The Treasure She Never Asked For

Marcel did not know if he was lucky or unlucky. It had already been thirty minutes but the spinning bottle has not pointed at him even once. He ended up sipping on his liquor without even needing to because he did not want to be completely sober while everyone was drunk.

As his thoughts went to this direction, the spinning bottle finally pointed at him. And the one who was supposed to ask him a question was Ellie who had also been sober this whole time.

"Finally!" a slightly drunk Chloe said happily and Marcel chuckled in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"I pick truth," Marcel said after some thought.

"How boring," Chloe said as she calmed down and waited for Ellie to ask the question.

"How many people have you dated?" Ellie asked, not really caring for the answer. She couldn't think of anything and that was a common first question her housemates had asked.

"None," Marcel answered with no hesitation and everyone paused from surprise. Even the disinterested Ellie was surprised.

"Are you serious?" Alistair asked and Marcel shrugged his shoulders.

"You didn't date anyone when you were still in school?" Chloe asked with widened eyes.

"I thought I was supposed to answer one question," Marcel responded and Chloe pouted. What would he lose by answering her question?

After a few more rounds, the bottle pointed at Alistair and it was Marcel who was going to ask him a question. Alistair also played it safe and chose truth.

"Are you dating anyone at the moment?" Marcel asked Alistair.

"Yes," Alistair answered after a long pause. Marcel had seen Micah freeze when he had answered the question and his eyes grew even brighter. How discreet were these two that no one noticed it this whole time? He would have also been fooled if he was not observing the girls as he asked this.

"Who is it? Do we know her? Is she famous?" Chloe bombarded Alistair with questions. But Alistair responded just like how Marcel did before and Chloe pouted.

"Look at what you've done," she jokingly said as she glared at Marcel. Marcel only laughed as he continued to sip on his drink. Everything was fine until Lauren said something that made him choke on his drink.

It had all started when Chloe asked her why she broke up with her previous partner. Lauren looked to be debating on whether or not to answer the question before she resolved to answer it.

"She said I was too busy and didn't make time to be with her," Lauren said and everyone seemed to freeze. Chloe who had ended up uncovering something she had not meant to was stumped for words. It was fortunate that Marcel had choked on his drink and the still atmosphere was broken almost immediately.

Lauren who was sitting next to him smacked him on the back several times before he was able to calm down. 

"You didn't have to hit me that hard," Marcel complained after catching his breath. 

"Drink slower, how will you choke if you do so?" she asked and Marcel cleared his throat before taking the initiative to spin the bottle. Just like this, the subject was glossed over.

Marcel who was still young and inexperienced wasn't targeted as much as the others so he was able to go through the game smoothly. Later, when everyone was a bit too drunk to play, they all dispersed. Marcel went to the backyard and lay down on one of the loungers as he looked at the pool. The light reflecting off the pool water brought out a certain sense of peace.

As he got lost in his own thoughts, Lauren came to join him outside. She was holding a glass of liquor as she collapsed on the lounger. Marcel turned his head to look at her before chuckling.

"What's so funny?" Laure asked and Marcel shrugged his shoulders.

"You really surprised everyone," Marcel said after some thought.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Lauren asked and Marcel shook his head.

"I don't really have an opinion, I don't even know if I have a preference," Marcel said after some thought. He was being completely honest with her. 

In his previous life, he dated whoever he liked, it was a very liberal time then and no one really cared. He hadn't decided on how his love life was going to be like this time around.

"You'll know eventually, you are still young," Lauren said in understanding.

"I guess so," Marcel answered as he thought about it. He did not have much of an opinion, but maybe after dating a few people he would have an opinion, since dating as a woman and dating as a man was not going to be the same.

"It'll happen when it happens, don't overthink it, it'll stress you out," Lauren said with a sigh and looked up at the night sky.

"How did you know? How did you find out?" Marcel asked, curious about her story.

"I went to my bestfriend's house for a sleepover, I think I was around your age. Her sister came home drunk, she had left me to watch her as she went to by something for her hangover. She ended up kissing me," Lauren said simply as if she was talking about someone else.

"That's it?" Marcel asked her a bit disappointed with how anticlimactic that was. It was obvious she was a horrible story teller.

"Oh, I had a boyfriend back then, I still liked it when he kissed me too, I was a bit confused but I later came to terms that I swung both ways, especially after secretly having a thing with one of the girls in my class," Lauren continued and Marcel was at a loss for words.

Should he have physically gone to school in his past life? Why didn't he know that school was so exciting before? He suddenly felt like he had been cheated of his youth. He might have had a similar experience if he came to this world two years earlier.

[Not necessarily] Avian disagreed.

<You shut up for me> Marcel said while lamenting. With this face of his, how exciting would his school life have been?

"You still have time to experiment and see what you like, just make sure you do it with someone you are genuinely interested in, people aren't test subjects you know," Lauren said as she looked at how he was seriously thinking about it.

"You aren't making much sense," Marcel said with a laugh.

"You know what I mean," Lauren said with a pout and he laughed louder.

"So you swing both ways?" Marcel asked and felt like he was looking at his past self. Except he used to be more glamorous and less tomboyish.

"It's weird if you say it like that, I date whoever I like," Laure corrected and Marcel nodded in understanding.

"That's a nice way of saying you swing both ways right?" Marcel said and laughed again when he was punched in the arm.

"Fine, you don't have to get violent," Marcel said as he rubbed his aching arm.

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