Friday 23 December 2011

Melt your heart

Round 32: July 2036 (Winter)

last update/next update

Charlie Benton is 24, Camilla Sitko is 23 and Grace and Everett are both 6.
(Olivia is 39, Susannah is 26 and Zac is 2)

Narrated by Camilla Sitko

Charlie and I put every bit of money we’d saved up into getting this unit but it’s really been worth it.

Ideally, we’d be living in a house but this place is bigger than any house we can currently afford. That should change next year, when Charlie turns 25 and gets access to his trust fund.

But maybe we’ll stay put here for a while anyway. We’re happy and the kids are happy and it’s all we need for now.

I really like our neighbour, Susannah. We both became mothers rather unexpectedly, so we bonded over that to begin with. We get along really well and we're often in and out of each other's units.

It feels strange to be the more experienced mother but I’ve been able to give Susannah the odd tidbit of advice in the time we’ve known each other.

Her son Zac is only two, so Susannah is still dealing with all the toddler stuff, which feels like it was so long ago with Grace and Everett.

Zac is a good kid but it’s just a tough age. Susannah is doing it on her own too, for the most part. Zac stays with his dad a couple of nights a week but it’s mostly on Susannah’s shoulders.

Her ex recently started dating someone and I’m trying to convince Susannah she should get back out there too.

She's a bit daunted by the idea of dating with a kid. She and Zac are a package deal; she needs whoever she's with to love her and her son.

She’s also kind of shy and would be nervous about dating again regardless of the circumstances. I wish I knew someone I could introduce her too. All the men I know are partnered up right now.

We finally got a cat for Grace and Everett this year. They’ve been bugging us for a pet for ages, so we picked Wanda out at a shelter.

The twins adore her and she seems to at least tolerate them.

They’re very good at paying attention to her and making sure she gets fed.

They even clean out the kitty litter. I’m very proud of them.

Charlie is very particular about tidiness, so he has the kids pretty well-trained. I work from 7 to 6 and cleaning is the last thing I want to do when I get home.

I’m now Olivia’s assistant, so I’m earning twice what I did as an intern. I have a more involved role now, along with the pay bump and I’m really enjoying it.

The hours are crazy but it’s worth it. I get such a buzz being backstage at a fashion show. I can’t imagine what I’ll feel like when it’s my own designs the models are wearing.

I was the one who always had the after-school shift when we were living on campus but Charlie works shorter hours than I do now, so he is home with the kids after school more often than I am.

I miss it in some ways. I love hearing all their little stories about school, even if Everett does still tend to embellish his tales a little!

But the kids usually have a ton to tell me when I get home anyway. It is really nice to walk in and have the kids’ homework and dinner ready to eat.

I’m always so ravenous after work. Who wouldn’t be, after 11 hours?

It doesn’t leave a lot of time for romance though. Charlie and I haven’t been on a date in a few months now. We’re usually too exhausted. Once we get the kids to bed, we’re just about ready for bed ourselves.

Last Friday night, I arrived home from work to an unusually quiet house. When the place is that quiet, it usually means the kids are doing something they shouldn’t!

I was worried, until Charlie came explained that Grace and Everett were with his parents and we had the place completely to ourselves.

Charlie’s parents are always offering to take the kids for a night but we rarely take them up on it. The prospect of a whole evening on our own was so exciting though!

Charlie made dinner for us. He does that almost every night but just the two of us sharing a meal doesn’t happen very often.

We even had champagne, because Charlie said it was a “special occasion”.

I started to suspect what Charlie was up to then…

…so I wasn’t totally surprised when I saw the ring box.

But that didn’t make it any less thrilling. When I came home from work, I definitely wasn’t expecting to get engaged after dinner!

Then again, I never expected to still be with Charlie after 8 years or that I would have two children by now.

My life really hasn’t gone the way I imagined it would when we first started dating but I can’t wait to take this next step with Charlie.

Notes:
  • Title is from Melt Your Heart by Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins.
  • Poor Charlie is now back on the night shift! More money but crappier hours. As for Camilla, I think the hours for the Fashion career are uniformly awful, all the way to the upper levels (Olivia's hours still suck), so she's in this for the long haul now.
  • But yay, WEDDING! LOL, you guys know I love a wedding. I'm not totally set on the date yet but I'm thinking round about April next year. I will have it set for sure by the time I put up next round's play schedule.
  • Charlie actually rolled the want to get engaged to Camilla while she was still pregnant. This was amazing to me, because she was still a teen and he was a YA at the time. I've never seen engagement/marriage wants for teen-adult couples, even with the adult wants hack (although I still have to try that independent teen trick). And also, he didn't roll the want while he was on a date with Camilla - he just rolled it out of the blue. I always take that as a special sign, so I figured that Charlie was serious about Camilla from then on. He had a few hiccups along the way but his heart was always in the right place.
  • I actually had a few extra scenes planned out for this with Camilla and her friends but it was already getting long. ;) I think I'll write one of them into the actual wedding post.

15 comments:

  1. Yay! I was thinking as I read, when will the get engaged? And it happened, do yay! \0/ <-- for Maisie!

    You know, when Marcus aged to YA at uni he rolled the want to get engaged to Bri. She's still a teen, not an independent one either. When she had her first visit with him downtown on campus she rolled the want to get engaged to him. They are my only couple to do that where one is YA and the other is a teen.

    Can't wait for the wedding!!! I popped into one of my sims houses and they rolled the want to get engaged as well, out of the blue. I love when that happens! So go Charlie!!!

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  2. Ooo, another wedding. I adore your weddings, so excited to see this one and all the details like the cake! the dress! the twins' outfits! eeee! Ok, I'm excited ^_^

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  3. Riverdale, I always figured I'd let Charlie propose once they were finished college. He's been waiting years, so I'm sure he's relieved.

    Oh, that's interesting about Marcus and Bri! It must be a really rare thing, if you've only had one couple roll those wants too. Some people do decide quite young who they really want to be with, so I'm happy for that to be represented in the game.

    I've barely even started planning this wedding! It'll be at Tate and Zelda's place though, like Josie and Troy's. :)

    Thanks for reading!

    Apple Valley, I'm excited too! I haven't picked anything out yet but I always have fun doing that for my more fashion-inclined Sims. I'll have to see if there's a more unusual dress that I might pick for Camilla. :)

    Thanks for reading!

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  4. Yay yay Wedding!! So excited for them. It was so sweet how Charlie proposed. I was in total shock when he asked her, my mouth dropped. Great update!

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  5. Nicky, I'm always surprised when I manage to surprise you guys without intending to. I didn't think Charlie proposing would stun anyone, lol! But I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

    Thanks for reading!

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  6. I always wondered when these two kids would get married. I always hoped for them, especially since they've been together for so long and they have twins. So exciting. Camilla's going to make such a beautiful bride. Also, I still can't get over how much Everett looks like Charlie.

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  7. Choco, Charlie and Camilla have done really well in quite trying circumstances, so I was always hoping they'd stay together too. It would have been easy for them to end up like Susannah and Sam!

    Camilla will make a stunning bride, I'm sure! And I know - Everett is such a little Charlie clone. Those genes are strong!

    Thanks for reading!

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  8. I'm really excited they are getting married! I'm always happy when couples who had children very young, stay together :)
    I'm so glad they made it, it couldn't have been easy, having kids so young, and making it through college.
    They seem to be doing fine at the moment.

    I'm wondering if they would consider having another child, I surely wouldn't mind if they would :)

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  9. Tanja, I always am too. The first couple I had who got pregnant very early were Caleb and Abigail and that didn't work out so well! I mean, it did in the end but it was ugly for a while. So it's great that Camilla and Charlie overcame all the hurdles.

    LOL, I'm sure you wouldn't! Neither of them have rolled the want for a baby yet though and as Charlie is allowed BC, I'm leaving the decision on whether to have a third baby up to them. :)

    Thanks for reading!

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  10. I'm excited for them to get married! Look how sweet Charlie is, having that want for so long! I wasn't even expecting a proposal going into this update. I'll be curious if they roll a baby want after marriage, I think they are super sweet with just the twins, but it could be nice to have another closer tonthe time her sister settles down, much like Victoria did with Claudia.

    I really liked the behind the scenes with Olivia, too bad that career will always have such tiresome hours, but that makes a lot of sense. Can't wait for the wedding! I bet Everett and Grace will be super cute at it.

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  11. Maisie, I really love that Charlie rolled that want so early. It was a big clue for me that he was quite serious, and wasn't planning on running away when things got tough. But it's exciting, getting to plan a wedding again! Yay!

    I think Charlie and Camilla would be happy with just the twins but at the same time, it would be nice if they got to experience a planned pregnancy. So I'm just going to see how their wants go over the next several years. Camilla has a lot of fertile years ahead of her, seeing they got started so young!

    Not every career is a 9-5, lol! Charlie's hours are pretty terrible right now too, but he gets more days off. Camilla's doing 5 days a week on this schedule.

    Thanks for reading!

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  12. Yay for Charlie and Camilla! She'll be a beautiful bride, especially with her design connections. :) I'm excited to see the wedding!

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    1. I'm pretty excited too, because so far, I have the venue picked and that's it! I'm keen to know what everything will look like myself, lol! I'm hoping to sit down with it soon and pick some things out. :)

      Thanks for reading!

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  13. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhh! So it will be the next wedding!!! Benton update always means a major cuteness overload for me, but I didn't expected an engagement now! Cool!!! And *lol* @ the cat tolerating the kids!!

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    Replies
    1. Heh, now you know! Yes, Charlie and Camilla will be the next couple to get married in Sullivan. I'm very excited to put it all together. :)

      LOL, that poor cat! Grace and Everett won't leave the poor creature alone!

      Thanks for reading!

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