One Man Band System

Later that afternoon, just as evening was setting in, the girls headed down to the gym. Eric settled into his home office, relaxing in his gaming chair. He pulled out his phone, scrolled through his contacts, and dialed a number.

"Hello," a man’s voice answered on the other end.

"Caleb, Jade and Ruby showed up here earlier. They were with Mike," Eric said.

Caleb went dead silent, and the line fell completely quiet. For a few seconds, Eric could just hear Caleb’s breathing, and he could practically hear the gears turning in his head.

"Wait, Jade and Ruby showed up at your place?" Caleb asked, making sure he heard right.

"Yeah... they were with Mike and some guy from Trinity Entertainment named Anthony. Ring a bell?" Eric asked casually.

Another long pause followed. Eric could hear Caleb processing the information, accompanied by the faint clicking of a computer keyboard. After a moment, Caleb spoke up.

"From what I know, Mike’s older brother works in the entertainment industry. I’ll poke around and ask some questions later. But what’s going on? What did they say when they showed up?" Caleb asked, completely out of the loop.

Eric filled him in on everything that had gone down in the lobby when he got home. He could hear Caleb clenching his jaw, even though he stayed quiet and didn’t interrupt. Once Eric finished the story, Caleb sighed.

"Unbelievable... I already told that stupid sister of mine that she shouldn’t even look your way unless you wanted to talk to her first. She’s hopeless, man, nothing but a headache," Caleb said, clearly frustrated.

"And since when does Jade get all dolled up like she’s heading to a club? She never used to wear makeup, right? Only for church," Eric remarked.

"Exactly. I actually asked Mike about that. He said she’s been hanging out with some sketchy crowd lately, girls who call themselves spiritual influencers. She met them at her gym. A few days ago, she came over to my apartment and gave Avery a crystal, claiming it was good for the baby. Avery and I just stared at it, completely bewildered," Caleb replied, sounding stressed.

"Wait, you told me before she wanted to be a singer too... did she drop out of nursing school?" Eric asked.

"According to Mike, she’s still enrolled and the whole singer thing was just an emotional phase... but she keeps coming home late, and whenever anyone asks, she just claims it was a girls’ night or whatever. Honestly, man... I’m exhausted talking about my sister. But you’re telling me all this for a reason, right?" Caleb asked.

"Yeah... I want to know who this Anthony guy really is. Do me a favor and ask Mike about him," Eric said.

"Will do. Look, I’m really sorry my sister caused trouble for you again," Caleb apologized.

"Don’t worry about it, we’re good. If you want to grab a drink later at a bar, let me know," Eric offered.

"Can’t do it today, I’m buried in work. I even had to tell Avery to head home by herself. Besides, she goes on maternity leave in a week, so I need to secure this bonus to get ready for the baby’s arrival," Caleb answered.

"Oh... I get it. Alright then, thanks man," Eric said.

"No problem. Sorry, I gotta jump, I’m right in the middle of coding," Caleb replied.

"Yeah... sounds good, bye," Eric said.

Eric stared at his phone after the line went dead. He opened the inbox on his streaming app and saw a string of messages from Anthony, all pushing for a meeting with him and The Empress.

"Hmm... his number is all over the place in here... he leaves it every single time he sends a message. But before I even think about meeting up with him, I need to figure out what kind of guy he is first, and why the hell he showed up with Jade, Mike, and Ruby," Eric thought to himself, his eyes locked on the screen. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Suddenly, "click," the door clicked open and shut. Someone walked up behind Eric while he was still distracted by his phone, and then, "hup," a girl dropped right onto his lap, catching him completely off guard. He immediately looked down to see who it was.

It was Emma, still wearing her yoga pants and a sports bra, with a towel draped around her neck and her hair pulled up into a ponytail, completely exposing the back of her neck.

Emma turned her head to look at Eric and smiled. Naturally, Eric smiled right back, instantly throwing up a mental shield to keep his dirty thoughts from running wild and completely breaking character.

"Who were you just on the phone with?" Emma asked, shifting her weight to sit face-to-face with Eric before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Caleb... I had a few things I wanted to ask him," Eric replied. "Damn... this is bad. I can smell her post-workout scent... plus she looks so hot... ah... what the hell am I thinking... hold it together... stay strong," Eric’s inner filter thought inside his head, desperately trying to maintain his composure.

"Oh, Caleb. I thought it was someone else," Emma replied.

"You done with your workout?" Eric asked.

"Yeah... everyone’s finished, but they wanted to shower first, so I’m waiting my turn," Emma answered.

"Hmm... gotcha," Eric muttered, doing everything he could to keep his eyes locked onto Emma’s and avoid looking anywhere else.

"Oh... by the way, my mom called earlier," Emma said, her expression suddenly turning serious.

"Your mom called?" Eric asked.

"Yeah... she reminded me that the preliminary rounds for the annual piano competition are this weekend. It totally slipped my mind. So... do you think we could push our RV road trip to next week instead?" Emma asked.

"Oh... I’m free whenever, any time works for me. What do the other girls think?" Eric asked.

"They’re all on board too... um... so... do you want to come watch me perform?" Emma asked shyly.

"Hmm... of course, I wouldn’t miss it," Eric replied, smiling as he gently rested a hand on her head.

"Awesome... now I’m pumped," Emma said, raising both arms to mock-flex her biceps.

"Perfect... I’ll be your biggest fan. Should I bring a huge sign or something?" Eric teased.

"Ugh... don’t you dare! That’s not being a fan, that’s trying to embarrass me," Emma said, pouting as she leaned back into him for another hug.

"Hahaha... I’m just kidding, don’t worry," Eric laughed, wrapping his arms around her.

The two stared at each other, their faces instinctively drawing closer. But of course, right on cue like a classic drama, a distraction barged in. "Blam!" The office door burst open. Heidi, looking fresh out of the shower, walked in and spotted Emma sitting on Eric’s lap.

"Hey... Emma, off. It’s your turn to shower," Heidi said, walking straight over to them.

Without even giving Emma a chance to respond, she pulled her up, took her exact spot on Eric’s lap, and waved her hand to shoo Emma away.

"Hey... what the hell... you can’t just do that, Heidi!" Emma yelled.

"Go shower. You smell," Heidi said flatly.

Emma immediately sniffed her arms and outfit. Her face turned bright red, and she glared at Heidi like she wanted to swallow her whole, but she ultimately marched out of the office and slammed the door behind her.

Meanwhile, Heidi turned her attention to Eric. Naturally, Eric tightened his mental filter even more, considering Heidi was only wearing one of his t-shirts, which he had no idea she had taken and absolutely nothing underneath.

On top of that, Eric noticed for the very first time that hidden beneath her hair, Heidi had a ton of earrings lining both of her ears. She caught him staring.

"Like them?" Heidi asked, touching her ears.

"Yeah, they look cool. I had no idea you had so many piercings, your hair usually covers them up," Eric replied, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on her ears and fighting for his life not to look down.

"It’s just a hobby, I like how they look," Heidi said, fully aware he was focused on them as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

But then, blam! Heidi tilted her head to the side, her eyes going wide as Priya and Monica, both still in their yoga pants and sports bras, marched inside, followed by Chloe and Laura, who were also wearing nothing but Eric’s oversized t-shirts.

Meanwhile, Emma stood right by the doorway, her arms crossed like a general commanding her troops to charge. Without uttering a single word, they grabbed Heidi, hauled her off Eric’s lap, and dragged her out of the room.

"Blam!"

The door slammed shut once more. The office plunged into dead silence, save for the frantic pounding of Eric’s heart, which felt like it was about to burst out of his chest and chase after the six girls who had just completely upended his workspace.

"If this keeps up, I’m going to have a heart attack and die young," Eric muttered, clutching his chest.

Then he looked down at his own shirt and pulled at it. There was still a faint trace of Emma’s sweat lingering on the fabric, so he took a sniff.

"It doesn’t smell bad at all, it actually smells good... goodness gracious... what the hell am I thinking... I should just play some games... yeah, exactly, it’s been a while since I’ve been online," Eric thought to himself.

Eric spun his chair around, slipped on his headphones, and immediately clicked the Valorant icon on his computer screen, getting ready as he gripped his controller.