Ribcage

Round 28: Autumn 2027

last update/Sarah's last update/Susannah's next update/next update

Betsy and Kimberly Carmody are both 56, Sarah is 22 and Susannah is 17.
(Nick and Troy are both 24)

Narrated by Sarah Carmody

I was looking forward to getting my own place after graduating but due to a severe lack of funds, it was pretty clear that wasn't going to happen. So I'm living at home again.

It's been really great hanging out with Susannah every day. She was only 12 when I left for college and we're actually closer now than we were before I left.

Susannah was going back and forth about university for a long time but she's finally decided to go. She starts next year.

She wants to be a chef and has completely overtaken the kitchen in my absence. She's pretty damn good at any dish she decides to try as well.

The arrangement suits our parents just fine, because neither of them know how to cook and don't want to start now. I don't know what they'll do when I move out and Susannah goes to college.

Maybe they'll just go out to eat even more than they do now! They hardly ever went out when we were kids but it's a much more frequent occurrence these days.

They're really taking advantage of us girls being old enough to take care of ourselves!

Not that I'm complaining. Mum and Mama being out on the town means Susannah and I have the house to ourselves.

It's not especially exciting but Susannah has so much homework in this final year of high school and I'm studying too. Sometimes our brains are too spent to do anything more taxing than watch TV.

I'm working too but I'm also trying to complete my Master's. A bachelor's degree is almost useless if you want to go very far with architecture, so I'm trying to power through and finish. I really want to be out there and using what I've learnt.

Working from home though, with no one to really answer to, it can be hard to stay motivated. I often lose my train of thought and my mind just wanders.

I've been practising some of the tai chi Adrienne taught me while I was living in the dorms. It gives me back some focus when I start to drift off.

20 minutes of tai chi and my mind is clear enough to get back to work.

I feel so spoiled to even admit it, but my Master's is being fully funded by my parents. Education is of the utmost importance to them, especially Mum. She didn't want me delaying my career because I couldn't afford tuition.

I feel a little guilty about it and I've offered to pay the money back once I finish. It's not an enormous amount of money and I could probably get rid of the debt within five years or so. Mum and Mama are comfortable but not rich.

Mum won't hear of it though. She doesn't really understand why I'd want to pay for something myself when I have someone offering to pay it for me.

My friend Troy can't believe I'm voluntarily putting myself through two more years of school.

But we've always had very different views on education. I can't believe he even graduated. I don't know if I ever saw Troy studying.

Different though we may be, we always got along well when we were living at the dorms. We were both history majors and at first, I thought he might have been able to help me out, seeing he was two years ahead.

It didn't take long for it to become apparent that Troy was never going to be much of a tutor but at least we became good friends. I love that I'm back home and we can hang out again.

I admit that lately, when I visit Troy, I've been spending more time with his roommate, Nick.

I've always had such a huge crush on Nick but I've never really acted on it, apart from one ill-advised attempt at flirting in my freshman year. But we're both single now, so I decided to make it very clear that I was interested, if he was.

Nick's so shy and I wasn't sure if he'd actually ask me out, but I guess I was explicit enough that he felt confident that I'd say yes!

I think we were both nervous on our first date. We've known each other for a long time but not really that well, and we'd never been alone together much. We both kept looking over at the other, hoping they'd break the ice.

Once our food arrived, it all just seemed a little easier.

Nick started talking about his dad and his tentative plans to open a restaurant...

...and that reminded me of Susannah, and her plans to become a chef.

From there, we didn't have much trouble finding topics to talk about.

We spoke a lot about our families, something that's important to both of us. I didn't realise Nick's family was so big - 5 half-siblings and 16 cousins! My family is so tiny in comparison.

I think it went about as well as a first date possibly can. It was awesome, actually.


We ended up talking until well after everyone else in the restaurant had left, before deciding that we'd better get out of there, before the staff got too annoyed with us!

Susannah says she's living vicariously through me, seeing she hasn't dated anybody since Malcolm. When I got home, she was perched on my bed, waiting for details.

I was kind of happy she waited up for me because I was bursting to tell somebody how well the date had gone!

I must have made Nick sound so amazing that Susannah just had to meet him. When he came to pick me up for our next date, she rushed out of the house to see for herself.

Apparently, Susannah approves!

Nick and I didn't wait long to go out again and the second time around was just as awesome as the first.

Maybe more so, because there wasn't so much of the initial awkwardness this time.

We're just having so much fun together.

I don't want to rush into anything because I've done that in the past and it didn't work out so well. But I do have a good feeling about Nick.

We've been hanging out a lot at Nick's place, usually when Troy's not home. My parents are much more respectful of my privacy now that I'm an adult but the only place we could really go would be my bedroom. And Nick and I aren't quite at that point yet.
 
I feel like I could fall in love with this guy so easily. He's so sweet.

For one thing, he didn't freak out when I asked if he'd meet my parents, only a few weeks after we started dating. I wouldn't normally ask but once Mama found out Susannah had met Nick, she kept asking and asking when she was going to get to meet him.

And Nick was fine with it. He's already met Mum - she was his principal for six years, after all - and he's met Susannah, so he figured he might as well meet Mama as well.

The meeting was successful, I think. Mama really loved Nick. I have a feeling Nick probably goes over pretty well with most mothers.

I think Mum made Nick a little nervous but I don't know if it was because she was his old high school principal or just because she's Mum. She actually does like him a lot.

I still think it was a little early for Nick to meet my family but I'm kind of glad we got it over with too! I couldn't get serious with any guy who my parents didn't like and even though this is all new, I think (or hope) Nick and I might eventually move in that direction.

Extra:

I think when/if Nick gets married, I'm going to have to do like Sari and have him wear his uniform. I love the military uniforms in this game and I've never used them in a wedding before. I'm getting ahead of myself though!

Notes:

• Title is from Ribcage by Elbow.
• Susannah earned 5 scholarships, so she'll be heading off to Suffolk with her ex, Malcolm, this summer. I'm hoping Nathan will get in too but I haven't checked him yet.
• So Nick's "mystery girl" is finally revealed! I know at least one of you guessed correctly and I think a couple more of you may have had an inkling. ;) It's been pretty hard to keep these two apart, I have to say! Numerous attempts at booty calls were made, which I cancelled out! They are each other's "One" and have very good chemistry. Sarah and Nick are 3 bolters, with an attraction score of 115, which is pretty good considering neither of them have Massive Attraction.
• Nick's had the generic want to Fall in Love for a while now (since he broke up with Adrienne) and Sarah had the want to Flirt. So I had her visit Troy, she flirted with Nick and they fell in love instantly (they were already best friends from college). Immediately, their panels filled up with wants for each other. They both have 10 nice points, so they do those cheesy grins all the time, which I always find hilarious! It's very cute and I played them for way too long and took far too many pictures of them!
• I wouldn't normally do the meet the parents thing so early but Kimberly and Susannah both rushed outside the house to greet Nick, on two separate occasions, so I figured the family was keen to meet him and judge him. ;) Kimberly and Nick made good first impressions on each other because they rolled the want to become friends as soon as they met. I love when my Sims want to be friends with their in-laws.