Country mile

Round 28: Summer 2028

last update/Dominic's last update/next update

Amar Hamilton and Jacob Weaver are both 27 and Dominic Lachance is 18.

(Jonas is 50, Tatiana is 45, Claudia is 27, Tessa is 19 and Nathan is 18)

Narrated by Dominic Lachance

Since graduation, I've been living with Jacob and Amar in a unit in Exeter.

I love my mum and everything but it was a bit embarrassing when she insisted on coming along on moving day.

Even after assurances from Jacob that I'd be fine, it was pretty hard to get her out of there!

Mum had never met Amar before and she didn't really know what to think of him. I think she was a little afraid to leave me alone with him.

Every time I thought she was going to leave, she'd remember something else she wanted to tell me. It was either a warning about my safety, or making sure I didn't forget anything at home.

She's just feeling a little sad about me leaving home. She'd hoped I'd stay at home a little longer because I skipped college.

But it's not like I'm that far away and I'm not going to forget my family just because I'm not living with them.

And besides, I am actually pretty capable of taking care of myself. I clean, which is more than I can say for Amar.

And I can cook dishes more complicated than grilled cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese, which is more than I can say for Mum or Dad, when they were my age. I'm doing alright.

I'm not used to spending so much time on my own, so that's been something to get used to. Growing up with my grandparents, parents, two brothers and a sister, there was never really a time when I was by myself.

Amar does a lot of "entertaining", so I often have to find something to occupy myself with for a while.

I really don't know how he keeps all these girls straight, or if he even does keep them straight. I've seen him with at least four different girls in the month I've been living here.

He doesn't start relationships with them or anything. He just meets them at clubs and brings them home. Sometimes he sees them again, sometimes he doesn't.

Jacob just joined the fire service and is working some weird hours, so whether we see him at all depends what day of the week it is. He only works three days a week but when he does work, he works a 12 hour shift.

I'd go crazy working such long hours. I just want a job where I can go off to work in the morning and come home in time for dinner.

Jacob says he absolutely loves the job though and the weird hours are worth it. I don't think he even minds the hours too much, actually.

When he's off, he wakes up at about 11 or 12 and heads down to the town hall to see his girlfriend.

He and Claudia seem to see each other about as often as they did before he started his new job. Jacob gets bored hanging around at home with Amar and me at work, so they're still out together every other day.

I didn't know how Amar would react to me moving. I thought maybe he'd resent having a "kid" around but he hasn't treated me like that at all. It's been good.

I don't think Mum has to worry about Amar being a bad influence on me or anything. I'm not really the type to go out looking for new girls every night, even if I didn't already have a girlfriend.

Not that Amar hasn't tried to win me over to his way of thinking. He doesn't really understand why I'd want to "tie myself down" to one girl at 18. He's usually trying to convince me to go out to bars to him.

I've accepted his invitation once and I probably won't be doing it again. The first bar we went to looked like a perfect place to get mugged.

I invited Nathan along, just because I was pretty sure Amar was going to leave me hanging as soon as a girl caught his eye.

The first bar wasn't as gross on the inside as it was on the outside but it was still dead. Amar was on the lookout for women and the only woman in there was the bartender.

The next place wasn't far away but it was marginally better than the first. There was no visible garbage out front, at least.

I quickly realised that having Nathan come along was a good idea. Amar spotted some girl and headed upstairs with barely a backwards glance at us.

I don't know he does it. They don't seem like the kind of girls I'd be interested in getting to know anyway.

The next (and last!) place we went to was a lot better than the first two. It was bigger and the area was not quite as seedy.

I've hardly seen Nathan since he went off to college, so we got to catch up for a bit. He likes his classes well enough but he's stuck with Malcolm as a roommate and is just about ready to kill him.

Nathan was talking to a girl named Janette for a little while. I think she was also a student.

Nathan is worse than me when it comes to talking to girls he doesn't know though, so he was at a bit of a loss for words with her.

After a while, Janette gave up on Nathan and set her sights on Amar. Who was only too happy to oblige, seeing Janette is a female and breathing.

Nathan actually seemed kind of relieved when Janette left him to go and talk to Amar. He says he's got his eye on someone on campus.

He wouldn't tell me who she was, of course. Nathan plays his cards close to his chest. He won't tell me until he knows she's interested.

The night wasn't all bad but I had a lot more fun the next night with Tessa.

We ate dinner at the restaurant where her mum works and then I took her to meet Dad, just as he was closing the arcade for the night.

Mum already knows Tessa very well, since she was a student at Sullivan Primary for 7 years but I hadn't introduced her to Dad yet.

I wasn't nervous at all about Dad meeting Tessa and I didn't need to be. Dad loved her. I guess I'm biased, but what's not to love?

This year has been really great for us so far. We get to see each other so much more often and now that all of Tessa's classes are in the afternoon and I have my own space, she can spend the night with me too.

This year, I've become really serious about Tessa. I've even been thinking about marrying her, which is probably a little crazy. But not soon. Some day, when we're older and Tessa's finished college.

It's not something we've actually talked about, so I don't know Tessa feels. I can only hope she feels the same way, because I definitely see us together long term.

Notes:

• Title is from Country Mile by Camera Obscura.
• Jacob is actually Dominic's uncle, but to me, they've always seemed more like brothers, seeing they're not that far apart in age. I imagine it would probably feel like that to Jacob and Dominic too.
• Amar immediately rolled up the want to be friends with Dominic. I think they have a little bromance going on, actually. Most of the non-romantic wants they roll are for each other!
• The first two bars the boys went to are part of my new little dingy area in Exeter. After the terrain surgery, I had to move everything around, so I figured I might as well create a little seedy district. It consists of a few old clubs/bars you've already seen, the bar you saw (which is new and also has a dirty looking grocery store on the same lot) and a cheap motel.
• And yes, there is really someone Nathan is rolling romantic wants for. You may find out who it is this round but I'm not sure. This college round will be two parts and there's probably going to be a lot happening. I'm not sure how much play Nathan's little crush will get but we'll see.
• I think Amar is up to about 13 or 14 woohoos at this stage. He's quite prolific, for a 27 year-old.
• Then we have Dominic and Tessa at the other end of the spectrum, with just one. ;) Dominic and Tessa are still being super-adorable. Their attraction score is very low, at just 11. The amount of wants they roll for each other is insane though. Tessa hasn't rolled any engagement wants (she can't roll marriage, as a YA) but Dominic has rolled engagement and marriage wants for Tessa.