Intermission - Phone interrogation.

Oliver would just NOT give her the answers she wanted, no matter how much she tried interrogating him.

When Isabelle first went into his room, she caught him quickly closing a window in his computer, which was amusingly suspicious.

“Knock before you enter,” he grumbled.

“What were you watching?” Isabelle teased.

“Porn,” he answered.

“Ha Ha,” Isabelle laughed humorlessly. So he wasn’t watching porn, but also something he didn’t want to show her. Suspicioooous!

“So? How did it go?” Isabelle asked him.

“It was fun.”

“What did you guys do?”

“We watched the tournament. Pretty exciting stuff.”

“Did you guys… talk?”

“Hm? Of course.”

“What did you talk about?”

“Stuff. I tried sushi, by the way. I liked it, but I think mom would hate it, so don’t expect us to be having it for dinner in this house.”

“Dammit!”

Of course, Isabelle’s reasoning was flawed from the start. To get the answers she wanted, she had to go to a different source. And so, she left Cake in her brother’s room, grabbed her phone and went outside, to the backyard.

It was nearly 10:00 pm. It was dark and really cold, enough that she could see her breath in front of her. Generally speaking, Isabelle preferred the cold over heat, but liked her summer outfits more.

She gave the other party a call, and she answered fairly quickly.

“Isabelle? What is it?” Noelle asked innocently.

“Hey. How are you?”

“A little tired, but well.” Noelle giggled. “I walked a lot today.”

“So I heard. It’s why I’m calling, really. Oliver won’t say much, so I got a little worried that it might have been awkward for you two.”

“Oh, far from it!” Noelle laughed. She really had a cute laugh. “We had a great time. I got him to try sushi and he said he liked it.”

Huh. Well, good to know both stories seem to align.

“Are you sure he wasn’t a bother? I’m the one who suggested you go together, so I feel responsible…”

“No, not in the slightest,” Noelle insisted. “In fact… we talked a lot, far more than I thought we would. It’s so weird, you know? I’ve known him for at least a couple of years through you, yet only now am I REALLY getting to know him.”

Ooooh, that sounded interesting.

“So… you guys hit it off?”

“N-Not like that, okay?” Noelle began to sound flustered. Poor girl couldn't even hide her feelings through the phone. “It’s just… I always had this image of him as someone overly serious and hard to approach, but that was completely wrong. No, wait. Not… COMPLETELY wrong.”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“...I got hit on like four times today, you see,” Noelle started.

“Ugh.” Isabelle couldn’t help the groan that escaped her.

Out of Alice, Noelle and her, Noelle was the one who got hit on the most. It was easy to know why. Alice kind of gave off an aura that she had no time for relationships, and she told as much to people who asked, and Isabelle easily told off guys she wasn’t interested in. Noelle, however, on top of being cute as a button and having a very alluring figure, was… an easy target, as much as Isabelle hated referring to her friend like that.

She wasn’t an easy target in that she would go out with anyone who asked, but in that she was too kind and gentle to tell idiots to fuck off. Most guys were smart and decent enough to understand that when Noelle said she was busy, she meant she wasn’t interested. Those weren’t a problem. But then there are the few, not-very-decent idiots who keep pushing just because they think that if they keep asking they’ll eventually get a yes. Worst are the creeps who have no idea how to approach a girl, stand too close, smile too widely and for too long and stare too intently. Since Noelle is so short, guys probably see her as less intimidating to approach, and thus more of them tried.

“The first didn’t bother me, but the ones after him were…”

“Don’t hold it back, girl. You don’t need to be nice to everyone.”

“They were creepy.” Noelle said it like she regretted calling them that. “They smelled bad, too, and kept insisting even after I told them I was with a friend.”

“Seriously, some people!”

“I ended up looking to Oliver for help.”

“Oh? And did he help?”

“It was SO strange. The moment he walked up to them, it was like they were afraid of him and left immediately.”

“Hah?” People afraid of Oliver? Of her brother Oliver? The guy who wouldn’t harm a fly and 100% looked the part?

“It was like… He just glared and they all backed off. Well, one tried to start something, but a guard came up and threw him out.”

“I can’t picture Oliver picking a fight with anyone…”

“Neither can I. After it, Oliver always acted like it was no big deal. It was like…”

“Like…?”

“No, no. Forget that.”

“Come on, tell me!” Isabelle laughed. “It’s my brother, Noelle.”

“It’s… Ugh, it was like he didn’t want to let it bother me.”

Isabelle could clearly imagine her friend blushing on the other side of the phone.

“That’s likely,” Isabelle confirmed. “He’s like that. He hates seeing people uncomfortable. So this didn’t escalate into anything, right?”

“Of course not!”

“I meant with the creeps, Noelle,” Isabelle clarified with a smirk.

“O-Oh. W-Well, that too! Rather, that’s what I meant! Ugh.”

“God, you’re the cutest!” Isabelle laughed. “Okay, I’m done teasing you. Let’s talk more tomorrow.”

“Sure…”

“Good night, Noelle.”

“Good night.”

Well, that was an interesting conversation. Her brother intimidating other guys? It was no secret some people saw him as hard to approach, but intimidating? Though he had bulked up a bit… But he was so short for a guy… But he seemed to be having a growth-sprout…

Ugh. She HAD to stop thinking about Oliver so much. He didn’t need her worrying about him, and he probably didn’t want her to, anyway.

Regardless, if things went well for her in the next week, she wouldn’t have time to worry about him.

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