At some point, Eleanor had spilled all the San Sequoia tea and went on with her day. No one was more surprised than I when Dad suggested we jog around the lake next. He looked so happy with the sun beating down on him and wind in his face. Gleeful, even. Did our rest give him a second wind? Or did his new friend inspire him? Wishful thinking. I knew that. The lake’s trail was even longer than the Arboretum, so we took more breaks. At the end of the trail, Dad said he was beat and went home. I was so proud of him. After two long runs, I probably should have been tired too, but it was such a nice day. I wanted to stay out longer and see what I could get into, so I walked around until I found more neighbors to meet.
As much as I wanted to socialize, my stomach assaulted and hemmed me up until I agreed to give it what it wanted. But socializing didn’t have to stop just because I needed to bail. I could call one of my friends to dine with me. But which one? Sophia was the first name that popped into my head, of course. But I just saw her and didn’t want to appear as anxious as I did yesterday, even though we had a pending date on the books. I probably should have chosen Maira because we really needed to talk, but that wasn’t the conversation I was looking for. I was still on my beautiful day high and was not ready to come down. Chi Chi was fine as hell and always enthusiastic about hanging out, but I wasn’t sure about what indulging her would mean, despite my decision to give it a shot. We should talk as well so I could gauge where her head was because I didn’t want to start a casual situation if she were looking for something serious. And even if she didn’t want anything serious, what about the kid? Sure, I told her we were just friends, but kids are smart. If after a while I decided I didn’t want to date Chi Chi anymore, that affected Karmine too. Being a kid who was hurt by similar adult decisions, I didn’t want to do that to her. That left Yasmine, which was perfect because she was the one I knew the least. She always had a sexy, mysterious, almost sinister smirk, like she took pleasure in knowing I was ignorant. Hopefully, by the end of the night, I’d be ignorant no more.
I invited her to the pizza place in the Magnolia Promenade. I hadn’t been there since I was a child and didn’t realize it had a dress code. So despite it just being dinner, we definitely looked like we were on a date. Maybe we were. I always thought dates were supposed to be some formal, scheduled event we both agreed on, not some random “hey you wanna hang out” thing. But the way Dad talked about it seemed like anytime I hung out with someone I was interested in could be a date. If that was true, did that mean I’d been dating Maira this whole time? Wow… Look at me. I’m dating.
“I like your hair,” I said as we got seated.
She tucked it behind her ear.
“Thank you.”
The server came quickly to take our orders.
“I’ll have a pepperoni pizza and a Wutaheftibir,” I said.
“And for you, miss?”
“Two slices of Canadian bacon and a Berry LlamaPower Pop. Thanks.”
She watched the server as she left, then whipped her head back to me.
“You’re gonna eat a whole pizza?”
I chuckled.
“I’m hungry!”
“I’m hungry too, but I’m not having an entire pizza!”
“I did two long runs today and didn’t have lunch. I think I could eat everything in their fridge right now.”
And there was that look again. I would pay good money to know what went on in her head.
“I see,” she said. “Do you do anything else besides workout and teach yoga?”
That was an excellent question, and my answer would surely disappoint her.
“Not really.”
“So, what do you do for fun, then?”
“Yoga and working out is fun.”
She nodded in an approving manner.
“I can respect that. I like fitness too. But you know what I mean. You have hobbies or anything?”
Yoga was my hobby, and I turned it into my profession. I felt like I was failing at this date thing.
“I like spending time with my friends.”
Who were all women I found to be very attractive, heh. Speaking of, I should catch up with Justin Walker sometime. Or I could go visit Chris Michaelson. He seemed pretty cool when we met. My life lacked testosterone.
“And my parents,” I added.
“Where is your mom? You’re always with your dad.”
“Oh. They’re divorced. That was her house you went to. What about you? What are you into?”
Not that I didn’t want her to know me, but I didn’t think getting into childhood trauma was good first date material.
“I’m a water baby. I love to swim.”
“Is that why you live in Copperdale?”
She looked away, as if to consider my question.
“Maybe. I didn’t choose it for the water, but maybe the water called to me.”
“Why did you choose it?”
She shrugged.
“The rent was cheap, and it’s quiet.”
“That’s as good an answer as any… So like, what’s your goal in life? What do you want to do in the end?”
Was that too serious?? I wish I could have talked to Dad about this first and got some pointers.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t have a particular career I want to do for the rest of my life. I’m just going where the money takes me for now.”
“That’s cool. But what are you passionate about?”
“…Knowledge?”
“Really? I think that’s great. I hated school.”
“Nooo, really? School was fun!”
“I am so intrigued right now! So tell me…were you a nerd?”
She laughed.
“One hundred percent!”
Wow. She was definitely the most beautiful nerd I’d ever seen.
“I love learning,” she continued. “I wanna know everything, read everything…”
“Have you ever thought about going to university?”
“Yeah, of course, but what would I study? Like I said, I don’t have a particular career I want to get into, and I sure as hell can’t afford to study everything. Besides, I can learn just about everything they teach by reading books. And they have skills classes I can take if I need a certification or something.”
I loved that approach. University wasn’t for everyone, yet they pushed it down our throats in high school like it was the only way to be successful. I was glad to be in good company with sims who proved how flawed the system was every day.
The food came finally, and we took a moment to eat and enjoy. She busted my chops again about ordering a whole pizza. We chit chatted in between bites, and I learned she liked love songs on the radio, and her favorite color was blue. I also learned she was quite a bit younger than me. Like, nine days. As much fun as we were having, swapping stories and sharing tidbits about ourselves, it was time to get serious and find out what she looked for in relationships. Could she be someone I could do life with? Yes, I was just supposed to be dating casually, but I also didn’t plan to date these women forever. At some point, I needed to narrow down my options and cease these dating shenanigans. I may as well gather information now, right?
“So like…what do you want your future to look like?”
“What do you mean?”
“Like…will you be married? Kids? That stuff.”
“I definitely want kids, but I don’t know about the marriage part.”
“How come?”
“Don’t get me wrong. When it comes time to have kids, I want to be in a serious relationship because single mom is not the move for me. I like non-exclusive relationships. Marriage is so…permanent.”
There was definitely a story there. Maybe one day she’d tell it, but at the moment, I was so confused and a little disappointed. Narrowing down my list of potential girlfriends was what I aimed to do, but I didn’t necessarily want to cross off any names. They were all special in their own ways, and I enjoyed all of their company. We’re friends! Why did I feel like I was on some secret dating show no one told me about?
“But…how can you want something serious yet not commit to it?”
“It’s not like that,” she said. “I’ll be committed to whomever I’m with, just like a husband and wife are committed. I just want the freedom to entertain whoever I want…if I want.”
If she was serious enough about someone to have his baby, why would she keep looking and dating other guys? It sounded like a recipe for disaster, honestly. Maybe she wasn’t yet mature enough to see that. That sounded funny coming from me, also a young sim and late bloomer. But maybe that was it. Maybe life experience wasn’t required to come to such a conclusion because it seemed like common sense to me. Either way, she and I could keep having fun, but I wanted nothing to do with her non-exclusive nonsense.
