Protectiveness 19 (+1), Worry 10 (+1), Admiration 1, Lust 1 (+7)

Special Traits: Childhood Crush

Temporary Traits: Jealous Lust, Lesser Protective Ward

Jason smiled to finally see a positive lust trait from Kate. But then that first temporary trait made him frown. He thought back over their conversation coming home. Was Kate feeling jealous of Stephani?

Chloe Yazzie

Relationship: Boyfriend, Co-Conspirator, Gaming Buddy

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 90, Friendship 74, Affection 68, Lust 61 (+2), Trust 59, Playfulness 43, Protectiveness 42, Love 40 (+1)

Special Traits: Confidante, Partner in Crime

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

Active Effects: Reveal hidden traits and details.

So even with minimal interaction through texts, Chloe’s attitudes had changed a little since the previous night. He guessed it was mostly her own internal thought processes which had affected them.

“Hey, you.” Heather spoke from right behind him while at the same moment poking his shoulder, causing Jason to flinch and drop his phone on the desk in front of him, and Heather to burst out chuckling, “Oh, startled you, did I?” She managed to get out after a moment.

Jason tried to calm his pounding heart as he turned to regard his blonde roommate, her hair still damp, and dressed in a camisole and shorts combo that showed off plenty of her amazing figure while still looking comfortable enough to lounge around the house. “You seem to be in a good mood today.” Jason observed.

Heather shrugged, and Jason made sure to keep his eyes on her face, not wanting to give her any reason to get on his case. “Kate told me about your bet. I’m looking forward to this penalty you have to pay.” She explained with a smirk. “Also, I still owe you a favor for unzipping me on Saturday. When you planning on collecting on that?”

“I haven’t decided yet. Though if you keep acting nice to me like this, I might not need to.” Jason replied, causing Heather to frown.

“If you didn’t act like such a perv all the time, I wouldn’t get mad at you.” She replied.

Jason sighed, “What do you want from me, Heather? I live with a bunch of gorgeous women, and I’ve done everything I can to be on my best behavior for as long as we’ve all lived here. I don’t understand why it’s never enough for you.”

Heather cocked her head and regarded him seriously for a moment. “You say that. But I still think you could do a lot more. I know you know how to be nice; you should do that more often.”

Jason through his arms up, “I just said I’ve done everything I can.”

“No you haven’t.” Heather countered. “Besides, it only takes one moment to slip, and one of us has to hold you to account when you do. And god knows Kate and Alex aren’t going to do it.”

“What won’t we do?” Kate asked, having emerged from the bedroom wearing some of her skating gear in time to hear the tail end of Heather’s statement.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s between me and Jason.” Heather said, plastering a pleasant smile on her face for the sake of her red-haired roommate.

“Don’t be mean to my new gym buddy.” Kate said, giving Jason a smile.

Heather rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you get Alex out here so Jason can pay his penalty.” She suggested.

“I’ll get her.” Jason offered, getting to his feet, and picking up his phone, making sure the screen was off.

Heather and Kate stood aside as he walked to his bedroom door, and opened it a crack while knocking, “Hey Alex, Kate wants to collect on the bet now.”

“Okay, I’m coming.” Alex replied, and he heard the bed shifting, and a moment later saw her approaching the door.

“So what does Jason have to do?” Heather asked with barely restrained glee as the four of them converged in the living room.

“The bet was, the loser has to kiss the feet of the winner.” Kate explained.

“Actually, the loser gets to choose.” Jason reminded her.

“Oh yeah, feet or butt.” Kate said with a cute giggle.

“Wow, I wonder which one Jason’s gonna choose.” Heather exclaimed, glaring now at Jason.

“Hey!” Kate swatted at Heather’s shoulder. “Be nice.”

Alex didn’t offer a response, even though under most circumstances she would have, in Jason’s estimation.

“Thanks, Heather. Kate was trying to be nice by offering a choice, and now you’ve boxed me in and taken that choice away.”

“Oh fine!” Heather gave in, “Go ahead and **** her ass I guess. Why should I care, no one else in this house seems to.” She plopped down on the couch, her mood clearly souring.

Kate sighed, and looked apologetically at Jason. “I’m sorry, this is my fault. Maybe we just shouldn’t do this. I’ll release you from your penalty.”

Jason looked back and forth between Heather and Kate, and then looked to Alex, who didn’t seem to want to add anything. He sighed, “Maybe that’s for the best.” He agreed.

Kate turned and glared at Heather, who seemed genuinely surprised by her animosity over the topic. But Jason just watched Alex turn and return to their bedroom, seemingly uninterested in mediating the drama unfolding behind her.

“What?” Heather asked.

“Why do you have to ruin things for everyone?” Kate growled out.

“I’m not ruining anything.” Heather fired back, “Your bet gave Jason free reign to put his mouth on your ass! What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I was just trying to have some fun.” Kate replied, and Jason decided he didn’t want to get dragged into something between them, and gathered up his school supplies and slipped out the front door while the two girls were still yelling at each other.

Once he was in his car, he sat for a moment, realizing just how upset he was that his friends were fighting, and he **** himself to close his eyes and take several deep breaths. Parts of him were still sore from his workout, but it took only about a minute of meditation before he could open his eyes again and not feel like he could break down at any moment. So he took that opportunity to turn on his phone, which was still open to Chloe’s profile.

Chloe Yazzie

Relationship: Boyfriend, Co-Conspirator, Gaming Buddy

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 90, Friendship 74, Affection 68, Lust 61, Trust 59, Playfulness 43, Protectiveness 42, Love 40

Special Traits: Confidante, Partner in Crime

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

Active Effects: Reveal hidden traits and details.

So no change since earlier. But he was also still worried about Alex.

Alexandra Kelly

Relationship: Brother, Confidant

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Affection 90, Friendship 71, Love 70, Playfulness 68, Loyalty 59, Protectiveness 49, Admiration 38, Trust 37, Worry 31 (+1), Lust 15, Submissiveness 13

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

Hidden Traits: Secret Shame

Temporary Traits: Conflicted, Depressed, Lesser Protective Ward

Not much change, but that worry was again growing.

Katherine O’Connell

Relationship: Best Friend’s Brother, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Loyalty 53, Affection 33, Friendship 30, Protectiveness 21 (+2), Trust 20, Nostalgia 19, Worry 10, Admiration 1, Lust 0 (-1)

Special Traits: Childhood Crush

Temporary Traits: Lesser Protective Ward

Well, there went the positive lust trait. At least her protectiveness was going up, he supposed.

Heather Chase

Relationship: Rival, Roommate

Prominent Attitudes (out of 100): Hostility 23 (+1), Affection 21, Resentment 18 (+2), Dominance 11, Loyalty 10, Playfulness 4, Lust 4*

Special Traits: Cocktease, Drama Queen

Active Effects: Awaken Attitude (Lust)

Temporary Traits: Lesser Protective Ward

And only an increase in negative traits for Heather. He really hated how things were going with her. He needed to figure out how to turn that one around, somehow.

He still had some time before he had to get to class, but he didn’t feel like he could wait around at home, and so he started his car, and turned around to back up. Maybe he could get some work done at school before class started.