Well. This is awkward.
It's dinner time, the first one in sometime that she's present for. Naomi's expression is pensive. In awkward situations with adults she usually tries to make conversation. Evan's halfway done with high school, the principle should be the same, right?
"Oh, Evan," Naomi waves her had in front of her face.
"What, do I smell bad?"
"No, you just smell like...is that your father's cologne?"
Evan blushes. "I was just curious..."
"You used way too much. My eyes are watering."
If they were closer, this would probably just be a funny memory. Instead, coming from his distant mother, Evan's face becomes guarded.
"Oh. Sorry."
Calvin winces.
"Are you trying to seem grown up?" Naomi's prodding ratchets up the awkwardness, "That's...cute."
"Let it go, mom. I just wanted to change up my routine."
"I think it's nice, trying to be like your old man," Calvin tries to lighten the mood.
Evan gives him a weak smile. Calvin returns it. "...We'll buy you your own cologne, son."
Awkward silence.
"So, have you thought about maybe joining a club? Student government?" Naomi tries, clumsily, to show interest in her son. Calvin wonders if she's overcompensating after their last fight.
"My job keeps me pretty busy," Evan replies curtly.
Ahem. The room is so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"What's with all of this fishing? Are you guys worried about my grades again?" Evan demands after some uncomfortably silent moments.
"Should we be worried?" Naomi asks.
The potential that she might genuinely, literally not know the answer to that question sets Evan on edge. He doesn't consciously realise it, but the reminder of how little his mother knows about him deeply, deeply upsets him.
Scraaaape. The chair is too loud against the floor.
"I'm going to bed."
The household winds down from the uncomfortable dinner.
....then Naomi and Calvin wind up again.
Evan makes the conscious decision to eat breakfast alone the next morning.
"Is Evan ignoring me?" Naomi asks her husband during breakfast.
"Jeez, what do you think?"
"No need to be rude," Naomi replies, an unhappy expression on her face.
Though it's Sunday, Naomi's work calendar reminds her of a benefits lunch she has to attend.
"I have to get ready and go make sure the venue's ready...I'll be home for dinner."
Calvin just grunts. He'll be out most of the day dumpster diving himself.
Leaving Evan home alone!
He gets changed and invites Olivia over. Not much of a first date, but he wants to talk first before putting pressure on them to be all romantic.
His heart skips a beat when they hug in greeting.
His plan was just to talk, but being this close to her is making him tongue tied.
"I, uh, well, you..." he takes a deep breath, "I'm happy to see you."
Olivia giggles. "I'm happy to see you too."
Still, he's determined to try and act normal.
Cough. They used to talk at school with no problems. Why is it so weird now?
"Hey Evan," Olivia prompts, "How do you get your hair like that?"
"Huh? You mean... curled at the ends?"
She nods.
"Oh I use...well, I'll just show you."
He meant to just show her his hair gel, but they quickly got swept up in practicing their kissing...
Olivia disentangles herself from Evan reluctantly. Time to go babysit!
"Oh, hi Mr. Silverly," she says quickly.
Calvin puts two and two together quite quickly.
"Evan, you had a girl over here alone so late?" it's ten in the evening.
Olivia feels herself turn beet-red. Calvin locked the front door, thinking no one else was home. She can't figure out how to open it, so she's stuck here watching this uncomfortable confrontation.
Evan's days of tearfully apologising are behind him.
"Oh, worried I'm repeating your mistakes? All we did was kiss, dad! It's not even curfew, relax."
For a moment, Calvin is thunderstruck by Evan's audacity. Olivia's discomfort increases ten-fold.
But he has a quick retort.
"You haven't exactly stunned us all with your intelligence lately- skipping school, staying out past curfew? FYI- I don't care if you have a girl over, but you have to ask first."
"I'm not a kid anymore, why do I have to ask your permission for anything?"
"You're grounded. Go say goodbye to your girlfriend, then go to your room."
"I'm sorry you had to see that..." Evan apologises, his shame only returning now that the fight is over.
"That was really weird of you to say to your dad," Olivia says, acutely embarrassed. "Do you guys fight a lot?"
"...yeah. I...don't want to get into it right now. I'll see you in school though, alright?"
Olivia hesitates, but decides to give her long-time friend a chance to explain himself.
"Ok. See you later."
***
Naomi, as usual, is oblivious to any of this drama. She meets Abner outside of work on Monday to talk about her bid for local representative...
But somehow, Abner turns the conversation to her son.
"Is he the sulky kid who mans the bookstore register?"
"Yes. Sulky is a very good word to describe him... I thought the teen years would be easier, but it's even worse than when he was a child. I've honestly given up, I think he'll only mellow out with age."
He nods sympathetically. "Like I said, I was a brat as a kid. Took me years to come around to my parents' viewpoints."
After a lengthy discussion about Abner's childhood (only child, raised by a gardener father and a fisher-sim mother) and then Naomi's turbulent relationship with her own mother, the hour has grown late.
"Do you want to grab a bite to eat somewhere?" Abner offers.
Naomi accepts.
Later on, she will say it was the two glasses of wine that she had, or the frequent fights she had with Calvin, or the pressure of her job getting to her. She will anxiously analyse and re-analyse the events of this night for years, trying to explain why she let things go so far. Trying to rationalise it away.
But the truth is that Naomi was looking for an escape from parts of her life, and Abner was the first person to offer her one.
The truth is that she pushed away thoughts of her husband and her difficult son out of her mind.
"No, not here..."
Nicole looks on, confused, from a distance, but doesn't say anything.
He pushes for a more private location. The closest place is the graveyard. Naomi pushes any worries about public scandals out of her mind as well.
And the most damning truth of all, is that in the end, she gladly followed him when he suggested a "tour" of the mausoleum.
It's only afterwards, in the cold air of the night, that she considers the consequences of her actions. Her mother's words about reputation and ladylike behaviour ring clearly in her ears, bringing a wave of nausea over her.
"Hey, I had a great-"
Naomi says nothing, and only swiftly walks away, putting as much distance between herself and the events of the evening as possible.
"Naomi, are you alright? It's nearly two in the morning..."
"I'm fine."
Before she falls asleep, she thinks of what happened tonight.
It is something she will carry with her forever.
She takes a long, hot shower, trying to make herself feel better. It doesn't really work.
But when she tries to tell Calvin what happened, she finds the words just won't come out. All the horrible things he might call her-all that she feels she would deserve- the idea of their family fracturing even more, and worst of all, the idea of facing everything alone, it all silences her.
"Naomi?"
She uses her body to try to tell him what she can't with words. I'm sorry. Stay with me.
Again, she pushes the consequences out of her mind afterwards, trying to will herself to just enjoy the moment.
Calvin's phone ruins it, though. "Sorry, I have to be sure it isn't Evan's school..."
It turns out to be someone interested in a couch he fished out of the dump, so he takes the call in their bedroom. Naomi wanders out, ostensibly to give Calvin some privacy, but really to try and compose herself. What is she doing? She doesn't know. She wishes she could talk to someone about this.
Calvin leaves to sell the couch, giving Naomi an opportunity to rectify her mistake.
"Look, about what happened last night..."
"Yeah, I know. You regret it, don't you? I do too, you deserve more than a creepy mausoleum. I wanted to take you out somewhere nicer. If you give me another chance..."
"No- I have to end this! Abner...I'm married."
"Naomi, look, I'm not interested in anything serious. I'm never going to ask you to give up your marriage for me. Why can't we just have some fun? You need someone who gets you, even just for a little while. Don't you like having someone to talk to?"
Well...when he puts it that way...
***
The school dance is over for tonight. Evan's elated and relieved- he told Olivia about his struggles to attend class, his falling grades, his fights with his parents- and she just...listened. At the end of all that, she said he could always come over to her house if he needed somewhere to go.
For now, though, he's eager to shower and sleep in his own bed. He's exhausted!
"...I wish you could stay," Naomi sighs. No point in saying she regrets it now. Once...is something potentially forgivable. Twice? Naomi knows it was a conscious decision. But...if he stays for a bit...she can pretend everything's alright.
Abner embraces her.
"Me too. But I should head home." He kisses her forehead. "See you tomorrow."
Right. Work. Talk about unprofessional... Naomi chides herself. Abner seems like a professional... but her anxiety is already increasing. She'll have to stick to strict boundaries in the office- no kissing, no hugging, no touching.
"Yes, goodbye..."
Abner's car has just started driving away when Evan comes home. Naomi's heart freezes for a moment when she sees Evan walk through the front door, but he doesn't seem to have noticed anything out of the blue.
"Oh. Evan. It's you."
He glares. "Yeah, it is. I live here too."
She sighs. That came off wrong... "I mean...it's late."
"Prom," he says, the only word of explanation he's willing to give.
Naomi's heart twists. Prom. And I didn't even see him off.
All she can tell herself is that neither did Calvin.
---------------------
AN: Whoooowee.
I did not enjoy writing this affair. My sims are usually very monogamous, or at least single when they date around, so this was...different. There is a plot reason for all of this!
I hope no one takes away the message "working moms are bad!" or "women can't be dedicated to work and family at the same time!" or "people with anxiety are all bad!" Naomi was thrust into many situations she was not prepared for and reacted poorly with bad coping mechanisms (since she never had the space to develop good ones), eventually leading to self-sabotage exacerbated by her anxiety issues. I also don't want to say "anyone who's abused will be a bad parent!" with this story.
Anyways.
Evan should be taking over as heir within the next few chapters! I'm excited for his generation to start.
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