4.11 – Locker Room Chat II

It was fair, she supposed, that Sofia wanted to discuss this outright. Natalie was more than happy to; she was curious about a few things herself. Namely Sofia’s enthusiasm. Of course, she planned to tease Sofia over that before they got to a more mature discussion. That took higher priority.

“You were real eager to start rubbing,” Natalie commented. “What was up with that? Been waiting to get your hands on it?”

Sofia made an unsophisticated sputtering noise before cutting herself off. “Hmph. Like I said, I got caught up in the situation. I’m only human. It meant nothing.”

“Uh-huh,” Natalie said. The poor girl was clearly in denial. She really ought to learn to be more honest with herself. “Oh, and turn around,” she added. “Like I said, I wanna watch.”

Sofia had had her back turned as she pulled off her top, and she froze with the garment halfway up. She stayed that way for a moment, then faced Natalie with a glare. She finished taking off her dueling uniform shirt, leaving her standing in just a bra.

Sofia had less up top than most, but that obviously didn’t bother Natalie. Her figure was nothing short of stunning even without much to fill her bra out. As expected of a lithe, agility-based fighter, she wasn’t quite muscular, but she still had hints of abs and somewhat defined arms. Her build wasn’t all that dissimilar from Jordan’s, minus the difference in chest size.

“I can’t believe you were a virgin,” Natalie said, running her eyes across Sofia’s body with purposeful shamelessness. She’d won a week of Sofia and intended to make good use of it. “How’d that happen, anyway?”

Sofia glared at Natalie. Natalie got the feeling she was in for a lot of those in the coming week. She wasn’t bothered in the slightest at the hot looks—if anything, Natalie was quite enjoying them.

“Maybe someone was always scooping up everyone else,” Sofia said.

“Please, I hardly got around that much.”

“Certainly more than me. And there weren’t that many lesbians in the local dueling circuit, Nat.”

“I guess that’s fair,” Natalie said. “But only kind of. Still doesn’t explain it. I mean, really. With a body like yours, it doesn’t make sense.” For all Sofia was insufferable, she was also frustratingly attractive. As in, from an objective viewpoint. Natalie obviously had never thought much about it.

Sofia huffed. “Well, I’m glad you think so.” She paused, then narrowed her eyes at Natalie. “What was it you called me, again? Tight and fuckable?”

She was obviously trying to embarrass Natalie, but Natalie just smirked at her. “Yeah. Tight and fuckable. A body meant to be played with. I’ll be making good use of it.”

Sofia held Natalie’s eyes for several moments, then blushed and was forced to look away, cheeks burning. It was really way too easy.

“Anyway,” Sofia said loudly. “As I was saying. That thing of yours—it came with your class, I assume?”

They’d gotten distracted from the topic. “Didn’t find it on a dungeon run, that’s for sure,” Natalie said. The aforementioned ‘thing’ was sticking her skirt up a few inches, which Natalie wasn’t keeping hidden at all—it was doing a wonderful job to fluster Sofia, especially when she was undressing right in front of her. “How’d you find out about it?”

“I slept right next to you for the first two weeks,” Sofia said dryly. “How couldn’t I? It was sticking up every morning.”

“That’s why I woke up early, though. Before everyone else.” Including Sofia.

“It wasn’t actually the mornings,” Sofia corrected. “More like the middle of the night. There was always so many noises I couldn’t get a full night sleep. I noticed it more than once by accident.” Sofia narrowed her eyes at Natalie. “For that matter, it was sticking up pretty much every time I looked over. I suppose you have an active imagination.”

Had it really been? She was pretty sure Sofia was exaggerating. Regardless, Natalie had recognized the risk of someone catching her with a night- or morning-time erection. Her secret might not have stayed as much on the down-low as she’d hoped. Then again, Liz hadn’t known, and possibly Ana didn’t. So it was hardly something everyone knew about either.

There wasn’t much more to say. She was glad Sofia didn’t seem put off. In fact, it had seemed like the opposite was true, based on how she hadn’t been able to keep her hands away.

“And you said you wanted to talk about my class too?” Natalie asked. “What about it?”

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

“More?”

“That you haven’t told us.”

“Why would I? It’s private.”

Sofia’s lips tugged down in a frown. “A paladin of lust. I’ve been thinking about it. There’s only a few paths that would really take, isn’t there? Especially when it gave you something like that.” She gestured at Natalie’s skirt. “You’re rewarded for intimacy, or something of the sort. To use that thing. That’s why you and Jordan are sleeping together.”

Natalie twitched in surprise. She’d really thought that particular tidbit had been kept under wraps. That had been way too hopeful, she guessed. She just hoped it hadn’t been her sound barrier illusions being too weak that had given it away. Beyond being mortifying, Natalie didn’t want to be a terrible roommate, and she and Jordan weren’t all that quiet.

“Ah,” Sofia said. “So you two are doing that. It was just a guess.”

Natalie internally groaned. Well, that had been an obvious trap. Though she supposed it wasn’t a top-secret piece of information. Back when Natalie had talked about experimenting with [Stylish], everyone’s eyes had turned to Jordan. Everyone knew something was going on between them.

“Are you leading to something?” Natalie asked, a bit annoyed at having been played. “And turn back around. Let me see your ass.”

Sofia’s hands had gone to her waistband to pull down her pants, and she paused, glared, but ultimately did as she’d been told. Natalie was given a great view as Sofia stripped off her lower layer. What Sofia lacked up top—and she really didn’t lack that much—she made up doubly lower down.

“It doesn’t make sense how fat that thing is,” Natalie said. “Seriously, what’s up with you? Some girls get all the luck.”

“Says you?”

“Says me?”

Sofia shook her head, exasperated. She stuffed her uniform into her locker and quickly got to dressing herself. Her shame was reaching its limits, it seemed—she couldn’t stand around in her undergarments and take Natalie’s teasing. Natalie considered telling her to slow down, but decided against it.

“And yes,” Sofia said. “I was leading to something. I want to know if my theory is right. That your class works that way.”

“Being ‘rewarded for intimacy’?”

“Yes.”

Natalie considered refusing to tell her, but she said, “Yeah. It does. It was a good guess.”

Sofia seemed satisfied at having figured it out. She hadn’t had much to go on, so Natalie was impressed she’d pieced it together.

“How does it work specifically, though?”

“It’s kind of a whole system. I gather energy and can spend it to upgrade skills.”

Natalie watched with some amusement as Sofia struggled to fit herself inside her pants. Jordan had made a joke a while ago about how Sofia must need pulleys to get herself in, and it was nearly true. It made a pretty amazing show. Half because Sofia was so flustered with having a spectator, and the other half for the obvious reasons.

“Upgrade skills,” Sofia said, finally stuffing herself in. “What do you mean? Temporary boosts?”

“No. Permanent ones. And they’re pretty large.”

Unsurprisingly, Sofia was stunned at the reveal—and interested enough she seemed to halfway forget her circumstances. She shrugged on her shirt, unfortunately ending the show, and faced Natalie. “You’re posed for an impressive future, if that’s true.”

“Hopefully.”

“I’m interested in the details, but I assume you don’t want to get into them. Not the exacts.”

Natalie shrugged. She’d rather not. It simply didn’t involve Sofia.

“But thank you for telling me the basics,” Sofia said. “I was curious.” She sat on the bench and started pulling her shoes on. “I can’t believe nobody walked in on us. We really got lucky.”

They had, but it also wouldn’t have been a big deal. “Like I said, I had illusions if someone did.”

“I’ve seen you use those,” Sofia said dubiously. “They wouldn’t be nearly potent enough to fool someone.”

“They’re stronger when used for certain purposes,” Natalie said, her lips quirking. “So, yes, we would’ve been fine. I’ve gotten away with more.” Namely, pounding into Jordan hard enough to nearly break a bedframe—and it might have been Jordan that was louder than the creaking wood, there.

Sofia stared at her, then shook her head. “Of course they work that way. Your class is really unbelievable.”