Today

Round 30: September 2032 (Spring)

last update/Edward's next update/next update

Liam Weaver is 69, Jonas Lachance is 54, Tatiana is 49, Edward is 17 and Brendan is 9.
(Trent is 62, Jacob is 31, Dominic is 22, Audrey is 20, Connor is 19, Lucy and Chris are both 17 and Daphne is 1)

Narrated by Edward Lachance

Grandma's been gone for about two years now and Grandpa still misses her so much.

He's doing better though. I took over her position as manager at Kirby Market but Grandpa does most of the work with the crops. He enjoys it.

He has a new little granddaughter now, Daphne. Uncle Jacob brings her over to see him all the time.

At the beginning especially, that really helped Grandpa have something to smile about.

Sometimes Grandpa goes over to see them instead and with all those visits, he became friendly with Daphne's other grandfather, Trent.

They go out to the local pub once a week or so, to have some beers or play cards.

Mum's so relieved to see the change in him. She was getting worried about him and she worries enough about us kids, without adding Grandpa into the mix.

But then, I don't know what Mum would do if she didn't have anything at all to worry about.

Even Brendan is getting to an age where he doesn't want Mum fussing over him all the time but that's just the way she is.

Dad is a bit more laid back about everything and tries to get her to stop freaking out about every little thing but I don't think she can help herself.

She's worrying a little less about Dominic these days. He's started dating again and the new girl, Leslie, has already met and been approved by the family.

Leslie is still a student but once she graduates, she's planning on becoming a teacher.

You can imagine how much Mum loved hearing that. I think she's mildly disappointed that neither Dominic, Audrey or I want to be teachers.

I only got to talk to Leslie for a little while. I like my job but I feel like it takes up a ton of my time and I do miss out on things at home a lot.

Anyway, I think Leslie seems really sweet. She's very, very shy but we all tend that way in our family. So she'll fit right in.

Dominic seems really happy with Leslie but I wondered if it was a bit weird for him to be dating someone besides Tessa, especially after not being with anybody at all for so long.

He told me Leslie was ready to get serious long before he was but now, he feels like he's ready to move forward.

Audrey's boyfriend Connor isn't quite as popular around here as Leslie, at least not with Dad.

Connor was sort of weird and standoffish the first time Audrey brought him home and Dad just doesn't have a great impression of him now.

Dad just figured that seeing he was meeting us for the first time, Connor could have made more of an effort.

Grandpa likes Connor enough to make up for any deficiencies on Dad's part though. They get along like a house on fire.

I think Connor and Grandpa are actually fairly similar. Grandpa's not really too friendly either, when you first meet him. It makes me wonder how Grandpa got along with Dad, when he first started dating Mum.

As for me, I'm really serious about Lucy. We spend any spare time we have together.

Lucy has even started inviting me over when her parents are gone. Any time they go out to dinner or visit their friends, Lucy calls and I drive over.

We only ever made out for the longest time, because that was as far as Lucy wanted to go. I couldn't believe it when she said she wanted to have sex.

I had pretty much resigned myself to going to college a virgin but I'm glad it didn't work out that way.

We only have a few months left to go at school and everything we're doing just feels like busy work. All Chris and I talk about now is university. We can't wait to move out of home and into the dorms.

Chris has already picked his major and he's excited about starting classes. I'm mainly looking forward to the independence. It'll be my first time being away from home. It's going to be awesome!

Lucy used to join in with us when Chris and I would talk about college but for the last week or so, she's been really quiet whenever the topic comes up. She looks almost sad. I've asked what's wrong but she insists she's fine.

The other night, when we were alone, Lucy finally told me why she seemed so upset lately. She's not going to university with us.

She applied along with the rest of us and got the rejection letter a few days ago. Her grades were only average and competition for places was pretty fierce this year.

It's been hard to be too thrilled about going off to university now that Lucy's not going. It's not going to be the same without her there. I still can't believe she's not coming with us.

Spam:
I played with Dominic a little bit before playing Jonas and Tatiana, so I could see if he was interested in any of the girls I had him date in his last update. He was and it was Leslie. They're really adorable together (shy Sims flirting!), so I thought I'd share a few pictures.

And to end the spam, Josie being creepy. I don't know if she's ever even met Dominic or Leslie but she "approves" of this new coupling anyway!

Notes:

• Title is from Today by The Smashing Pumpkins.
• Dominic and Leslie, as you may have guessed, are officially dating now. We met Leslie in Dominic's last update. They're both pretty keen and have a very good attraction score (3 bolts, 123), so that's enough for me. We'll see how they go. Dominic did take a long time to fall in love though, which I thought was kind of sweet and fitting. Leslie fell in love on their first date; Dominic didn't fall in love until he brought her over to meet the parents!
• Lucy didn't get enough scholarships to get into uni, so she'll be joining the workforce next year rather than heading off to Suffolk with Edward and Chris. Edward got three EA scholarships and one "Sullivan scholarship" for working at a Sim-owned business. I got that idea from Maisie. ;)
• When I played Lucy's house this round, she rolled up the want to woohoo. I was very surprised because she wasn't on a date or anything at the time. So I figured she'd thought it through and wasn't caught up in the romance of a date or anything, so I brought Edward in and there you go. Edward rolled the want last round, so he's been waiting a while now!
• Jonas really isn't very fond of Connor. He didn't like Liam at first either (I wouldn't have written much, if anything, about it at the time but I do remember it), so there's a possibility Connor might grow on him. I don't see Connor as a particularly warm person and all the Lachances are, so I imagine someone standoffish and grumpy like Connor might rankle.
• I had a crash trying to play Jonas's video arcade this round. I'm hoping it was just random but if not, I'm going to try a smaller lot. It doesn't look like a huge lot but it is!