Summertime

Round 25: Summer 2022

Luc's last update/Asha's last update/next update

Luc Lane is 29 and Asha Royce is 25.
(Kit Royce is 62, Zaria Royce is 34)

Narrated by Asha Royce

When Luc and I finally found a place together, he came over to my mother's house to help me move out all my stuff.

I didn't think I had that many boxes but Luc could hardly stop laughing. It was mostly clothes. We can't all live in black t-shirts and jeans!

I was really excited to finally be getting out on my own but I was still (am still, actually) worried about my mother. But we're living really close by. We considered a house on the other side of Exeter but then we found one almost just across the road. It was cheaper and bigger than the other one, so it wasn't hard to convince Luc.

It took us all day but finally, we got everything done! We'd only been in the house for a few hours but I was already loving the privacy and having our very own space.

There are three bedrooms and right now, we're using the biggest one as a rehearsal space. We had it soundproofed, so one of us can practise if the other happens to be sleeping. Luc's just happy that he doesn't have to squeeze his guitar and amp into a hallway any more.

Luc made dinner for us. I'm really glad he knows how to cook because I can't really do much more than grilled cheese.

My job is to get in Luc's way while he's in the kitchen.

Ah, the life of a musician! Luc and I never get up until around lunch time. Except on our second day in the house, when we were awakened by the doorbell.

It was Zaria. She's got a normal job, plus children, so she's up at normal people time.

My bridesmaid dress is ready, so she brought that over. I like this dress a bit more than the one I wore for Ione's wedding. That was not quite my style but you know, it was Ione's wedding, not mine. My new dress is a little less conservative.

And I wasn't even annoyed at Zaria for waking me up so early, because she brought us the best housewarming gift ever - a hot tub! I guess I must have been whining more than I thought about how much I wanted one, so Zaria bought one for us.

Luc and I had to test it out as soon as Zaria left. We kind of spent all of our money buying this house and all the furniture we needed, so I thought it would be years before we'd have our own hot tub! It pays to have a sister who's marrying into the richest family in town!

Mum came to see the house the same day. She's gone from hating Luc to wondering when we're going to get married. I was waiting for this. You know, everyone kind of has weddings on the brain, seeing Zaria and Max's big day is coming up so quickly.

I'm not feeling in any rush to get married yet myself. Moving in together was a big step already - one step at a time, I think. I'm only 25. I don't know what the emergency is!

It's not like we even have enough money to plan a wedding right now anyway. We barely have enough money to go out! Luckily, having our own place is still a novelty so we're happy to stay in for now.

We did a little bored though, so we decided to throw a little housewarming party with all our friends.

I got stuck in a conversation with Wade about his trip to Cape Elizabeth. As if I want to hear about vacations I can't afford to take. I had to be polite and feign interest though, of course.

Luc isn't so good at feigning an interest. I don't know if he even tries.

It's a good thing we have so much in common because most of the time, he'd really just rather be talking about stuff he's interested in. I doubt Ione was that interested in hearing about Luc's guitar but she pretended to be, at least.

The only family we had at the party was Luc's sister and of course, my sister. Max came too. I still can't believe they're getting married! They've been together for 20 years already! I really didn't think they'd ever get married. I was so shocked when Zaria told me.

I've never known anyone so desperate to get married as my friend Lia. I told her she should ask Gordon herself, like Ione asked Evan. I'm only kidding around with her - she never would.

Speaking of Gordon, he's marginally less annoying now that he's not around every time Luc and I are trying to be alone. Marginally.

We had all of Luc's former roommates at our party. Gordon aside, I almost wish I'd got to do the roommate thing before moving in with Luc. If I'd moved out of home at 18 like I'd planned, I probably would have. It always seemed so fun at Luc's place.

Then again, it's pretty fun at our house most of the time too, so I don't think I've missed out on too much!

Notes:

• Title is from Summertime by the Sundays.
• I wasn't going to get a chance to write this until later today but I'm sick and ended up getting up just before 6am this morning. So I'm publishing it today after all. I am sick though, so please excuse anything that doesn't quite make sense!
• Oh my God, these two just roll woohoo wants all day - hot tub, bed, hot tub, bed, hot tub, bed. They are like rabbits, for real! I usually fulfill woohoo wants myself when they pop up but I actually got bored of doing that for Luc and Asha. I gave up and just let ACR take care of it! It was quite insane. I guess they really are enjoying their new found privacy!
• The hot tub was very popular at the party! I caught Cordy and Eliot in there (I think you can see that she's in her swimsuit in one of the pics) and then Wade and Amelia.
• I just refuse to believe Luc only has one nice point. Apart from his disastrous conversation with Ione, he just acts so nice most of the time. Mean guys don't give their girlfriends autonomous backrubs in the kitchen!
• I don't know if anyone can recognise it, because I've swapped out all the windows and doors, and changed all the colours and furniture but this is the house Kendal lived in with her sons and in-laws up until she moved in with Lake. It really needed a makeover and I'm happy with how it turned out. They don't have much on the walls yet though, as I really did spend all of their money!
• No marriage wants for Asha yet! I'm not necessarily waiting for her to roll it (I didn't wait for Zaria to roll it). I'm just waiting until I feel like she's ready. ;)
• I thought Asha would become better friends with Olivia but she and Lia gravitate towards each other. Even with Ione's wedding and everything, she and Olivia are only at about 13 daily. So she wasn't at the party.