A shared passion.

The snacks the girls brought were… not to my personal taste, let’s say. Diet soda, beet chips, sour cream and onion flavored banana chips… Nope, I still can’t bring myself to like those, but everyone else ate them with no problem.

Reminder: these girls all cared about their figure. They all exercised and ate as healthily as they could, only indulging every once in a while. It made sense they didn’t eat potato chips or drank too sugary sodas.

We sat around the living room, with the snacks on the coffee table in the middle. Cake was running around and often playing with the feathered toy Noelle was wiggling for her.

“We heard about the new science lab they’re building,” Grace said. “Was that your idea?” she asked Alice.

“You think it’s that easy to put a plan like that into action? No, it was last year’s administration’s only proposal. I did help them write it, but I can’t claim credit for it.”

A part of me was glad to hear that. I think that if it was Alice’s idea, I would’ve held a grudge against her, which would’ve been stupid, since she wouldn’t have done it out of malice against me or anything like that. The room wasn’t even mine, so I had no business getting mad at losing it, anyway. But still…

“I hear even the teachers are kind of pissed, though,” Alice added.

“The teachers? Why?” Mila asked.

“We’re on the fourth floor, so we don’t hear it,” Isabelle started explaining, “but the classrooms in the second and third floors have to deal with all the ruckus of people working during classes.”

“They’re working during classes? Why would they do that?” I asked.

Noelle answered my question. “The principal wants to get it done as soon as possible, so he’s having them work all day. The teachers are angry because students can’t concentrate. And with midterms coming soon…”

“Speaking of midterms,” Alice grinned and looked at Mila. “Have you been studying?”

“You look fat in the shirt, Alice,” was Mila’s response.

“There’s my answer, I guess.” She simply laughed it off. “I don’t need to ask Grace, so how about you two?” she asked Sarah and I.

“A little,” Sarah answered. “I’ll cram next week.”

“I… I’ve been studying at least 20 minutes every night,” I said. “Not sure it’s enough, though.”

“Not the best,” Grace said. “But it means you won’t have to pull all-nighters next week. You’ll be fine. Still, you’re cordially invited to study with Mila, Sarah and I.”

I nodded with solemn politeness. “I’ll accept that invitation, thank you.”

“Gah, enough of school crap!” Sarah groaned. “Leave that for tomorrow at least. There’s something I brought today and I wanted to show Oliver.”

We all stared with curiosity as Sarah got something from her backpack. It looked big, like a box. When I saw the first glimpse of shimmering plastic, I knew what it was, but I didn’t dare believe it. Then Sarah fully pulled it out of her backpack and showed it to us.

“Tah-dah!” She grinned from ear to ear.

In her hands was an arcade stick. An arcade stick with eight brown colored buttons and a yellow ball top. That was a shock in itself, but what was even more surprising was the print on the plastic plate, showing the picture of the character Sarah had played last time we played fighting games in my room. It was a young woman wearing a yellow coat and black stockings, wearing a hat with a license plate on it. Her ridiculously long blonde hair flowed around her and made several flower shapes.

“Y-You got one!?” I asked, jaw hanging.

“Arrived in the mail the other day. Had it customized,” Sarah grinned, looking happy at my shock. “What do you say? Want to play?”

The surprises didn’t stop there, though.

“Y-Y-You guys play GG!?” It was Noelle who asked, standing from her chair. Once she realized all eyes turned to her, though, she sat back down slowly, all stiff, bashful and with her cheeks matching the color of her hair.

“I mean…” I started, but Sarah got ahead of me.

“I only just started, but Oliver’s played for a long time. You play, too?”

“Y-Yes…”

“Noelle’s really into games,” Isabelle said. “You should see her bedroom, Oliver. You’d die from jealousy. She has every console.”

“I-Isabelle!”

“S-Seriously?” I asked. I had to quell the excitement growing in my chest.

Video games weren’t that niche a hobby as I heard they once were, but I still never had friends who played them.

“Then what are we doing here? Let’s go play!” Sarah said, standing from her seat with arcade stick in hand.

W-Wait. She meant… going to my room? I left the window open, so it wasn’t the lingering smell of sex that worried me. I looked around, and everyone else was standing up as well.

Five girls plus my sister. Seven people in my bedroom. My tiny bedroom. That I was the only guy here only made things more awkward. Then again, I don’t think other guys being here would make things any better.

Next thing I knew, my sister, our five guests, our cat and I were all in my room. At the very least four people could sit at the edge of the bed shoulder to shoulder and facing the computer screen. Then there was my desk chair, and Isabelle brought two more chairs from downstairs. We… fit, but moving around was impossible without bumping into someone else.

“I’m sorry for the… tight space,” I said.

“No, no. Sorry for intruding,” Alice said.

She and Noelle were looking around with curiosity. Noelle’s eyes lingered on my bookshelf, on the small collection of art books I had while Alice examined my guitar.

I set up the computer, plugged my and Sarah’s arcade sticks and started the game. It still felt awkward for me. Sure, Sarah wanted to play, but I felt like we’d dragged everyone else here. Mila and Grace weren’t that into games, and it didn’t look like Alice was, either. Noelle looked uncomfortable, and Isabelle… Well…

“Anyone mind if Noelle and I go first?” Sarah asked.

“Me? Really?” Noelle asked.

“Please, go ahead,” Grace said.

“I have no idea how to play this, so I’m happy to just watch,” Alice said.

“I’m betting $2 on Noelle!” Mila said. “Who’s taking it?”

“The hell? You’re betting against me?”

“Well, you suck, Sarah.”

“Very well, I’ll take that bet. $2 on the underdog,” Alice said, chuckling.

“Did you ever think your room would become an underground betting spot?” Isabelle teased me.

“This doesn’t count.”

“H-Hey, it’s not like I’m good, okay?” Noelle clarified. “I like it, but…”

“It’s fine. So long as you don’t let me win, that is,” Sarah told her.

The girls went into the character select screen, chose their characters and jumped into the game. Two rounds later, Sarah lost by a good margin.

“See?” Mila said, smirking. “You suck. Now, Alice, fork the money over!”

“I was hoping for an upset…” Alice sighed and gave Mila a couple of bills.

“Oliver, avenge me!” Sarah told me, passing me her arcade stick.

“S-Sure…”

I navigated the menus and we went back to character select. I still couldn’t shake off the awkward feeling, and maybe some of it had to do with my lingering frustration and the fact that there were so many girls in my room.

Just… focus on the game, Oliver. Focus on the game, press the buttons, do the combos, watch out for the burst and oh god I won with a perfect.

For those of you who may not know, a ‘perfect’ is what it’s called when you win a round without taking any damage at all.

I was about to be overcome with shame. I knew well the feeling of getting beat in a game that badly. It was demotivating, and I didn’t want to make someone feel that way, especially a girl who was playing mostly because we pushed her into it. But then…

“No! No way!” Noelle burst into laughter. “No way you got a perfect!”

“Avenged!” Sarah cheered, raising her arms and laughing along.

“Huh. So Noelle sucks, too,” Mila teased.

“I don’t suck!” Noelle puffed her cheeks. “Let’s go again!”

“There she goes…” Isabelle laughed. “Noelle can get really competitive, too.”

“Only when it comes to games, though,” Alice added, laughing with the others.

We played again, and after I won again (not with a perfect this time), we started passing on the arcade sticks and letting others play. Alice and Isabelle said they were okay with just watching, and they seemed to be having a good time, too. Little by little, the awkwardness I was feeling began to fade away.

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