C.I.A.

Round 25: Autumn 2021

last update/next update

Amar Hamilton, Jacob Weaver and Claudia Kirby are all 20.
(Trent is 51, Megan is 49, Finn and Victoria are both 20, Declan is 3 months old and Patience and Maia are both 19)

Narrated by Claudia Kirby

Jacob and I have been dating for almost a year now and I think we're getting serious.


I met his parents when we went home for our break last spring and just a few weeks ago, Jacob met mine when they came up to see Victoria and the baby. The meeting went pretty smoothly, considering my mother can be a bit intimidating. Jacob had met my parents before, because we were friends when we were kids but Mum was still ready to play interrogator. She loosened up after a while, thank goodness!

Jacob scored some major brownie points when he mailed a condolence card to my parents after my grandmother died. He didn't tell me he'd done it, I found out when I got a phone call from Mum, who was very impressed.

I'm really happy with Jacob. Giddy, even. It's not like with Amar, when I spent so long wondering if I even liked him that much and then when I decided I did, I find out he was cheating on me. I don't want to jinx it but it feels different.

I really regret the last couple of years, because I've got some skeletons in the closet now and sometimes they leap out when I least expect it. Like Trace. I hadn't seen him at all since freshman year and then all of a sudden he's sliding into the booth and greeting me like we'd see each other every day.

I was worried he was looking to start something up again, so I made sure to tell him I was with somebody. He looked disappointed, so I guess I had reason to worry. I remember being so taken with Trace a couple of years ago but I don't feel anything when I look at him now. Maybe I was just desperate to be with anyone but Amar.

I managed to shoo him out of the booth just before Jacob came back with our drinks. Really don't feel like introducing Trace to Jacob!

We're hanging out a lot at the new bar on campus lately. Not many people know about it yet, so it's usually pretty quiet.

It's a good opportunity to escape Amar. It's a pretty challenging task to avoid your ex-boyfriend when you're living in the same dorm as him. In adjacent bedrooms, no less!

I don't know how much clearer I can make myself. I'm not interested any more.

If he's not trying to hit on me, or generally make me uncomfortable, he's glaring at Jacob and me when we dare to show any form of affection to each other.

Because we both kept ignoring that, Amar's new tactic is trying to make me jealous. I don't know what his goal is but if it's to make me think he's a bigger asshole than I already did, well, he's succeeding. I feel sorry for those poor girls he's luring into that hot tub. I've been in that position before, unfortunately.

Jacob and I tend to go out a lot, just to avoid him. The other night, we ran into his ex-girlfriend, Patience.

Patience and I ended up talking for a while, so Jacob wandered off to the bar and ended up sitting next to his other ex-girlfriend, Maia. It looked pretty awkward.

I know there was a lot of animosity between Patience and Maia while Maia was with Jacob so I guess I should just be thankful Patience didn't try to start anything with me. I'm not falling all over myself to trust her completely but she was okay with me. Maybe because she's friends with Josie and Victoria? I don't know.

Speaking of Victoria, it's nice that I have Jacob here for company but I miss my sister. This is the first time we've lived apart and it's really strange. Obviously, she and Finn couldn't have Declan in the dorms though, so they had to move out to family housing.

The units aren't that far from the dorm though, so I walk up there to visit almost every day. I think Finn was probably secretly happy that they were forced to move out of the dorms but Victoria misses living there a little bit, so I have to keep her apprised of all the goings on. It's just Amar idiocy right now, so she's not really missing much.

Victoria's always saying she doesn't want to put me out by having me watch him all the time but I insist on babysitting while she and Finn are at class. Like I mind! Declan's adorable and he's a really good little baby too.

Finn finishes class before Victoria so he takes over with Declan when he gets home. Sometimes I almost want to take him back to the dorm with me but then I smell his nappy or think about how little sleep Finn and Victoria get now, and I'm just thankful I can give him back!


The greeting card system - it is awesome:

See? Jacob really did send a greeting card to the Kirbies! Who knew Jacob was such a sap though? Each card has a different cover and message inside.

I am so going to be making use of this mod again! It's supposed to be quite easy to make your own cards so hopefully, there'll be lots more cards soon. As well as bereavement, I've found wedding and Valentine's cards and I think the mod comes with Christmas cards as a default. You can get the mod here.

My university overhaul:

That's about it, LOL. Personally, I'm really happy with my new uni bar, though it doesn't look like Claudia agrees! I know it's a bit dingy, Claudia but you've only got two more years of uni left and you'll never have to see this place again!

Next door to this place on the same lot is a newsagent/internet cafe, which is also pretty nifty. I'm going to see if I can make some posters for the internet cafe but we'll see. It might be something quick to do after work this week, so I might actually get some done!

Notes:

• Title is from C.I.A. by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.
• Grades, before I forget: Claudia still has a 4.0, Jacob has a 3.8 and Amar has a 3.6.
• Jacob spun up a want to fall in love with Maia again and Claudia had the want to fall in love with Amar. Seeing they spun up while they were on a date though, I ignored them. When they spin up under normal circumstances (like with Abigail), then I pay them some attention. Under normal circumstances, Jacob and Claudia are currently only rolling wants for each other. So we'll see how it goes.
• Patience is not in Jacob's friend zone but she shockingly did not attempt to flirt with him this time, even though she's still actually in love with him. Interesting. I'll have to keep an eye on her when I play her lot.
• Next update will probably be on Wednesday. It'll be a big one though, because I have 7 kids in the other dorm and there's all sorts of shenanigans going on!