Saturday 31 December 2011

Alarmed

Round 32: August 2036 (Winter)

Connor Novak is 23 and Josh Royce-Nihill is 22.
(Max is 49, Lila is 23, Elspeth is 22 and Veronica is 19)

LinkNarrated by Josh Royce-Nihill

LinkLink

My grades at Suffolk were good, but not so good that newspapers were falling all over themselves to try to hire me, so I wasn’t able to get a job in my field right after graduation.

Fortunately, Dad came to the rescue and hired me as a waiter at Front Page. He needed someone to work nights and I was happy to get a paycheck.

I thought I’d hate it but it’s actually not bad. Most of the customers are okay and Dad is laid back and doesn’t mind if I chat to them a little while I’m serving.

I don’t want to do it all my life or anything but a job’s a job. It pays the rent.

Connor pays the other half of the rent and was lucky enough to to get a job within ten minutes of arriving back in Sullivan. I’m kind of jealous.

He really loves his job and he can see himself in that line of work for life.

All I can do is keep looking and continue to work on my writing, and hope someone will take a chance on me. I’ve written a few paid articles for blogs and things, thinking that will look better on a resume than someone who’s done no writing at all.

Living with Connor is definitely different from living at home. Neither of us can really cook, so we’re not eating any better than we did in the dorms.

Connor can’t believe my dad is a chef and I learnt absolutely nothing from him. All I can make is mac and cheese.

Connor and I are living just a couple of streets away from the basketball court, so we head down there together on Monday afternoons. I think we’ve finally seen the last of the snow, so we’ve been able to start playing again.

We both have Mondays off, when everyone else is working. Restaurants are often closed Mondays and Connor has two days off during the week in exchange for working weekends. Life's good.

The only real problem with my current living arrangement is Lila. She’s with Connor now and it’s a little strange, having your roommate dating your ex-girlfriend.

Connor told me about it quite soon after they got together, so it didn’t exactly come as a surprise to me. She's always thrilled to see me.

She really still loathes me, some would say with good reason. It's pretty awkward having her around sometimes.

We’re okay when Connor is there as a buffer, so I hope things can be smoothed over eventually. It’s not like we’re really able to avoid each other forever.

Lila and Connor seem pretty solid and very happy together, so she’s going to be hanging around here a lot.

And I’m still close to Elspeth, who lives with Lila, so I’m over at their place sometimes as well.

Thought I have to say, I really try to avoid that. Elspeth has said that Lila doesn’t mind us hanging out but I’m pretty sure she’s not thrilled about it either, especially at her home.

Nothing is going on between me and Elspeth but a couple of months ago, I did try to make a subtle move on her.

It didn’t go so well.

Elspeth thinks we’re better off staying friends.

I really think we could have something, if she’d give it a chance, but I’m not going to push it. For now, anyway.

I’m not going to just wait around for her though, so I’ve started dating someone else. Her name is Veronica and she’s a sophomore at Suffolk.

We met last year, when I was still living on campus. I was interested straight away but she turned me down more than once. I’m nothing if not persistent. She was dating someone else then but they’ve since broken up. She’d been contemplating ending things for a while and his loss is my gain.

All of her classes this semester are while I’m at work, so our schedules match up surprisingly well. We’ve been seeing each other a few times a week and it’s going pretty well so far.

She gets really mad when I even mention sports but that’s not a huge deal. We don’t need to have everything in common.

We don’t click like I do with Elspeth though and it’s something that comes to mind every now and then when I’m with Veronica.

Elspeth and I have been friends since we were 10 and have been through so much together though. Our relationship didn’t develop overnight, so I’m trying not to think about that in relation to Veronica.

Seeing Veronica only just broke up with Oliver, she’s not ready for anything serious yet. I’m happy to keep things casual for a while too and just see where it goes.

Extras:Susannah tried to grab Caleb's ass and he was not happy about it!

And she wasn't very happy about the rejection either!

The girl must be getting desperate, hitting on her sister's father-in-law! I'll have to find her a nice boy. ;)
And this would be why I had Veronica break up with Oliver. Josh booty-called her and she was willing to do absolutely everything with him, except woohoo. So given the way her wants looked (none for poor Oliver, plenty of generic ones), I decided that the fact that she was technically still committed to Oliver was the only thing stopping her and I had them break up "off camera". I really like Oliver though, so I'm still hoping one of my other girls takes a liking to him.

Notes:

  • Title is from Alarmed by Built to Spill.
  • Josh got a job in journalism literally seconds before I left this house. It pays about $80 more than he was making at Front Page, which is still not great, but he has his foot in the door now. He's doing better than poor Hope. She had the same GPA but is still waiting for a job in natural science.
  • Veronica and Josh have two bolts, so they're moderately well-matched. But Josh is still holding a massive candle for Elspeth and Veronica doesn't seem into anyone in particular, so we'll see what happens between them.

12 comments:

  1. O I am wondering about your glitch! I was hoping to find out in this update of course I have my suspicions. I was shocked to see Veronica hitting it up with Josh!! Poor Oliver. I wonder if josh will end up settling, happens and its not like he hasn't tried with Elspeth plenty of times. I love her goodies, I think I have it in my game but not that Colorado, looks nice on her.

    Poor Lola! She cant escape Josh anywhere. I don't blame her from wanting some space from him in her own place. Glad Josh got a job,geez I feel for Hope! Hopefully soon she can get something in line with her education.

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  2. Maisie, it won't be too long until you find out about my glitch, assuming you're talking about my pregnant visitor! It'll be quite early in the new year. :)

    I was kind of surprised about Veronica too, considering she wasn't that into him when he hit on her in college. You'll just have to see about Elspeth and Josh...where I'm going with them is still forming in my head but I'm getting there! BTW, I think her hoodie was one of the Advent gifts at GOS.

    Poor Lila is kind of stuck with Josh for a good while yet, seeing she's happy with Connor and doesn't look like she's going anywhere. Awkward, definitely.

    Josh got really lucky on the job front! Hope, at least, has a decent job as a lobbyist for now. I'm due to cheat her into her desired job by 2038, so she'll be working in natural science next time I play her.

    Thanks for reading!

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  3. Like Maisie, I thought about your glitch as well, so I was looking for all sorts of clues :P Also I wonder if Josh should give up on Elspeth, I mean, he did kind of mess that up for them a while ago and caused Lila to hate him in return :\

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  4. Apple Valley, well, I won't say whether there were any clues or not in this but you'll find out soon enough!

    As for Josh, he definitely has made some mistakes in how he's dealt with his feelings for Elspeth so far. But I won't say anything else for now. ;)

    Thanks for reading!

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  5. I've said it before, and I think I'm going to keep saying it but I absolutely LOVE Lila and Connor together!!

    I do kind of like Josh and Veronica together as well. It seems like they are still discovering each other, and even though they aren't in anything serious at the moment, you never know what can happen.

    I think Elspeth might be right about being better of just being friends. You can never have enough friends in your life. I'm hoping, and I have been since they were in high school, that Josh finally realised it as well! He will be in a little less heartache when he does!

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  6. Tanja, I love them Connor and Lila together too. They've very well-suited.

    Josh and Veronica are in a very early stage of their relationship and neither is sure where it's going, or even where they want it to go. I hope to touch on them a little more in the next college update.

    It would probably be easier for Josh if he let Elspeth go but I'm following their wants here, so we'll see what happens. It's all becoming pretty clear to me now where I should go with this and you'll find out more about that in Elspeth's update next round. :)

    Thanks for reading!

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  7. The title for this one is perfect, haha! Elspeth is gorgeous. But mostly I had to comment on Susanah. :o I can't really blame her for choice in butt pinching. Plus he looked so cute all angry, lol.

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  8. Lunar, heh, I thought so too!

    Oh, gosh, Susannah! Yeah, Caleb's still a good looking man, at 50-whatever. Not such a great choice for Susannah though!

    Thanks for reading!

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  9. LOL. I love that Susannah tried to pinch Caleb--those Morettis are just so darn handsome (though I've always been partial to David, myself). I love how David is in the background looking awkward, like he is trying his best not to notice Susannah's naughty behavior.

    I wonder if Josh and Elspeth will ever start seeing each other seriously? It's a little sweet that he values the relationship he's built up with her for so long, because usually he's quite the womanizer.

    Still loving Connor! :)

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    Replies
    1. Heh, the Moretti boys are quite handsome (all of them!) I'm pretty fond of David myself. I can't imagine what everyone else in the bowling alley must have thought of Susannah's pinching Caleb's ass!

      I won't say much about Josh and Elspeth, because you'll see more on them quite early in the next round. But they've certainly been dancing around each other for a long time, haven't they? I don't know if I'd call Josh a womaniser but he has definitely made some really poor decisions in the past.

      Who doesn't love Connor? ;)

      Thanks for reading!

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  10. Elspeth and Josh would be actually quite a nice couple... *sigh* We'll see how things will go with Veronica, though, but... my vote would be for Elspeth, if I was Josh. Too bad he doesn't take much time to think before "jumping".
    I laughed at the looks between Lila and Josh!!! *lol*
    "Who does't love Connor?" No idea!!! :D

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, I don't know if Veronica and Josh are headed for the long term! He's still pretty hung up on Elspeth and she...well, Oliver didn't keep her attention for long once she started at uni, so I'm not sure about Josh's chances. There'll be more on Josh and Elspeth at the very beginning of next round (which you're really close to reaching right now).

      No love lost between Lila and Josh. He's ready to move on but she's still quite bitter about it all.

      Thanks for reading!

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