Prove yourself

Round 27: Summer 2025

Last update: Nick/Troy
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Nick Moretti and Troy Clarke are both 22.
(Josie and Maia are both 23, Adrienne is 18)

Narrated by Nick Moretti

After we graduated, neither Troy or I were even close to being in a position to get our own place, so we decided we'd room together for a while.

We get along well, so it's working out for us. I never knew Troy was so neat though! You probably wouldn't guess it to look at him but he's the one who does most of the chores around here.

Maia lives in the building next to ours, so I still see her all the time. I'm glad we've managed to remain friends. Josie and I tried to stay friends, but we sort of ended up being civil acquaintances instead.

Maia's still weighing up her career options. She has considerably less options without a university degree and that fact really didn't hit her until she got back home.

I'm resisting the urge to say "I told you so". I don't want to be like that but this was what I was worried would happen.

I joined the military right out of college but Troy wasn't sure what he wanted to do, so he took a job driving taxis.

He's kind of like Maia in that he hasn't got many plans for the future but I think Josie is more bothered by that than Troy is.

Josie's sort of similar to me, in that she's known what she's wanted to do with her life since she was 12. It's hard to understand to mindset of someone who's never given their career any thought at all.

I don't say much to him about it; as long as he's paying his half of the rent, it's probably not my place. Josie, on the other hand, thinks it's exactly her place.

Troy says she wants him to get a job with possibilities for promotion, which his current job doesn't really have.

She's taken to scanning the newspaper for him because Troy doesn't really know where to start.

Josie's being pretty patient with him, considering he shoots down every suggestion she offers.

I think what Troy would really like to do is sit on his ass at home playing video games all day.

Which, come to think of it, was kind of what my stepdad Jesse used to do before he started working with my uncle.

I suggested it to Troy and he actually got kind of excited about it! It's still a matter of waiting until a position becomes available, which he's had no luck with so far, but he's looking every day.

It's made Josie happy too. She's thrilled to see Troy with some direction, finally.

Now that Troy thinks he's got his whole life sorted out, he's starting in on mine. He's been on my case lately because I haven't been on a date since I broke up with Maia.

It's a little annoying but he's probably right. It's been almost a year now and it's probably time to get back out there.

I do want to meet someone. I've noticed girls but I'm always too shy to go and talk to them. I never know what to say, so I just keep walking.

When I met Adrienne though, she kind of took charge right away.

I sometimes have trouble figuring out if girls are interested or just being friendly. Adrienne made it pretty clear she was interested.

She was very forward. She made me a little nervous at first, to be honest. She wanted to take me back to her dorm, right then!

I told her I thought we'd be better off getting to know each other a bit better first. Adrienne seemed to find that kind of funny, for some reason, but we swapped details anyway.

A couple of days later, Adrienne came over while Troy was at work. I wasn't expecting her but I was excited she wanted to see me again.

The fact that she'd come to me must have given me a confidence boost because I ended up asking her out on a date that night.

We had dinner at a cafe not far from my unit. I was way more nervous than I was before my first dates with Josie or Maia. I knew both of them pretty well already but before we met at the club, I only vaguely knew Adrienne from school.

But the conversation flowed pretty easily, mainly because Adrienne was pretty good at filling my awkward silences.

Adrienne must have had a good time too, because she said she definitely wanted to see me again when we said goodbye.

Adrienne and I have been dating for a few weeks now and we've been seeing a lot of each other. Things are going great for us but she's wearing me out a little! Adrienne is really into the whole bars and clubs thing, which is not really my scene. Even if it was, I have really early mornings! I'm hoping the bar obsession is just due to the novelty of it all. Last year, she was still getting kicked out of all of those places.

Notes:

• Title is from Prove Yourself by Radiohead.
• The gamer career makes total sense for Troy. Now it's just a matter of waiting for it to pop up on the computer! It seems to roll up all the time for the many, many Sims I have who don't want to work in gaming. Figures the one time I want it, it's not rolling up! I'm really excited for him to get started though. I thought I was going to have the same problem with him that I have with Maia.
• Nick and Adrienne ended up ACR-ing on the couch when she came over, so she got her way eventually. Adrienne is a Romance Sim and I don't think she'd place much value in the whole idea of virginity. The only reason she was still a virgin in the first place was lack of opportunity.
• And poor Nick, the boy was desperate! I loaded the lot and his wants panel was filled with romantic wants - Woohoo in Bed, Fall in Love, Flirt, Kiss, Slow Dance. Check, check, check, check, check! He was having quite the drought. I wasn't really helping because he tried to booty call someone and I cancelled out the action before they could get busy. I'm a cruel mistress. But I have plans for Nick and he was interrupting them, lol!
• Chemistry weirdness but Nick and Josie's attraction score has gone up. I don't think I've changed their turn ons (and if I have, at the very least, Nick's don't match Josie anyway) but it used to be 31 and now it's 67. That's a mighty big jump, no? They were never enemies after they broke up, so it wasn't that. It's a bit of a puzzle.