The following morning, Mason walked through the academy's hallways with his shoulders slouched forward and dark circles visible from lack of sleep after having spent most of last night with Tiffany and her insanely high libido for someone who had never had sex up until she met him.
'Kitanai, remind me never to make that mistake when it's school hours the next day,' He thought to himself while looking at everyone else walking about normally.
[On the bright side, you gained lots of views yesterday. You should be happy about that]
'You know what? Fuck that! I'm tired as hell. I don't care if I got a lot more views or whatever. I just want to go back home already. I need several more showers. I feel as though I smell like sex, more so, I feel like shit, damn felt disgusting afterward. I can barely walk straight, it's most certainly not like those unrealistic hentai marathons for someone I'm not interested in.'
He had been so preoccupied with his thoughts on how to break things off with Tiffany that he hadn't noticed when he bumped into someone who was standing in front of him.
"Oh I'm so sorry," The person said while turning to face him with a smile on their lips which caused him to look up at them in confusion. "I didn't realize I was in the way."
Mason looked up to see Fiona wearing a pair of green shorts and a white tank top underneath a long black coat. Her hair was tied back behind her head and she looked absolutely stunning. She also appeared slightly nervous but still managed to give him an inviting grin as well as flash him one of those beautiful smiles of hers before speaking again, "It's nice seeing you here." She paused before adding, "Again."
Mason stared blankly for a moment, trying desperately not to let his mind wander off track from where this conversation seemed to be heading while he tried his best not to think about how much he wanted to kiss her right then and there even though he knew it would probably end badly.
"Did you have any sleep?" Fiona asked in concern, her focus on his face.
'Fuck! I had forgotten people had eyes to notice this shit!'
"I was studying... forgot to keep track of time." Mason lied with a frantic nod of his head.
She gave him another glance before continuing, "I hope everything is okay between us?"
'Seduce, you moron, don't blow your chances!' He took a deep breath while shaking the cobwebs out of his brain while saying simply, "Yeah... it's fine..." He added with a slight nod of his head followed by giving her a small smile as they both continued walking down the hallway together. Mason felt as though something wasn't quite sitting right with him as far as what exactly was going through Fiona's mind at any given time during their encounter yesterday evening as well as what was happening now–walking together as though they were friends or even more than that.
"So what are you doing today? Are you free? Do you have plans or anything like that?" She asked while looking around nervously.
"Depends on the occasion," He replied quickly, "but I won't mind making time for some fun if the opportunity presents itself."
Fiona smiled widely and blushed lightly before replying in a soft voice filled with excitement and nervousness all rolled into one, "I'd love it if you could signify for the school trip tomorrow."
Mason stopped in place and turned to face her fully. He raised an eyebrow in confusion as he said slowly as he looked her up and down once again as he spoke, "What do you mean?"
She looked up to meet his gaze directly while smiling brightly again but this time she looked almost embarrassed when she said softly but clearly so everyone nearby would hear, "You know... we're supposed to go camping outside of the city. It's part of our extracurricular activities, I mean if you'd like to gain extra credit points that is."
'Blah blah blah,' He thought to himself, feeling slightly bored about reliving activities that reminded him of his high school days.
"It's a week's worth of camping, hiking, and survival training, and it'll be a lot easier to bear if we have more people along with us since it will make it less boring too," She added with a smile as though trying her best not to look as awkward as possible as she continued speaking, "we can talk more later after class or something..." Her eyes darted away from him briefly as though she was suddenly shy or uncomfortable which caused Mason to feel somewhat relieved at first until he realized what was going on here: Fiona was smitten in some little way after their encounter last night.
"Have you spoken with Grant about this? I can't seem to know where that fucker is these days." He asked while giving Fiona another glance over before continuing walking down the hallway towards their next destination while thinking silently to himself how much better things were between them now than they had been before yesterday evening despite the fact that they were still technically strangers who barely knew each other and hadn't even held a lengthy conversation for the most part.
Fiona gave him an apologetic grin as they walked side by side, "he hasn't shown up for classes today either and he didn't answer his phone when I called him earlier today, but don't worry, he's probably held up by his father's company again as usual, but I'm sure he'll show up eventually." She paused momentarily to take a deep breath then let out a sigh of relief followed immediately afterward by adding in a soft voice filled with excitement once again, "I've never gone camping before! None of us have. It should be fun!"
Mason nodded slowly in response to her words. "What's with the change of clothes? Weren't we meant to be in... you know...' he pointed to his and others in uniform while looking back at her questioningly as though asking her if she'd forgotten about that part already, making it sound like it was all just one big joke and nothing more serious than that while also trying to hide his embarrassment about being dressed like this in front of everyone else.
"Oh yeah," She replied quickly. She looked around nervously. "My top surprisingly couldn't fit over my umm... chest so I had to improvise and alert the board members ahead of time."
"You're kidding me right?" Mason said with a raised eyebrow before shaking his head slightly with disbelief before continuing with a chuckle, "You look great." He added before turning away from Fiona briefly and facing forward again before saying quietly under his breath with a smile on his lips as well as feeling somewhat embarrassed, 'And you smell good too...' He thought as he continued walking down the hallways toward their next class.
Fiona blushed lightly as she heard what he whispered into thin air as they both walked together towards their class.
"Would you promise to be here on the weekend for the trip? I mean, I know that's not really your thing, but I would love for someone I'm familiar with to come along with us." She asked while giving him another glance over before smiling brightly at him again.
Mason smiled at her and nodded his head, "sure," he replied simply before turning around while thinking, 'fuck!'
*****
The following day, Mason held tightly to his backpack for the trip. He was dressed in black cargo pants and a white t-shirt underneath a black army jacket which he wore unzipped halfway across the front as usual since it was still warm outside despite it being late fall now. His hair was in an undercut style today as usual as well as having been trimmed short enough so that it wouldn't get caught up or tangled up by anything during their hike through nature later that afternoon.
'To the viewers, I have those hairstyles that are typical of a hentai main character on a low budget, right?'
[If that's how you want to describe it, yes]
'Great! I can give them a show and earn more cash while at it.'
[Would you like to see your stats, host?]
'No, until we're on the bus.'
He glanced up when Tiffany came up beside him while wearing similar attire except she had opted out of carrying any sort of bag instead choosing to carry only two large water bottles filled with fresh springwater inside them and a small first aid kit strapped to her waistband with a pair of hiking boots on her feet and a long brown leather coat draped over her shoulders like a cape with a hood covering most of her face as well as a thick scarf wrapped around the lower half of her neck as though trying to keep herself warm as they made there way towards the school bus parked nearby.
'Sigh, don't get attached to me. I'm not interested." He had wanted to say but forced a smile as he tried striking a conversation.
"You look ready." He said as he looked back down at his pack before looking ahead again.
"I'm always prepared," She replied confidently before adding, "You should try packing light more often."
"You look like you're ready for some fashion show on top of everything else you're doing right now!" Mason added quickly while glancing over once again with a smile on his lips, "You're going to be hotter than hell if you don't take care of yourself better soon! You'll be burning alive in no time flat without proper protection from the sun's rays and heat waves coming off the ground beneath your feet..."
"I can handle the heat." She replied with a grin, reaching out for his arm, but to her dismay, he took a step back and began with the words she dreaded, "Tiffany... about that night..."
"Nooo!" Tiffany immediately cut his words short, "Don't say it!" she hissed, shaking her head in disbelief.
'C'mon! Don't be delusional!' Mason deadpanned.
He had thought she understood when she offered herself so willingly, but her reaction to his words even though not completely proved otherwise. He understood she was merely sexually attracted to him and just wanted to have an edge over Fiona. Not wanting to give her any false hope, he held her wrist and pulled her closer, searching her eyes, "I have no feelings for you, please don't get any funny ideas. You're a lovely girl, but not the one I'd like to be fuck buddies with... at least not anymore, I shouldn't give you delusional ideas that we'd be together."
"F... fuck buddies?" Tiffany stuttered, her eyes wide in shock. "It's because of her, isn't it?"
Mason shrugged and patted her head like a pet, flashing a charming smile, "I'm sorry I couldn't resist your tempting offer then, all I can say is live a better life with someone who will take your feelings as a treasure worth keeping."
"B–but..."
"Mason!" Fiona called out cheerfully, pulling Grant along behind her. "Look who I found wandering the halls alone this morning. It looks as though someone is feeling a little bit lonely today and this idiot wanted to ditch the trip. Maybe you could talk some sense into him?" She asked while giving him a wink.
"I... I should go." Tiffany muttered under her breath, feeling she had been relegated to the background, "I'm sorry to have disturbed you."
Fiona could feel the tension in the air, wondering what she had interrupted with her presence as Mason and Tiffany's silence while locking eyes spoke volumes.
"Uhh... did we interrupt something?" Fiona spoke out, switching her gaze from both parties before Tiffany walked toward the bus.
"What was it that you said I needed to talk to him again?" Mason asked excitedly, surprising Fiona with his instant switch to a mischievous vibe as he pulled Grant to his side, ruffling his hair and laughing as his friend struggled to break free while screaming at the top of his lungs, "Let me go, you fucker!"
*****
Author's Note
If you've read this far, how about donating your power stone to my book, if I get a huge turn up, I can dish out more chapters (aside the usual 2-3) in a day.