Love Addict’s RPG Vol 2. Ch. 84

Sorry for the wait, took longer than estimated and I had an internet outage for most of my working hours yesterday so that got in the way, too. All done with the material for the current outline, which means I’ve got to write a big plan for the next chunk of the book before more chapters can come out. Should be pretty straightforward since I have a very solid idea of where things are going but we’ll see how long it takes me.

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"Hey, uh... what's up, guys? Name's LazySloth Gaming, I guess. So, um. Here's the thing. I'm gonna be a fuckin' streamer or some shit... I... agh, this is fuckin' stupid- are you sure I have to... really? Okay, okay... you're the boss, I guess. Let's just pretend that didn't happen and give this another shot..."

Morbid curiosity filled Oliver as he watched his phone. A poor-postured girl was hunched over in her seat, wearing a baggy purple tracksuit with a high collar covering half her face. Nervous sweat oozed down every pore of her pale skin. Her dark green hair was absurdly long and so matted it looked like the concept of a brush was utterly alien. 

Paying closer attention to the girl's face highlighted a pair of eyes even sharper and angrier than they were today, with bags so dark they looked painted on. One key difference between then and now was the sense of anxiety present behind her twitchy gaze. They still darted left and right and all around- seemingly everywhere but her camera- but they did so out of fear rather than a caffeine addiction.

There wasn't a trace of the charismatic performer Oliver knew Zoe as nowadays. Forget interesting commentary or silly jokes- she was dead silent for most of her stream. The loudest she ever got was when raging at her game, and when she did actually speak, it was in a series of angry, incoherent grumbles at best and dismissive, one-word responses at worst.

She was flailing, desperate for a helping hand, and constantly looking to her left-hand side where someone sat just out of frame. Mia. No doubt she was there to offer constant encouragement, and for the most part, it worked. Oliver even noticed Zoe's hand slipping out of frame several times.

It calmed her down a lot whenever Mia presumably held it for her.

"Feral and clingy," Oliver repeated after watching for about five minutes. "You guys weren't kidding."

"Wish we were, but them's the breaks," Julio hummed.

"God. She looks like a runaway who's been living on the streets."

"Might as well have been," Juan laughed darkly. "Ain't that right, Julio?"

"Sadly so. Zoe wasn't doing so hot after high school. Or during, really. Took a long time to pull her out from that abyss. Time, and the most supportive, loving, and caring person on the planet."

Oliver recalled Zoe saying how much help Mia had given her over the years. He hadn't understood how badly she really needed it until now. The girl on screen looked like she couldn't make it alone, and he had a pit in his stomach just from thinking about it.

With rising sympathy, Oliver paused the video and put away his phone.

"I want to ask how she ended up like that, but I feel the answer leads to my second question..."

"Which is?" Julio asked.

"Zoe's parents. Do you guys know anything about what's going on with them?"

Juan cackled softly as he finished whittling one of the petals on his wooden flower. "Snooping around a girl's back, huh? Pretty underhanded of you, hermanito."

"You broke into my house not even an hour ago- you're the last guy I wanna hear that from. Call it whatever you want, I just want to understand Zoe better."

"Shouldn't always be in such a rush," Julio took a long, slow drag. "Think this is something you'd naturally learn after you spend more time with her."

"Of course. I wouldn't normally go behind someone's back and ask questions like this- it's just that I want to speed things along so that I can better help Zoe and put all this drama behind us."

It took Julio a second to acquiesce with a nod. "For starters, I'll square away what you're most worried about. Zoe wasn't abused."

"No?"

"Nah," Juan agreed. "Not in the traditional sense."

"That sounds potentially worse..."

"Can't say," Julio shrugged. "All I know is that her parents got it fucking made, sí? Dad's a lawyer with his own firm, Mom's a world-class surgeon or some shit. Any idea where I might be going with this, hermanito?"

"I have a guess or two, sadly. Are these the kind of people who think buying their kid whatever they want is all being a good parent takes?"

"Worse. They're the kind of people who think buying their kid whatever they want is a substitute for ever having to interact with them at all. Way I've heard it is that neither of 'em took an active interest in Zoe whatsoever."

"She talks about 'em on stream every now and then," Juan added with a scowl. "Fuckers were almost never home at the same time, and on the off chance they were? They'd be shouting in each other's faces and shit."

"Christ..." Oliver sighed, rubbing his eyes. "So it's the old 'we need to stay together for the kid's sake' gem, huh? Because that always works. Can't say it doesn't explain a few things, though."

"Mn. Known some other girls who grew up in similar circumstances. A few guys, too. One thing most of 'em have in common is-"

"An obsessive need for attention?"

"Good guess, hermanito. How'd you figure that one out, huh?" Juan smirked.

"Wasn't exactly hard, seeing as I suffer from the same exact thing..."

"Good on you for owning up to it," Julio said. "Now, how about the plan then, mn? I'd hope your experiences taught you more or less what you need to do without us spelling it out."

"Yeah. I need to keep pushing until Zoe feels even more loved offline than online. The tricky part is that her job's on the internet, and it's not like she can quit. The best I can do is work on getting her to stream less. The good news is that she's receptive to the idea, but it's still gonna be an uphill battle, and I'm worried that if I push too hard, she'll get annoyed, but if I push too little, I won't make any progress..."

The twins took in every word of Oliver's meticulous mental gymnastics, listening to him vent so they had a better idea of what to say to him in response. He'd asked for their help, so that's precisely what he'd get.

"You need to fucking go for it, ese," Juan finally finished carving his wooden flower and thumped the table both in celebration and to make a point. "You're overly worried about annoying the girl."

"I'm overly worried about a lot of things. It's regrettably my thing."

"No shit, so stop it already! In times like these, there's no such thing as pushing 'too hard' hermanito."

"You wanna maybe phrase that so it doesn't sound quite as rapey, or...?"

"Not what I fucking meant," Juan chugged his beer in shame. "I'm not that kind of guy! Christ, that's cold. All I'm saying is that when you're trying to help someone, you need to look at the bigger picture and not freak out about stepping on their toes, sí?"

Oliver took the advice to heart and clenched his fists, his eyes firing up. "You're right. Whatever I do will end up pissing her off one way or the other, so I might as well just suck it up and work on my shamelessness."

"Shamelessness is good," Julio asserted. "Might go so far as to say there's no better tool when it comes to pursuing the opposite sex. Shamelessness shields you from rejection. Keeps your eyes trained on the prize. Good trait to have, all in all... long as you don't go too far with it."

Oliver and Julio both glanced at Juan, who missed the implication. They moved on.

"Just to be sure, you're thinking I should recklessly push ahead, too?"

"I am," Julio hummed.

"Okay, cool. It's just that usually whenever Juan makes a suggestion, you immediately rebut it, so-"

Juan placed a hand on his brother's shoulder, smiling like a smarmy asshole. "Rare, ain't it? Always brings a tear to my eye... seeing Julio have the right idea about something, I mean."

He promptly got a face full of smoke blown on him. There was swearing in the aftermath, followed by punches. Oliver had grown entirely numb to their routine by this point and let things play out so they could get back on track.

Eventually, Julio clarified his stance.

"Zoe was always shameless, even before she started playing it up for the camera. Mimi and Rebecca? They're meek. Can't stand up to her, and since her parents had fuck all to do with her, no one ever really has. Thinking you'll get far with her if you dig your feet in, look her in the eye, and refuse to yield."

"Even when I'm saying or doing stuff that'll piss her off?" Oliver thought ahead to pulling the plug on the router tomorrow like he'd promised.

"Especially then. Don't take this the wrong way, but there are some girls out there who need themselves a man who straight up doesn't give a shit, sí? Someone who'll stand up to 'em. Pull the rug out from under their feet and tell 'em what's what. Willing to bet a lot Zoe falls into this camp."

"Uh," alarm bells started ringing in Oliver's head. He understood what Julio was getting at. It was just the way it was phrased that troubled him greatly. "Standing up to Zoe and calling her out on her shit is one thing, but not giving a shit and telling her what to do? I appreciate the advice, but that's too 'alpha male influencer' for my tastes."

Julio was on the verge of elaborating when his brother's ears perked up, and his eyes sparkled. "Shit, ese- you talking about ViperTaint? I fucking love that guy!"

God fucking damn it, Oliver's soul hurt as he closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

Upset as he felt, someone was even more so.

"Fuck did we say about following toxic male role models, idiota?" Julio barked, sounding legitimately pissed as he smashed his brother upside the head.

He used his cast. It wasn't an accident- and he didn't even utter a single 'mierda'. Didn't stop at one, either.

"Puta madre!" Juan recoiled. "I don't fucking listen to his advice about girls and shit- I just like the vids where he flexes his cars and jewelry and mansions shit! Fuck, Julio! Fuck- fuck!"

"Unfollow the fucking misogynist, pendejo. Now. Fucker's locked up in Romania's deepest, darkest dungeon for a goddamn reason."

"Okay! Christ! Okay, fuck-" Juan whipped out his phone and did the thing, which Oliver found quite comforting. He liked Juan and didn't want to reconcile with the guy being a fan of the biggest douchebag influencer on the planet. At least he was only a mild one.

It also increased his respect for Julio, enough to hear him out after he dulled his violent pain by finishing his current joint and smoking half a new one in a single drag.

"Let me try that again," he sighed, exhaling more smoke than a furnace. "When I say don't give a shit about Zoe's feelings, I'm not telling you to talk down to her like a child. I'm just saying I think there's a shot she's the type who'd respond well to authority. Not sexist to point out some chicks are legitimately into that, is it?"

"No, not at all. My bad for jumping the gun." Oliver apologized. He'd also nearly commented about how Mia also dug authority before thinking better of it. "You could be onto something, for all I know. I've actually tried calling her out on a few things already, but..."

"You chicken out?" Juan held out a hand, hoping for a puff to deal with his head trauma.

Julio obliged.

"Essentially, yeah. Zoe tunes me out whenever I say something she doesn't want to hear."

"Mn. Take it you don't push back because you're afraid of making it worse?"

"Exactly. Are you saying I should?"

"Would be a good place to start, sí. That and to stop being scared of stepping on her toes overall. Get that you don't wanna piss her off, but you're stuck thinking short-term. She might not like what you have to say, might even get mad when you say it, but in the long run? Shit's not gonna stick. Not if she actually likes you."

"Take it from me," Juan handed back Julio's joint. "You can get away with being pretty fucking annoying so long as a chick's into you. Even better, if the shit you gotta say actually helps her out? Then you aren't just an asshole giving her lip. You're her savior, hermanito."

"Huh..." Oliver stared into the bottom of his empty beer glass.

He was indeed overly cautious in most of his conversations with Zoe. He usually earned an affection penalty whenever he pointed out inconvenient truths. Oliver never liked seeing those pop up, which led him to adopt his current slow and steady approach. He was ready to try something new if it meant speeding things up.

Intentionally pissing Zoe off still seemed counterintuitive, though.

The dudes vetting this strategy weren't exactly card-carrying MENSA members- but they had plenty of experience winning over chicks. In contrast, Oliver had virtually none since Mia was just about handed to him on a silver platter. If there was a single thing in the world that the twins knew what they were talking about, this was maybe it...

Emphasis on maybe.

It's worth a shot, Oliver sighed, resolving to try it.

He wouldn't back down if Zoe tried dismissing him when he got on her case, no matter how anxious he got underneath it all. Juan and Julio were happy to hear it and then asked about his immediate plans.

Oliver ran them through what little he had for tomorrow, from pulling the router to getting her to go to an arcade with him after she'd settled down. Neither had any insight or things to add. They wagered that since Zoe was a very particular individual, the arcade was probably the most he could hope for during their first solo hangout session.

"There's something else I'm wondering, guys. How shameless about my motives do you think I should be?" Oliver asked to clear his conscience. "Like, should I be upfront that I'm into her, or should it be more of an 'on the down low kind' of thing?"

"Mn. Good question, that. Think a hybrid approach is the right way to go."

"And that would that entail...?"

"Chick thrives off of attention, hermanito," Juan added. "But that shit has diminishing returns, sí? Especially if you hand it out like candy. Give her what she wants in small doses and play hard to get the rest of the time. If she asks, your official stance is that you're doing this for Mimi... but that's when you hint there might be more to it."

More solid advice. God, was it weird to hear coming from Juan. Oliver still couldn't get over that.

"Makes sense to me," Oliver made a mental note of it. "Any other advice while we're still on the topic?"

"Funny you should ask, 'cause I'm gonna key you in on another little secret. So there's this thing called 'negging', sí?"

Julio's brow twitched. "Fuck did we say about-"

"Hey, hey! That one was just a fucking joke!" Juan cackled while raising his arms to defend against his twin's silent fury. "Come on, hermano. You really take me for that much of an idiota?"

Julio lowered his fists, and after a tense standoff with their eyes lasting only a couple of seconds, the two started to laugh. Juan with his hyena-like howl, and Julio with a severely understated series of chuckles.

It was stupid but infectious. Oliver joined in, carried away by the drunken, brotherly vibes. That or the weed fumes.

They laughed so hard that some bikers started giving them shit, leading to an actual bar fight. One that a drunken, second-hand smoke-addled Oliver actually participated in. Punches were flying left and right, people were shouting, and someone broke a bottle against a pool table to brandish as a knife. 

Everything was a total blur until they somehow ended up sharing a beer with the bikers, everyone having a big smile on their face as they laughed it up. Everyone besides Cindy, who shook her head as she sweeped up the night's seventeenth broken bottle. At least her mood perked up a tiny bit once Juan gave her his wooden flower.

They eventually returned to their booth. Oliver now sat on the same side as the twins, sandwiched between them. He was feeling great about himself and even better about his fifth beer. 

"Look at you, hermanito! You just about pissed your pants the second we walked in here, and now you're practically a regular!" Juan howled uproariously, slapping Oliver's back before firmly grasping his shoulder.

Oliver frowned and lowered his shirt's collar, looking down at his pecs. "And yet still not a single chest hair..." he drunkenly slurred.

"Got chest hair on your soul," Julio insisted. "It counts."

"It'll have to because I'm gonna rock this shit tomorrow, guys. I'm fucking gonna."

"After all the work we put in? You fucking better!" Juan said. "Don't even care anymore. Fuck it- I'm invested."

"Hell yeah," Oliver clinked glasses with Juan, then jabbed his finger into Zoe's mascot on his shirt. "I won't let you down, mark my words. I'll steal away your honorary hermana, whoever else Mia wants me to, and..."

"And?" Julio raised a brow.

"And more! I've got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, damn it, and I'm gonna go for it."

"Motherfucker. Swinging those big fucking cojones around as usual, I see." Juan sighed. "Ain't that right, Julio?"

"Mn. Seems we found the key to unlocking hermanito's shamelessness."

"Who'd have thought it was at the bottom of the bottle this entire time?" Oliver mused. "Actually... no, yeah, that makes a lot of sense, come to think of it. Whatever. The point still stands- I'm plowing straight ahead."

"Admirable. Before you get to plowing, though, just make sure you remember everything we've said tonight after you've sobered up, sí?"

"No worries, I've got it all up here," Oliver tapped the side of his skull. Doing so jogged his brain, pointing out a more pressing concern. "Wait a second. All three of us are some mix of drunk and high as shit. How the fuck are we getting home?"

Juan and Julio looked at each other in a way that confirmed they'd put zero thought into the question. Oliver still hadn't tested whether his fast travel ability was hampered by being under the influence, and he wasn't looking to make that gamble.

A convenient solution literally poked its head up from around its corner.

"Did SOMEONE call for a [Designated Driver]?" Bradley called out from the booth behind them. He raised an unopened cold one as they turned to look at him.

"Just so happens we did," Oliver smiled, not even surprised.

Juan, however, was. He made a funny face at him. "The fuck, man? If you were gonna follow after us all sneaky and shit, you could've just come along in the first fucking place, ese."

"Simply put- it was NOT my [Place] to [Interfere]! While I MAY serve as Oliver's ETERNAL [Best Bro], some matters are BETTER left to his [Actual Brothers] than ONE such as [I]."

Oliver shyly looked away as Juan raised a brow, his face reddening. "Actual brothers? Hah! The fuck's this robot mime on about, huh? Dude's just dating my hermana, that's it. Only call him hermanito and shit to be cute about it. Don't we, Julio?"

"Can't ask me for all the answers," Julio gave his twin a thin smile and a face full of smoke. "Try thinking for yourself occasionally, why don't you?"

"I do think for myself, pendejo! Fuck you! And you- the fuck you moping around about, huh?" Juan turned his attention to Oliver, who was playing up an already exaggerated frown.

"Oh, nothing... I just thought we were a little closer after all our fun tonight, that's all..."

The kid's poutiness got to Juan, nailing a critical blow. "Gah- fucking damn it. Not saying we aren't closer, just that this and that are just two separate fucking things, sí?"

"So you don't see me as a little brother, then? Not even a little?"

After being met with a pair of drunken puppy dog eyes, Juan did something he'd only done a few times before. He chose to remain silent, sucking it up as everyone laughed at his expense. Which they did, especially when Bradley suggested a toast to [Almost Brothers].

The rest of the evening became an even greater blur than it already was. He had no vague memories of what happened after the toast. All Oliver knew was his first-ever boy's night out ended the only proper way- with him getting blackout drunk.