Where does the time go?

Two months? Two months. 60 days.

Wait.

…

So… Thinking about the house, the deal with Luke, university and just the future in general had the effect of making me lose track of time for a while. I was worried about the far future that I was blind to the future coming at me like a bullet train. This was something I realized on the bus back home.

WHAT THE FUCK!?

I WAS GRADUATING IN JUST A LITTLE OVER A MONTH!

I was quiet in my seat because there was a lady with a sleeping baby sitting next to me, but inside I was panicking and freaking out. I mean, fuck, somehow I’d forgotten I was a senior! We would graduate before school officially ended! In our school, that meant the middle of June.

What the hell? Where did the time go!? I was hiding in my secret unused classroom just yesterday! Now I had a month until graduation? I mean, yeah, I knew we had finals coming up, but I didn’t make the connection somehow. This was all making my headache even worse. Just because Frey wasn’t reading minds anymore didn’t mean the pain would just fade, apparently.

God, I felt like a huge idiot. I kept thinking we had more time than we actually did. School would officially end in two months, but we’d be graduating before that. That… also meant prom. It meant university applications. And that was all on top of this whole deal with Luke.

My head was spinning. I got off the bus with one last stumble and went into my house more tired than I’d ever been since before Frey came into the picture.

Still, there were things that needed to be done.

I was late, but mom and Isabelle stayed with me in the kitchen while I had dinner. I took the opportunity to tell them I had finally agreed to work with Luke Allen, recounting how the whole thing had gone.

Mom sighed. “Let’s hope it all goes well. At this point my worry is that the process of making this… elixir isn’t too demanding on you.”

“Yeah, you don’t actually know how it’ll be, right?” Isabelle asked.

“No, but Frey says it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“When do you start?” mom asked.

“Luke, that is, Mr. Allen, wants to start experimenting as soon as possible, but the people who know how to make the thing aren’t in the country. They’ll arrive in two days.”

“And you also asked to work in his hotel?” Isabelle asked me with a raised eyebrow. “Why? Aren’t you doing enough by helping him with the elixir? He can’t make it without you, right?”

“...” I smiled. “Imagine that, for whatever reason, this elixir thing falls through eventually. Mr. Allen can’t pay me to make more, or he can’t make more, or he doesn’t want to work with me anymore, or maybe I lose the ability to make it altogether. I want to build skills that would help me work in something, well, normal. If I just work making that elixir, I wouldn’t know how to do anything else. Sure, ideally I’d make a living out of music which is what I like, but learning new skills and getting real work experience can only be a benefit.”

“Ah.” Isabelle blinked, then sank her neck between her shoulders. “When you put it that way… Maybe I should get a regular job, too.”

Mom chuckled. “I don’t know how I feel about you working at a love hotel, but that’s a lot more normal than what you’ll actually be doing. Besides, a job is a job. And speaking of, what will you do about your current job?”

I groaned. “I’ll have to quit, obviously, but I don’t want to leave Maria in a bad spot. I’ve been telling her to hire more people for a while. I think she’s rejecting people because most of them… Well…”

“They’re girls trying to get close to the waiter, aren’t they?” Isabelle asked, grinning teasingly.

“Yeah…” Then a lightbulb lit up in my head. “Wait. Sis. You.”

“Huh?”

“Go work at the coffee shop. I bet it’s something you could do far better than me.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” mom said. “Work with your brother for a while. He’ll teach you the ropes before going to his next job.”

“Working as a waitress? Hmm… That doesn’t sound too bad. Let me think about it.”

Another thing I did that night was talk to Frey.

When I opened my eyes to find myself in the world of my dreams, I shot my dear Frey a smug smirk which made her float away from me.

“W-What?” she asked.

“You did it. Luke and Jennifer were sure you wouldn’t be able to, but you did it. You read her mind like a book.”

Frey groaned. “No I didn’t. That wasn’t mind reading, exactly, was it? I was only able to tell if she was telling the truth or not. You know, read her feelings. And I only managed to do it because you have six girls feeding me energy, and let’s not forget that your good friend and subcontractor Thomas is also putting in work.”

Riiight. Frey had shared a small part of her powers with Thomas, creating a connection between us. Now, when he had sex, the energy from it went directly to Frey, too.

“Still. Don’t you think this means you’re stronger than what you think you are?” I asked her.

Frey crossed her arms and fidgeted in the air, grumbling. “I… Well… I guess I underestimated how much having a surplus of energy would change things. I’ll just… You know, I’ll have to think about some stuff, perfect some spells, try more ideas.” Despite the lack of a real face, I knew Frey was smiling. “But yes, I suppose I AM capable of more. Can’t rest on my laurels, though. Giving energy to make the elixir would’ve been the easiest thing in the world, but SOMEONE just haaaad to say they wanted to learn how to make it. Now we’ll BOTH need to put in more work! Thanks a lot.”

“Oh, and you’re telling me you aren’t curious about how to make it? I thought it would be right up your alley.”

“That’s completely besides the point. Do you have any idea how much work I have now? I need to fix the rune spells that were malfunctioning, I need to create new ones, I need to improve our mental defenses, I need to find a way to be more efficient with the energy we have…”

“Yeah, well, share my pain and know my suffering. I have a lot on my plate, too.”

“Oh yeah. What the hell are you gonna do about this prom thing? Isn’t that a thing where you just take one person as a date?”

I sighed. “Plenty of friends go as a group. That’s not the issue.”

“Then what is?”

“That I don’t like prom. Or more like parties in general. I wasn’t planning on going to the thing, but… All the girls will want to go.”

“Well, then suck it up.”

“That’s the plan.”

Frey laughed, and when she stopped, she looked at me with an apologetic gaze. “Hey, Oliver… Sorry about the headaches. You okay?”

“I’m fine. Just let me actually get some sleep.”

“Sure. We’re gonna be very busy from now on.”

Yep.

Very busy.

Patreon.