Life has fallen into a new routine.
Lincoln cycles across town...
And meets up with Tammi.
She always has interesting stories about various falling outs she has. Lincoln quickly picks out the common themes- Tammi perceives some kind of slight against her for one of various reasons, like bad manners, 'deriding her character', arrogance or whatnot, she patiently "keeps this all to herself" until one day she just "can't take it anymore" and lashes out, losing her a friend. This time, it's her younger brother Wesley.
"He's just so messy, Lincoln. He revels in absolute filth like the swine that he is! I told him so often to pick up after himself, but he always just tells me to go away! So I finally took all of his dirty dishes and put them all over his unmade, unwashed bed! That showed him!"
Just like in high school, Lincoln finds her theatrics and her stories incredibly entertaining.
"Did your dad have anything to say about it?" Tammi's parents divorced some time ago, leaving Tammi and her siblings living with their father. Her mother, Andi, spends most of her time in the science lab or in a tiny one-bedroom house by herself.
Tammi rolls her eyes. "He's a kind soul- he always wants everyone to get along and resolve things peacefully. Bless the man. Of course, I do my best, but Wesley and Chau make it so difficult!" There is some truth to what Tammi's saying- Chau is helplessly inappropriate, always getting into spats at school with classmates and teachers for making fun of them. Wesley is grouchy and a total slob.
But as entertaining as Tammi's stories are, they're also long.
He really has no clue what she's talking about most of the time.
"Apologies. That was quite the ramble! Let's head inside."
Finally, Lincoln thinks. He follows Tammi's lead.
"Darn!" the curse is very mild, but she says it with the force of an expletive. Lincoln quickly learns that Tammi is also a sore loser.
"Let's play something else," she suggests after composing herself.
He's always content to follow Tammi's lead.
"Pool is a much better game. A game of skill and intelligence. I won't go easy on you." Lincoln can't tell if she's joking or not.
She's taken aback when Lincoln sinks four balls on his first try.
"Oh my. Well- beginner's luck!" she tries to save face.
"Let's see what some logical thinking and skill can do..." she lines up the stick with the cue ball.
She hits several balls but doesn't manage to sink any of them.
"Bad luck," Lincoln remarks wryly.
"Just a slight miscalculation! I'll do much better next time!" Tammi blusters.
Lincoln trounces her easily.
"Good game."
She nods, obviously irritated. "It wasn't fair- my heels, they made me lose balance."
"Uh huh..."
"I'll defeat you someday," she grumbles.
"Looking forward to it..."
There's a beat of silence. Tammi looks at Lincoln expectantly. He's been quite gentlemanly the past few weeks, never initiating anything...but a proper courtship needs to progress at some point!
She only gets a questioning look from him. She sighs. "The stars are supposed to look lovely tonight. Why don't we go somewhere to watch them?"
She thought he would cuddle with her outside and point out the stars to her, not take her to the observatory's planetarium. Still, she supposes it could be considered a date...
He brings her in for a friendly hug goodbye.
"Lincoln, aren't you forgetting something?"
He cocks his head, clearly not understanding.
"I...I thought this was a date," heat floods her cheeks, "But maybe I was mistaken..."
He hesitates for a moment, but leans in for a kiss anyways. He supposes he has to try dating again someday, and why not with Tammi? He likes her as a friend but maybe they can develop it into something more?
***
The next morning, Evan finally has to give up on the food synthesiser. He's done all he can to make it work, but even after all this time it still gives them barely edible food a third of the time. Olivia's not too sad to see it go.
Meanwhile, Lincoln's having some troubling dreams after his decision to date Tammi.
He likes her, sure, and she's pretty... but what if she wants something serious out of him? She seems like the type to jump headfirst into things.
He takes a deep breath. It'll be fine. They're just...hanging out. It doesn't have to be life-or-death serious, does it?
"You got home pretty late last night," Evan remarks wryly, "Weren't you out with Tammi?" His co-workers at the observatory mentioned that they saw Lincoln with a certain blue-haired woman the night before...
The question is light-hearted and teasing, but it puts Lincoln on edge.
"Yeah. What of it?"
"Well... it's just good to see you going out again and...connecting with people," Evan chooses his words carefully.
Lincoln shrugs. "We just hung out for a while. It was fun."
Evan frowns. Maybe he was mistaken and they aren't dating after all?
His confusion increases when the next evening, Lincoln gets dressed up and tells him that he'll be "hanging out" with Tammi again.
One bike ride later...
And he's behind the bistro, where Tammi works. Upon graduation Tammi's found out that she has a flair for the culinary arts. It might not be singing, but it pays the bills and lets her do something she likes, at least...
"Hi, Lincoln. You look very nice," she glances over him appreciatively, "Very sharp, very stylish."
"Um, thanks...? You too. Your hair's all blown out," he compliments her lamely.
While she's telling him about the specialties of the restaurant, Lincoln zones out. Why is his dad so on his back about seeing someone? It should be no one's business what he does or who he spends time with! Besides, it's all just casual. Tammi has to know that.
"Sounds delicious, let's go inside."
"Oh, of course..." Tammi wonders why it feels like she has to beg for his attention sometimes. He's with her, he should only be focusing on, thinking about, and talking to her!
***
They have a nice dinner, though Tammi nearly lost her shit when the waitress brought the wrong wine. but she was placated by Lincoln deciding to buy both bottles. His inventing business is doing well, he can afford to splurge every now and again.
He has to keep the money coming in, though, so he stops at the junkyard to pick up some scrap.
Tammi would be horrified to see him crouching in the dirt in his nice clothes.
"Oh, you're back," Evan remarks. The nights are getting chilly again and drifting into autumn weather. Evan's wearing a jacket to keep warm.
"Yeah..."
"Did you have a nice time... 'hanging out'?" his tone is teasing. He figures that Lincoln or Tammi just haven't made a move yet and are in an awkward space between friends and dating.
"Yes, the dinner we had was great! Have you ever had ratatouille? They said all the vegetables for it came from the community garden."
Evan smiles- naturally his son would be more interested in organic food than his date. Such a clueless boy.
At least there's still one boy in the house who's easy to figure out.
-----------------------------------
AN: Tammi's traits are:
-Diva
-Proper
-Good sense of humor
-Irresistible
-Natural born cook
I mistakenly thought her last trait was dramatic, but no. Not that it changes how I write her very much XD
They didn't actually eat in the restaurant, though I don't think it would go against the "living green" roll. I got rid of the food synthesiser though, it doesn't used home grown ingredients and it was buggy as hell anyways.
Tammi's diva trait causes her to fight with people constantly. I keep getting SP pop ups about how she and some poor sim are on the outs pretty much every sim day.
Speaking of traits, Lincoln's last trait is commitment issues. Poor Tammi's in for a rough ride.
Anyways, Kipper! I love Kipper. I usually have a bad time playing pets, since they never fulfill their needs and are always on the brink of death or despair, but Kipper was easy to take care of. Dogs, cats, and horses live forever though. Kipper was an elder when I adopted him and he's still going strong!
No comments:
Post a Comment