Kingpin

Round 31: December 2033 (Summer)

last update/Rebecca's next update/Susannah's next update

Rebecca Kirby is 24 and Susannah Carmody is 23.
(Nathan is 23, Hope and Julia are both 22 and Audrey and Jack are both 21)

Narrated by Rebecca Kirby

Now that Christmas is over, Susannah and I are focusing our efforts on throwing a New Year's Eve party.

I just finished my first year as a qualified psych and personally, I could really use a chance to unwind.

I'm a school counselor right now, though I'm working out of the hospital. Near the end of the year, I did a lot of careers counseling for the kids going into Grades 11 and 12. They all have to see me at one point but some come in with their whole lives mapped out in front of them already.

And some of the others just have no clue what they want to do. I didn't really know at that age either but I enjoy talking to them about their options and I hope I'm helpful.

I love that part. It's the work I have to do in between sessions that's killing me. Case notes, referrals, et cetera. My work hours are 9 to 5 but I can't remember the last time I only worked 8 hours on any one day. I'm looking forward to this party like you wouldn't believe!

I would have thought Susannah did enough cooking at work but since Christmas, she's done hardly anything at home except bring in more and more groceries and make more and more party food for freezing.

Better her than me. I know how to cook but much to Mum's horror, I'd rather not.

We never planned on making this a huge thing but the guest list was still tricky. Susannah wanted to invite Julia who, in my opinion, is completely out of her mind. I would really rather not have her in my apartment.

Susannah is a softie though and she didn't really see a way out of inviting her. For one thing, she lives right across the hall. And for another, we were planning on inviting her roommate Hope, who is also Susannah's cousin.

So I was stuck with Julia, whether I liked it or not. I wasn't happy with it but Susannah wasn't going to budge. She even told me to "be nice".

Like I'm the one who needs that kind of reminder. Julia blames me for Nathan breaking up with her.

Nathan and I do hang out a lot but nothing has happened between us at all. We're just friends.

Not that I don't want something to happen. It's pretty bad timing, I guess. Nathan had a huge crush on me at university, before I met Lucian. I didn't really want to give him the time of day then.

Now though? I'm definitely seeing the appeal. He's actually a really cute guy.

And Nathan is incredibly ambitious as well, which I always appreciate in a guy. That was what we bonded over initially. It was last year, when he was starting law school and I was finishing up my Master's.

To be honest, Nathan is a big reason I didn't want Julia at the party. I don't want her hanging around while I'm trying to make a move on him. I guess I'll just have to do what I can.

Despite Julia's presence, the party was pretty great.

We did get a couple of noise complaints from our neighbour though. She was lucky it was Susannah and not me who answered the door. I would have told her where she could shove her complaint. Who's trying to sleep at 11pm on New Year's Eve anyway? There's no kids in this building, so what's the big deal?

Apart from Julia, Hope also brought her boyfriend, Malcolm, who is also Susannah's ex.

I know it was a long time ago but I'm still amazed Susannah gets along with Malcolm as well as she does. I'm more of a grudge-holding type.

Then again, Susannah is pretty wrapped up in Sam at the moment. They got together (finally) in May and so far, so good.

They do make a cute couple and Sam is a really nice guy. Susannah has some spectacularly bad luck with guys over the past couple of years, so she deserves a good guy maybe more than anyone.

And I picked him out, all those years ago! If Susannah and Sam get married and live happily ever after, I'm planning on taking full credit.

Audrey is one of Susannah's best friends, so she and Jack were at the party as well.

At this point, I don't even know if Julia remembers why she hates Jack but she had her scowl at the ready anyway. Man, she really loathes Jack!

She kept staring at Nathan too but it was a little different. She didn't really look angry - just kind of sad.

I thought I was never going to get Nathan alone, until Hope took Julia out onto the balcony, which distracted her a little.

That, along with the music and the talking, made it incredibly easy for Nathan and I to sneak off.

When I invited Nathan to the party, I didn't really know things would go as far as they did.

But one thing led to another, as sometimes happens.

I think we were both a little bit tipsy but I don't regret it. I would have done the same thing sober.

We rejoined the party afterwards and I don't know if anyone had even noticed we were gone.

Except Julia. I think Julia might suspect something is going on now. Nathan's not looking forward to running into her again, though it's inevitable that he will.

I was expecting her to blow up right then and there but she just kind of slumped in the corner for the rest of the night.

I could almost feel sorry for her. Our party was kind of imbalanced.

Including me and Nathan, it was all couples. And then there was Julia.

It would have to suck being the only person without somebody at midnight.

I knew Nathan wasn't a one-night-stand kind of guy, so I was expecting to get a phone call at some point. I wasn't expecting it to come at 7am but apparently, Nathan's a morning person.

He asked me out and we had a great time though, so I'm trying not to hold that against him. I think this could really be something good for both of us.

Since the party, Susannah has been kind of down. She's been sleeping much more than normal and it's incredibly hard to wake her and get her moving.

She's been shuffling around the house, hardly talking at all and just generally acting depressed.

I finally sat her down and made her tell me what was wrong. I thought maybe she'd say she had a fight with Sam.

There was no fight with Sam though. Susannah found out she was pregnant the day before New Year's. She was in denial about it and once she didn't have the party to focus on any more, she had to face facts.

Understandably, Susannah is totally freaking out at the moment. She's always wanted kids but she hasn't even been with Sam long enough to have really discussed that kind of thing. He doesn't know yet. Telling him is her next step.

I've told her that I'm there for her, no matter what but I don't really know what to do any more than she does.

Notes:

• Title is from Kingpin by Wilco.
• These pictures seriously do no justice to what Malcolm and Hope were like at this party! They were all over each other for the entire time! Happy to be reunited, finally, I guess. ;)
• Rebecca and Nathan was purely autonomous but it was something I was expecting to happen sooner rather than later. As soon as Nathan arrived on the lot, Rebecca rolled the want to ask him on a date and then they went from there.
• If you're wondering, Susannah is NOT the Oops, Preggy ROS Sim! Susannah was a HUGE surprise! She has 4 neat points, so she's not allowed BC (Sam only has 4 too, so he's not allowed BC either) but for some reason, I never thought she'd get pregnant. I keep expecting Maia or Adrienne to get knocked up and then my game throws me this curve ball. She's due in September 2034. Her first pregnancy update is in March and that will be more of a mini-story update than a regular birthday post. I mostly know where I'm going with this, so I'm getting that ready now.