Chapter 29: Dating

Ida is a wreck after the death of her mother. She turns to Marlin for comfort, silently thankful that they got back together before the party. She wouldn't know how to deal if she didn't have him.

"What am I gonna do, Marlin?" she sobs. "Mama always took care of everything. I need her..."

Marlin hushes her gently. "I'll take care of you," he whispers, holding her.

He's grieving, too, but he knows she needs him now.

They find some comfort in each other's bodies, but it will be a while before things are back to normal again.

For his part, Alexander just sits in his wife's favorite spot and broods most of the day.

In an effort to get both her and her mother's minds off of Shanti's death, Josie talks her mother into buying a new car to teach Josie how to drive.

Ida doesn't mind; its not like they're wanting for money, and it's about time this household had a car anyway.

"So.... you and Dad, huh?" Josie smirks.

Ida is flustered. "...Eyes on the road, Josie. No questions!"

"What if I forget where the brake pedal is?"

"You know what I meant!"

When Alex is feeling up to it, he, Marlin, and Josie jam in the garden room.

There are a lot less plants there now. It's been a long time since Alex has bothered to replace a dead plant, so his garden has been dying out over several weeks now. It's okay, though - he has a lot of fruit and vegetables stored in the fridge, and perfect-quality seeds of every plant are in a box downstairs, just in case one of his descendants wishes to start their own garden.

At school, Josie becomes fast friends with a boy from drama club named Jebediah Alto. She drags him home with her when she discovers he's never played Sim Gnubb before, but their half-hearted game quickly devolves into joking and shameless flirtation.

Josie's pretty sure she only likes him as a friend, but she lets him take her out on a date anyway. Some simple flirting never hurt anyone, right?

They spend most of the night dancing and singing karaoke, but they don't go farther than a bit of light flirting and when it's time to go home they share a friendly hug and Ida just says, "Let's hang out again some time," and Jebediah says, "Sure."

Ida and Marlin also go out. They visit Hogan's for a late lunch, and hang out outside of it with Rain and Everett Morris and some other people they know. It's the most fun Ida's had since... well, since she was a young adult and dating her first love. It's funny how things have come around full circle.

When Ida and Marlin come home, still high off their successful date, they find Josie emerging from the bathroom having done something drastic to her hair.

"It was boring, black hair is so dull," she complains. "I wanted something that would attract attention!"

Ida's in too good a mood to be mad. "I suppose it's just your way of expressing your artistry," she says, and Marlin, being artistic himself, agrees wholeheartedly.

Josie likes how easygoing her parents have become now that they're dating. It should have happened a long time ago, she thinks.

She practices piano right in front of the fridge so as to gain the most attention.

In the evenings sometimes Josie goes out and just wanders the town, looking for new people to befriend and new places to go. Of course, Sunset Valley is tiny, and she's already pretty much been everywhere worth being and met everyone worth meeting. Which is why she's surprised when she sees a flyer outside the bistro for mixology classes.

Pfft, as if there are any places around here to get drinks, she thinks, but she heads over anyway to check it out.

Three hours later, she leaves the bistro, her head buzzing with information. Apparently there's way more to mixing drinks than she ever imagined. It's going to take a lot of practice if she wants to be able to serve crazy and exciting party drinks at her parties. She's getting pumped just thinking about it!

At home, her mom is waiting for her outside the door. "You almost missed curfew," Ida says pointedly. Josie seizes on the chance to butter her mom up.

"I was enjoying the snow! It's so nice out tonight, stay out here with me? I need help with my Simlish assignment."

As Ida explains tenses and conjugations, Josie is busy composing a different kind of sentence in her head.

"Mom," she says sweetly. "You know what I think would be a great addition to the house?"

"Huh? What do we need a professional bar for?" Ida says after Josie tells her all about the mixology class. "Our parties are successful enough as it is." At Josie's pout, Ida shakes her head. "Come on, it's getting late and it's cold out here. Time for bed."

"Aw, Mom..." Josie whines, but Ida is firm. This is going to take a lot more effort than Josie realized...

Josie jams with her Dad every Saturday morning. Today, though, she leaves early to meet the Frios, who have just moved in down the block. She and Nicholaus Frio got along well as kids.

"Oh! Uh, hey, Josie, come on in...." Nicholaus sounds distracted. Josie wonders if she came at a bad time.

She walks in to see Nicholaus's mom Brandie giving her the stink-eye.

Josie is so taken aback that her practiced charm deserts her. "Oh, um, I probably should have called first, I'm sorry, I'll just--"

But it turns out Brandie's facial expression is due to something else entirely:

"Oh!!" cries Josie, nearly incoherent in her surprise. "Oh, wow! Oh, boy! Oh, my god! Should we- take her to the hospital, or, or, or -"

Nicholaus just laughs. "Listen to you stuttering, you're so cute," he says, blatantly flirtatious even as his mother hisses and groans in pain. "Mom always does a home birth, she'll be fine in a second, just leave her to do her thing."

What the hell, this is so weird, Josie thinks. The boy is flirting with her right in front of his mom, who is in labor, and who not only seems not to care but, in between contractions, is giving her son encouraging sort of looks. Weird family, Josie thinks.

But the attention is nice, and she lets herself be embraced in a suggestive hug as Nicholaus tells her how glad he is that she came over.

Over Nicholaus's shoulder, Josie sees Brandie's face contort as another contraction hits her. Apparently the bitch-face earlier was just pain and not any dislike for Josie specifically.

"This is weird for me, I'm sorry, Nic," Josie says, backing away. "Why don't you call me when it's a little quieter over here, and we can pick up where we left off?" She's trying to sound alluring but manages to only just mask her alarm.

Nicholaus just shrugs. "Yeah all right," he tells her retreating figure.

Some stress relief.

Only an hour later, Josie gets a call from Nicholaus. "It's a girl! We named her after you," he says, his voice muffled slightly.

"What!?!"

"I'm joking, silly goose, her name is Caroline. You wanna go get food and find something to do?"

"Oh, um, sure," Josie stammers. Something about this boy just puts her on edge. "Yeah," she says, recovering. "I'd definitely be up for that."

Of course, in Sunset Valley there's really only one place to go.

Mick's is okay fun when there's nothing else to do. They don't play music or serve real drinks, but there's billiards and a photo booth and, of course, karaoke, which Josie always enjoys.

Nicholaus seems to enjoy it, too. But not as much as he enjoys her mouth. Mick's is almost completely empty, so Josie is not embarrassed about Nic trying to suck her face off in public.

Yeah, I am definitely okay with this, thinks Josie as Nicholaus sucks on her lower lip before putting his tongue down her throat.

After a while, Nic has to go to work. It takes them a few minutes to get untangled, and Josie kisses him once more good-bye before he takes off.

She doesn't feel like going home yet, so she spends another hour singing karaoke by herself and dicking around in the photo booth before heading back.

So, it's possible to have fun in Sunset Valley, Josie thinks. Who would have thought?

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Notes -

Josie is quite the little social butterfly! I can't wait to put her in a dance club and let her run wild. As for Nicholaus... well, we'll see how that goes. He has both the commitment issues and flirty traits, so of course I have a tiny bit of drama for them. Only a drop, really. You could hardly call it drama at all. Anyway, Josie's feeling pretty casual about dating herself so there really might not be drama after all, I'm playing it by ear.

Marlin and Ida make me happy :D