Love like a sunset

Round 34: September 2040 (Spring)

last update/next update

Chris Draper, Lucy Gray and Edward Lachance are 25.

(Jonas is 62, Tatiana is 57 and Veronica is 22)

Narrated by Edward Lachance

Chris finished his master’s last year and he’s been really enjoying the extra free time. I often see him curled up on the couch after work taking a nap, just because he can now.

Last year, he didn’t have that luxury very often, because he’d have to come home and study, so he’s relishing the freedom this year.

We ate better last year, before Chris decided to give cooking a shot. He made chili for dinner the other night and it was just…not good.

Lucy and I just tried to choke it down but Chris didn’t even seem to notice it was burnt.

I couldn’t believe the way he was scarfing that stuff down.

Lucy’s been reading a lot of cookbooks, hoping she gets so good at cooking that Chris won’t want to try again.

I don’t think it’ll be a huge problem though. Chris prefers to go out at night, often with Veronica.

She lives in the same unit block as us, so they often just decide to head out on the spur of the moment.

Veronica is in the second year of her own master’s degree but she seems to be pretty good at managing her time than Chris was. She’s almost finished anyway.

Lucy and I haven’t really spent much time with her at all, because they tend to go out rather than stay in more often than not but they seem to like each other a lot.

I know they haven’t talked about getting serious or even being exclusive. He’s dated other girls since meeting Veronica but not for a couple of months now.

They seem happy the way they are. I don’t see them rushing into any sort of commitment.

I’ve always imagined that Chris would live a bachelor kind of lifestyle for a good while.

I’m the opposite. I’ve never dated anyone except Lucy and am more than content with that.

Over the last year or so, Lucy has been pretty heavily hinting that she was ready to get married.

I took a bit longer to come around to the idea. I always figured we’d end up getting married but until recently, I still kind of felt like I was a kid.

25 feels different to 24 though - more grown-up, somehow - and I finally feel just as ready as Lucy does.

Lucy was thrilled about that.

Even though we pretty much decided to get married then and there, I still wanted to do the whole proposal thing, which Lucy loved the idea of.

I knew what kind of ring Lucy would want (pointing out rings she liked was part of all the hinting she’s been doing), so I picked it out on my own.

It felt pretty good to be able to pay for it. It was expensive but I just got a new job as a marine biologist and the price didn’t terrify me quite as much as it would have a couple of years ago.

I knew Lucy wasn’t the type to want a public proposal and honestly, it would have been completely nerve-wracking for me as well.

So I just asked Lucy to marry me at home, while Chris was out, so we had complete privacy.

We went out to celebrate right afterwards, at the nicest restaurant around.

We both knew Lucy was going to accept my proposal but it was exciting to finally be able to make it official.

We hadn’t told anyone that we’d been talking about marriage, so we were keen to tell our families and friends the news as well.

My parents were over the moon for us, just like I knew they’d be.

Mum has known Lucy since she was 4 years old, when she started pre-school and Dad liked her as soon as I introduced them, when Lucy and I were 14. She’s already like part of the family at my parents’ place.

It’s been a great year for Mum and Dad. Dominic made them grandparents (twice over - he and Leslie have twins) in February and Audrey got married in April and now I’m engaged.

Lucy and I definitely won’t get married before the end of the year but 2040 has still been amazing for our family.

Despite Chris’s currently less-than-enthusiastic views on marriage, he congratulated us when we told him.

I thought maybe he’d also be worried about his living situation - being forced out of this place or alternatively, being left paying triple the rent once we moved out.

If anyone moves out, it will be me and Lucy and it won’t be for at least another year, which will hopefully be plenty of time for Chris to save up a bit, find another roomie or another place.

Neither of us want our decision to leave Chris in the lurch but he really wasn’t too concerned about that anyway.

It never even occurred to him to worry about it. He’s confident that when the time comes, we’ll all have figured out a plan that works for all of us.

That was a big relief for both of us. Now we can just get on with planning our wedding!

Notes:

• Title is from Love Like a Sunset by Phoenix.
• Ruby Lane was being a big creeper during Chris and Veronica's date. You might be able to spot her behind the glass in the first picture in the restaurant, but if not...

         ...there she is! She was heartfarting over Chris when he first entered the lot, so I guess she's got         a little crush. Typical Ruby!

• In Sullivan 1.0, Lucy had an engagement or marriage want but Edward was dragging his feet. They both rolled up engagement wants as soon as I moved them into Sullivan 1.0, so I locked those babies down! Lucy also rolled a marriage and baby want pre-engagement, which is why they got engaged at home - I had to free up a lock! No baby want from Edward yet, so we'll see what happens. I haven't set a wedding date for them yet but I'm thinking maybe December 2041/January 2042. 
• Never fear though, Lucy, because your future father-in-law has your back!

• Tatiana and Lucy were too busy being super-inappropriate to talk much about grandchildren.

• Chris and Veronica are still very casual. Veronica saunters into their flat on a fairly regular basis for a booty call but they're not going steady and Chris has a fear of marrying Veronica. So more wait and see for those two. 
• I thought I remembered seeing this action a long time ago, when Finn and Victoria were teens. I don't think I've been able to replicate it since. Turns out I was using the wrong interaction - it's a Classic Dance thing, not Slow Dance! Anyway, Lucy was not happy about Edward accidentally stomping on her foot. ;)

         Poor Edward. I can't imagine Lucy getting that angry over an accident (Nice sims should react           differently!), so I didn't try to write this in but I still thought it was funny!

• I haven't quite decided what will happen with Chris after Edward and Lucy get married. Maybe he'll advertise for a roomie. That might be fun, actually.