Two states

Round 21: Spring 2013

Last update: Max and Zaria/the rest

Next update: Olivia/the rest

Ben and Caterina Nihill are both 58, Max is 26, Olivia is 16 and Zaria Royce is 25.
(Georgette is 73, Eliot is 28, Amelia is 24, Wade is 23 and Cordy and Luc are both 20)

Narrated by Zaria Royce

After graduation, Max and I moved into his parents' house. We've been living here for almost 2 years now and I'm still overwhelmed sometimes at the sheer size of this place. The whole house must be ten times the size of my old house and their kitchen is bigger than my old bedroom!



Work has been kind of sucky since I finished college. My boss, Georgette, keeps telling me she's going to help me get a job at city hall with some connections she has but nothing's happened so far. I'm wondering if she's just decided I'm more valuable to her at the firm.

Poor Max was working at this fast food joint in Exeter - he's so much better than that! It was kind of a soul-crusher for him, because he's a great cook. We were like two ships passing in the night at first too, because he'd leave for work right as I was coming home.

I stayed up to ungodly hours some nights just so I could spend some time with him. Max felt bad for not being there for me most of the time and told me that the "arrangement" we'd discussed while we were in college - where we'd be free to sleep with other people - was still okay by him.

That really doesn't interest me any more though, except maybe as a far-fetched fantasy. I was the one that brought it up in college, when I was a little curious about other guys. When the opportunity presented itself, I just couldn't and it was the same for Max. We'd just rather be with each other, I guess.

Caterina bought a health club a couple of years ago and it's been really tough going - they're just barely breaking even. Customers seem few and far between.

They had to lay off both their employees, at least until the gym is a little more profitable. They just can't afford it. They were sorry to let them go - they're both young mothers - but it had to be done.

They're in the middle of extending the gym, so maybe there'll be a place for them again there some day.

Caterina's trying her hand at massage. She's got two specially equipped massage rooms upstairs. Previously, anyone who wanted a professional massage had to leave town to do it, so hopefully this will bring in more customers.

I wasn't expecting to do anything special for my birthday but Max surprised me and told me we'd be going out for the evening! I was so excited!

Of course, Olivia overheard and as soon as she found out we were going to a club, she was dying to go! Her pleas of "but I'm almost 17!" and "I promise I won't drink!" fell on deaf ears - Ben was definitely against that idea!

She's not the sulky type though so she spent her Saturday at her sewing machine instead. She's so handy with that thing! We hear her sewing machine softly whirring long into the night sometimes. I don't know when that kid sleeps!

Olivia started out pestering me about when Max and I are going to get married, so she could outfit the whole bridal party. We're not even engaged, so she's in the middle of making me a regular dress instead - just for when I might want to go out somewhere fancy!

My 25th birthday party was at the Old Brick in Exeter, a place we hung out quite a bit when we were at college. Max invited one of my very best friends in the whole world, Wade and his wife Amelia. I'm impressed they made it - it must be hectic with a newborn in the house!

He also invited Eliot, Eliot's girlfriend Cordy and Cordy's brother Luc. It was so great to see everyone again!

We all drank quite a bit but Amelia really let loose! Whooping and cheering, karaoke - it was a lot of fun.

Luc looked around the place, figured it was slim pickings and decided to try his luck with the bartender instead, who appeared to be the only single woman around.

I think Luc might have felt a little bit like a third wheel (or maybe a seventh wheel, I guess). I danced most of the night with Max and Amelia with Wade.

And Cordy and Eliot snuck off somewhere and didn't come back for a while!

He must have been a little lonely but he didn't seem too fazed.

Luc pulled me aside at one point and asked me where Asha was. I rolled my eyes and he insisted he was only asking because he thought my sister should be here to help me celebrate. Right...I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that he totally gets off on all the attention he gets from her!

God, can you imagine if Asha came? My dad would have have been murderous! Dad definitely wasn't thrilled about Max when we first started dating and he's only a year older than me.

After my party, Max and I couldn't keep our hands off each other. We were exhausted but a little drunk too. That's just what booze does to us.

I was pretty groggy the next morning but Olivia dragged me out of bed anyway. She'd finished my dress and even wrapped it up all nicely for me.

She did a pretty awesome job, considering she completely forgot to take my measurements. She must have worked on it all night because it didn't even look halfway finished when we left.

Sexy uniform, eh? Max finally got out of that horrible fast food place and is working at a real restaurant now. He's only a waiter, but he'll get there!

A few weeks later, I joined Ben for a second helping at dinner and made a throwaway comment about how hungry I'd been lately. He didn't say anything for a while and then he completely freaked me out.

"You know, Caterina's been like that twice in her life and both times, she was pregnant!"

Oh my God. I almost fainted right then and there! I took a test but I didn't really need to. I knew already.

I told Max as soon as I knew for sure, of course. I didn't know how to say it so I just blurted it out. It must have happened that night after my party. I don't know how it happened, because I'm so careful with my birth control.

Max isn't worried at all. He thinks we can totally handle this. I really hope he's right!

Random pics:

Remember when Ben and Caterina were in college and they went at it like four times a day? Well, the constant woohoo has definitely died down since then but they are still all gooey with each other all the time. They're 3 bolters but I don't think they're especially high scoring - 122 raw, 227 total (Max and Zaria's scores, for comparison, are 164 raw and 269 total). Anyway, it's very cute!

Notes:

• Pamela Gray (mother of Corbin's daughter, who you'll see when she starts kindergarten next round - she's almost 3 right now) and Abigail got fired because honestly, they were fairly useless. Abigail did not autonomously act as a personal trainer like I was hoping. Pamela was the cashier and did her job fine but I got rid of the clothing racks in an effort to make people use the exercise equipment. They tend to ignore everything else in favour of shopping if you have stuff for sale.
• Zaria's momentous 25th birthday! I won't do birthdays in the middle of age stages all the time but Zaria had the want for a party and turning 25 seemed like a good enough occasion. If she ever has another birthday party, let's ignore the fact that I'll probably completely forget that this entry establishes her birthday as being sometime in spring!
• Zaria and Max's baby was actually conceived in a photo booth I plopped down in their bedroom temporarily to fulfill Max's inconvenient "Public Woohoo" want. They'd been out all night and he didn't roll a single want for public woohoo. I guess he got home and regretted he didn't give that a go.
• The pregnancy also marks the first time my Sims' BC has failed since I removed the "NoFailBirthControl" Inteen flavour pack. I don't know if it can still fail with the ACR interactions (Inteen BC works with ACR - it'll say they're trying for a baby sometimes but they won't get pregnant), as I used the Maxis interactions here. Anyway, she's due in Winter 2014.
• Olivia will start college in 2015, along with Lia (Ione will start in 2014). Olivia just made it - she earned her dance scholarship on the very last day of play. You can see her earning it in the background of the picture of Ben and Zaria, with Ione and Lia joining in.