3.49 What in the world

I texted Chi Chi and asked about dinner. Luckily, it was at proper dinnertime, not in the middle of the afternoon like we used to do it. That left plenty of time for a good rest and getting my head straight. I fell asleep immediately and woke up still troubled. Dating multiple women was harder than I imagined it would be. How did other dudes keep it straight? I wasn’t cut out for it. Truthfully, I preferred meaningful relationships, despite still delaying one. Regardless of how I felt about everything, I had an engagement to keep, so I took one last deep breath and went downstairs to see if Dad was ready.

As we walked down the street, I saw him glancing at me out of the corner of my eye.

“What is it, Dad?”

“Ummm…I know I said I would never pry, but… Is she the one…”

“Chi Chi? No. We haven’t even gone out yet.”

I could tell he was relieved, though I wasn’t sure why. Did he like Eleanor? Wouldn’t it be crazy if both of us ended up with Chi Chi and Eleanor and lived together in their house? Ugh. I didn’t get the opportunity to be grossed out by my parents’ love life and I certainly didn’t want to start now.

The younger ladies met us at the door with smiles and holiday cheer.

“Hey guys,” Chi Chi shouted. “Happy Harvestfest! Come in, come in! Make yourselves at home!”

Karmine wasted no time stealing my attention.

“Luca! My birthday is in a few days are you gonna get me a present???”

Again, I was a deer in headlights. I barely understood what she said because she spoke so fast. And I didn’t realize she was that old. Thankfully, Chi Chi saved me.

“No, he is not!” She turned her attention back to me. “Please don’t get her anything. She’ll have to sleep in the yard if we cram yet another thing in that room! Oh! Mr. Ali, have you met my daughter? This is Karmine! Karmy, say hi to Luca’s daddy, Mr. Ali.”

Instead of greeting Dad, she burst into laughter.

“Allie?? That’s a girl’s name!”

Chi Chi gasped.

“Karmine!! That is not nice!”

She tickled herself pretty good and was doubled over in laughter. It almost made me laugh too.

“It’s alright,” Dad said. “It’s nothing I’ve never heard before.”

“Well, I’m sorry,” Chi Chi said. “Let’s eat, shall we? I can’t wait to see what you made, Luca!”

“It’s just tofurkey with veggies inside.”

“Oh! Well, I’ve definitely never had that before.”

Karmine dashed through all of us, yelling, “I WANNA SIT NEXT TO LUCA!”

Seeing as I had no choice, I sat next to her. Dad sat next to me at the head of the table, and Chi Chi sat across from me. Eleanor came from wherever she was and sat at the opposite end of the table next to Karmine. What a lucky girl to still have her grandmother. I wished mine would have lived long enough for me to get to know her. My other grandparents were like fictional characters in stories I occasionally heard.

“Sorry I wasn’t there to greet you,” Eleanor said. “Thank you for cooking, Luca. This is a real treat!”

“I was glad to. I want to get better at cooking.”

“You all can talk if you want to,” Chi Chi said, “but I’m gonna dig in!”

It was funny how different families were at the holidays. Some were more formal and sang songs before eating while others went around the table saying what each one was grateful for. Others took great care to appease those pesky gnomes. Chi Chi and her crew were super casual and did none of the above. I didn’t mind it, but it begged the question: What was the point of Harvestfest without observing its traditions?

My tofurkey came out good, if I may say so. Even if I doubted, all the moaning from across the table confirmed it. And then there was the cat. He jumped on the table as soon as I placed down the platter. Dad’s eyes flicked toward me larger than I’d ever seen, and I echoed his sentiment. Good thing we had already served ourselves by the time he started walking all over the food. I saw the unease on Dad’s face as he attempted to keep smiling while silently yelling out for help. Chi Chi and Eleanor said nothing and went on eating as if this was a regular occurrence. How were they okay with that thing shedding its hairs all over our food?? And to top it off, Chi Chi kept kissing it in the mouth! I was no stranger to fur baby kisses, but I never let Tofu kiss me in the mouth. Not even Mama, who loved dogs more than sims, kissed them on the mouth. The mouth! Really, Chi Chi?!

Apart from the cat fiasco, dinner went pretty well. I even caught Dad and Eleanor sneaking glances at each other a few times. Karmine held me hostage, and my brain hurt, trying to keep up with everything that came out of her mouth.

After dinner, Karmine got bored with me, I guess, and followed Eleanor and Dad into the living room. I wanted to give them space to talk, but wasn’t sure where to go. Sitting alone in the dining room was lame, and I didn’t see where Chi Chi went. I felt weird about snooping around their house to find her, so I just stood in the doorway, acting like part of the conversation but also trying to stay unattached. She found me, eventually, and pulled me into the hallway.

“You good?” she asked.

“Yeah! Yeah, I’m good. Thanks again for inviting us.”

She nodded toward the bedroom we stood in front of.

“Let’s talk.”

I stifled a laugh as I wondered how many women’s bedrooms I’d enter that day. The room was a good size and had a distinct sleeping area like mine and another space she used as a gym. I always thought I knew the least about Yasmine, but looking around Chi Chi’s room, what did I really know about her? I mean, true, she told us her whole life story on the first day we met, but that didn’t tell me anything about who she was currently. She was a professional athlete, but I didn’t even know what sport she played.

“So like,” she began, as she sat next to me on the bed, “what’s your deal?”

“My…deal?”

“Yeah! Like, you’re cute, you have a nice body, and you seem like a really nice guy… Why are you single?”

It had been a while since I’d been able to mess with someone, so I threw on a cheeky grin.

“How do you know I’m single?”

“I never see you with anyone, and you accept all my invitations!”

So much for being playful.

“Okay…you got me. I am single… It’s complicated, but…well, the short answer is it’s because I choose to be.”

Seriously, Luca? You sound like some temple monk or something!

“Well, what I mean is I’m dating, but not looking for anything serious yet,” I added.

She nodded.

“That doesn’t sound so complicated.”

If I told her the long version, maybe she wouldn’t think so.

“What about you?” I asked. “What’s your deal?”

“I’m kinda the same, I guess. I’m in my fun era right now. Ha ha! My husband was my first love and I’ll always miss him, but we met and got married really young and Karmine came soon after. I loved our little family, of course, and I regret nothing, but I never really got a chance to live and discover myself, you know? So…yeah! For now, I just want to meet and mingle with as many sims as I can so when I’m ready to settle down again I don’t have any shoulda coulda wouldas. I want more kids, so a serious relationship is definitely in my future. Just not yet.”

It amazed me how many words could come out of her and Karmine in mere seconds. They never breathed!

“Now that we got that out of the way, you still owe me a date,” she said, waggling her eyebrows.

I laughed.

“I do owe you a date.”

I wasn’t sure if I could ever get the image of her making out with the cat out of my head, but hopefully we’d still have fun…without kissing.