Sunday 3 June 2012

Last one standing

Round 33: July 2038 (Winter)
Eliot Lane is 52, Cordy is 45, Matthew and Simon are 13 and Charlotte is 9.
(Luc is 45, Tim is 18, Annabel is 14 and Sylvia is 12)

Narrated by Simon Lane

Lately, my parents have been making me take Charlotte down to the ice skating rink for practice.

She started taking real lessons this winter and she’s even more obsessed with skating than she was before.

I try to pass the time talking to the girls that work at the admissions counter but they’re older and not interested.

So I go back to watching Charlotte. We only stay for an hour or so but it feels like so much longer. I swear, I could fall asleep. I have way better things to be doing.

Like practising my guitar, for instance.

All through primary school, I played violin and a little piano. I still do, occasionally, but they both started to feel kind of dorky to me.

I’ve been learning some guitar at school and really wanted my own. So I started begging Mum and Dad for one, any chance I got.

Dad was never very keen on me getting one but Mum finally relented and talked him into it.

So now I have my own guitar. I want to make it my career one day, so I practise all the time.

Mum likes that I have an interest but she still thinks I should keep my options open and think about careers outside of music.

She says it’s not the most practical choice, because it can be hard to break into.

She’s crazy. Her own brother is insanely successful! He gets to travel all over the place to play shows for his fans.

Uncle Luc thinks I’ve got some real potential and that my playing is coming along well.

I know that doesn’t mean I’m guaranteed to be a star or anything, but it’s gotta count for something, right?

When Mum says she wants me to “keep my options open”, she means she wants me to go to college like Tim. I guess I still might go but at the moment, it doesn’t seem that appealing.

Tim is a freshman at Suffolk right now and nothing he talks about sounds all that awesome. It sounds like all he does is study. What kind of life is that?

He wants to go to medical school once he graduates, so he studies even more than most students do. Tim says it’s a challenge but he’s really enjoying all the new things he’s learning. Or at least, it seems like he does, given he never shuts about it.

Last time he visited, we didn’t talk much about his studies at all. Over dinner, Tim announced he was gay and that sort of dominated the conversation after that.

It was a little surprising but at the same time, it explains why Tim never brought any girls home or even talked about any who he liked.

My grandmother is gay, as well as one of my cousins, so it’s not really a big deal in my family. Dad is totally fine with it, as a result.

Mum doesn't have a problem with Tim being gay either but I think she was a little put out at the same time.

Tim said he’s known that he’s gay for over a year now and Mum is hurt that he didn’t tell her sooner.

It’s only this year that he’s really come to terms with it himself and he said it didn’t feel right to say anything any sooner.

Recently, Tim has been out on a couple of dates with some guy at school, named Marius. Mum wouldn’t let him leave unless he promised he’d bring him by, if it develops into anything serious.

Mum will get over it. She was more upset that she didn't know than anything else.

She can be so nosy. It drives her nuts that Matthew and I don’t tell her every single thing we do.

Dad’s always telling her to lay off us a bit but she can’t help herself.

Not that Matthew has anything to tell her. He can be kind of a bore.

He’s already thinking about getting into college, so he spends most of his spare time studying.

Usually, we get along as well as we ever have.

Unless I commit the terrible sin of asking him if he wants to go do something fun. He really does like staying in, a lot of the time.

Personally, I’d rather be out finding girls. A lot of the ones I like are older and completely ignore me, so I’m trying to focus on girls closer to my own age now. Once I get really good at the guitar, I think it’ll be easier.

That’s what Uncle Luc says anyway. He says the guitar is like a magnet for girls.

Even now that he’s married and “old”, he gets a lot of women hanging around him at his shows.

My parents both hate it when he tells me things like that. Uncle Luc just thinks it’s funny and calls them uptight but he’s more careful with what he says when they’re around now.

I’m not really good enough at guitar to attract that many girls yet but it’s definitely a perk I’m looking forward to in the future.

For now, I’m relying on my charm to impress Annabel Nott.

I’m only a year younger than her but she seems to think that’s a huge deal, so she turned me down when I asked her out.

I don't see how one little year really matters but maybe I can change her mind one day.

There’s always Sylvia Draper, I guess. Sylvia has been following me around since she saw me play guitar in music at school.

She comes over after school sometimes, just to hang out and talk.

She’s cute too. I like talking to her and she loves listening to me talk about how I’m going to be in a band one day.

I don’t know if I really want to date her but it’s kind of nice having a girl around who thinks everything I do is amazing!

Notes:
  • Title is from Last One Standing by Neil Finn.
  • I just had to use the figure skating outfits I found! Charlotte is a very cute little ice skater.
  • It seemed pretty realistic to me that if anything was going to happen between Marius and Tim, it would have happened by now. ;) So they're dating, Tim's family knows and we'll see more from them next uni update.
  • I'm having a ton of fun with Simon! He's not Romance like Luc, so I think he might end up more keen to eventually settle down than Luc was but at the age he is now, I can see the "guitars get lots of girls" thing would be pretty appealing to him.
  • Simon likes Annabel and Annabel likes...a few boys, none of whom are Simon. But she's a fickle one, so we'll see what she wants during the Nott update. Sylvia is quite keen on Simon but he hasn't shown any romantic interest in her. :( I don't think Joanna would be very enthusiastic about the prospect of her dating at the moment anyway, so it might be just as well.

18 comments:

  1. Haha such a cute update! Charlotte looks adorable as a figure skater. I really need to get one in my game. And Simon's reaction to taking her there was pretty funny too! I laughed so much at Luc telling Simon about guitars getting loads of girls. lol. It seems so typical of him :) I'm so glad Tim finally told his family and that he has started dating Marius- I really wanted them together from when I read about them in your uni update. Poor Simon being rejected by Annabel but I guess at that age a year is a HUGE difference for some people. Poor Sylvia- hopefully he won't lead her on too much but its still kinda sweet that she follows him around!

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    1. I've got a figure skating career I downloaded from MTS and I'm keen to try it out, so I'm sort of training up Charlotte now. ;) Professional athletes usually start training at a fairly young age anyway!

      At one stage, the girls would have been the most appealing aspect of Luc's job and being a romance Sim, I'm sure he still remembers those days fondly. ;) It's sounding pretty glamourous to Simon right now.

      Yeah, I haven't played Tim and Marius together much yet, except to send them on a date so they were actually "together"! But they seem like a good couple so far.

      Simon finds the attention from Sylvia flattering but they haven't flirted or anything, so hopefully she's not taking any of it the wrong way. He hasn't ruled out dating her one day though. ;)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  2. He is something else, but at least he seems to have a fairly stable head on his shoulder.

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    1. Simon's a pretty smart kid, despite his lack of interest in school! I think he'll be okay whatever he decides to do. :)

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

      Delete
  3. Simon is cute! I can't wait to see who he ends up with. LOL

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    1. Ha, me either! I haven't quite decided yet!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  4. Simon is adorable! I love kids and their big dreams. At least he's not completely blowing off his parents' advice, and I'm assuming he gets decent grades too. Funny that he so far seems to be the black sheep, since the rest of his family's pretty nerdy.

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    1. Yeah, that's one of the reasons I love teens. They're at the beginning of their lives and as far as they know, the world is their oyster!

      Simon does indeed get good grades, though he gets them without much work on his part. The Lanes are mostly a sporty family, actually, and Simon's the only one with no interest in it. He was a surprise!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  5. I really like Simon! I only hope he doesn't start something with Sylvia just because he likes the attention! It might break her heart in the future ...

    I think it's funny that Luc still thinks about things the way he does, and that he shares those 'thoughts' with his cousin! It might not be a good idea, but I'm sure Simon likes talking to his uncle.
    Maybe Simon might think differently about college once he's older, he's only 13 after all.

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    1. We'll have to see what happens with Simon and Sylvia. I'm not sure myself yet. He doesn't seem keen to just start up anything with her to stroke his ego but I guess time will tell.

      Ha, yes, as I said above, Luc's wilder days would be something he still remembers fondly, much to his sister's annoyance. Simon's a bit girl-crazy at the moment though, so he likes those stories!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  6. Poor Simon! Maybe Annabelle will eventually come around. I hope he doesn't lead poor Sylvia on, though.

    I had to laugh at Luc giving him tips! Too funny. I'd be wary about him giving advice to my teens, too... so I can't blame Cordelia for not liking it.

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    1. Annabel is really fickle, so it's possible she'll change her mind. Maybe if Simon keeps turning on that charm!

      Luc is not exactly the kind of person Cordy and Eliot want giving their son tips on relationships. Cordy knows all too well what he was like when he was younger!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  7. It was really fun reading from Simon’s perspective. I hope he still puts in the effort so that when it comes time to apply for college, he can still get in. Just having the degree to fall back on is invaluable. But try stressing the importance of that to a teenager lol. If he knew about all the pretty girls there like Dana now knows about all the hot guys, he would be clawing his way in.

    I really like how different the twins are from each other. Simon’s the typical Pleasure sim, I see. Always wanting to do something lol. I like Sylvia’s little crush on Simon. But yea, I don’t think Joanna would like her messing around with that Lane boy lol.

    That ice skater outfit Charlotte is wearing is adorable. I wonder if she’ll want to do that when she gets older or if that’ll just be one of her hobbies.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Very good point about all the pretty girls! Maybe Luc can stress that to him or maybe he can discover it himself when he visits the campus. ;) I'm not going to do that every year but I imagine it happens off camera!

      Ha, Joanna has made it quite clear she doesn't want Sylvia pining after Simon. She can stop Sylvia from dating but she can't stop her having crushes on boys - it might be something she has to get used to.

      Charlotte is still a blank page as far as her future career goes. If she rolls a crappy LTW or one that doesn't refer to a career, I think I'll have her stick with ice skating. Otherwise? Who knows?

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  8. Oh Simon! What a spunky personality he has! He's the type of boy, I wouldn't want my daughter dating, so I can see Joanna being apprehensive at first if he decides to give Sylvia a chance. I'd feel bad for her though unless he started liking her more, it'd feel more like he was just using her cause she pumps his ego and is nice to have some company.

    Charlotte is cute as an ice skater, and she has that sort of semi-vicious personality, that I could see her being very competitive, and princess-like.

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    1. I wouldn't be especially keen on my daughter dating Simon either! He really does see her more as a friend though, as well as enjoying having his ego stroked. He'll get plenty of ego stroking as he gets older though, I'm sure, especially if he keeps up with the guitar. ;) Teenage girls love that kind of thing!

      I didn't even think of Charlotte being competitive but you're right - she totally would be! Beware all the other little figure skaters of Sullivan, lol!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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  9. Simon is so funny. I imagine he really worries his parents since he is almost like a little Luc in the making. It is a shame he is not interested in Sylvia.

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    1. If anyone knows Luc inside and out, it'd be Cordy, so she's not too thrilled about him exerting too much of his influence on Simon!

      Simon's lack of interest is a shame for Sylvia but not so much for her mother, Joanna. I imagine she's breathing a sigh of relief right about now!

      Thanks for reading and commenting!

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