Monday, January 21, 2013

Chapter 1.22


Chapter 1.22- Too Young To Be Trusted




"If you want to keep a secret, you must also keep it from yourself."
-George Orwell






                Buck had carefully explained the rules of the shootout to his sweet little girl, even explaining that ratty clothes would be wise in case she worked up a sweat. Inwardly, Buck was fairly certain that he’d be the one working up a sweat trying to make sure he didn’t make beating her look too easy.
                Layla watched Buck warily. The way he was acting was a little embarrassing to her. He was talking to her like she was two.  Sighing heavily, she waited until he was very, very antsy before she made her shot.




                If Buck would check the report cards instead of Helen, or even along with Helen, he would have known that his sweet little girl excelled in almost all of the mandatory participation sports. In fact, the gym teacher would sometimes pull her aside and give her more advanced tips that she didn’t give the elementary populace in general.
                Layla was thrilled when the Buck went to the opposite corner, instead of the one she shot for.
                Looking up at his cheering daughter, Buck decided he’d better call it quits right then. It looked like he might be in a little bit of trouble if he pushed this shootout too hard. So much for trying to make it look easy.




                Across the field, Cyrus was doing his very best to walk silently up to a girl looking across the pond. Once he reached her, he steadied himself for a moment, trying to gauge the best way to surprise her. Breathing in as quietly as he can, finally, he lets her know of his presence.
 Ah, Juliet, if the measure of thy joy
Be heap'd like mine and that thy skill be more
To blazon it, then sweeten with thy breath
This neighbour air, and let rich music's tongue
Unfold the imagined happiness that both
Receive in either by this dear encounter.”

                As he speaks a smile soft as a spring rain creeps across her lips, though she doesn’t say anything for a few moments. She stands still and tries to control her own breathing, her suddenly rapid hearbeat betraying her.




                Her whole face is alight as she finally turns to Cyrus. A slow flush creeps across her cheeks. And though she doesn’t allow her lips to curve much, the smile in her eyes is eloquent.
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words,
Brags of his substance, not of ornament:
They are but beggars that can count their worth;
But my true love is grown to such excess
I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.” Is her answer to him.

                For a few moments, the pair see nothing but the other. They don’t speak aloud, but seem to know the others thoughts. Cyrus' fingertips tingle and spark with longing to touch some part of the person he sees as an angel, and who stands so close. So very, very close.




                Finally, suddenly, with a sharp intake of breath the girl looks down at her nails appearing to forget that Cyrus is still standing rapt in front of her.
                “Um…” She sighs. “It’s… uh… interesting… seeing you… seeing you in … in public.” Her stammering is nothing compared to how her hands tremble.
                “Yes,” he answers softly. “Yes, but half the town is here. How natural is it to speak to a girl from school when I meet her during the summer festival in town? Actually, I think it might look rather odd if I didn’t speak to you.”


                She looks up sharply, the fire behind her eyes gaining intensity.
                “Cy, your mom is here,” She knows her argument very well. “Your mom and my mom HATE each other, and your mom will never approve of us. If we want to be together, we can’t do this where anyone else can see. And this isn’t my problem. You’re the one who brought it up so long ago.”




                “My mom is occupied almost totally with exploring all of this and taking pictures,” Cyrus tries to soothe her. Inside, he’s cursing himself for ever forcing that stupid secrecy rule on the two of them. “Your mom is at work. Sadie isn’t here. Buck knows nothing about our moms not liking each other. In fact, you’re the one who told me that in the first place. I don’t even know that my mom knows that she doesn’t like your mom. I doubt she would even remember who you are, Olivia.”
                Trying to look reproachfully at him fails. She can’t let him down, but there is danger all around them. It’s more than just his mom… it’s…



                “What about your sisters?” She asks him. “I know that you’ve said that one is a loud mouth who has to be boss and the other is too young to be trusted to keep a secret. They’re here, too.  What if they see?”
                Cyrus is momentarily stymied. She’s got him there. Phedra would spill the beans just because it’s something she would know that their parents would not. Layla would most likely tell 'just because.' Galen is the only one who might be able to keep it a secret if he saw them. And that’s only because he’d forget about it in half an hour’s time.




                “Look,” Cyrus has been silent, pondering what to do for almost a full minute. “Look, maybe we can just keep it casual and hang out. There’s a lot to do that my sisters wouldn’t have to be in on.”
                His pleading tone and puppy eyes soon work on Olivia. She can’t disappoint him, it would be too awful.



                “Please, Liv,” Cyrus keeps up his plea. “I can’t bear to be here together and not at least hang out. Maybe we can’t hold hands, but at least I can know that you’re near…”
                He can sense that she’s weakening.
                “Please, Liv.”
                She isn’t meeting his eye, and even her shoulders have relaxed. Though Cyrus knows that until she says it aloud she’s just fiery enough to refuse and play coy.
                “Aw, come on. You know you want to.”
                A tiny smile appears on her face, and Cyrus knows he’s won.
                “There’s a photo booth over there,” he suggests. “Let’s get a souvenir.”




                Cyrus is thrilled with the outcome, pouring over the photos as Olivia tries to keep a discreet distance between them. Friends taking a photo is one thing, lovers hanging around behind the curtain of the photo booth is another.
                “I want to get my face painted,” Cyrus tells her back.
                “I don’t,” Olivia is notoriously vain. “I’ll watch, though.” She adds with a smile when she sees the hurt look on his face.



                Olivia has a great time flirting with the face-painter, getting him totally distracted and making Cyrus move his head half way through. She refused to let Cyrus wash the awful paint job off though, telling him with a bubbly giggle that she wanted more time to keep the memory.
                The young couple hadn’t taken two steps out of the face painters tent before Cyrus was nearly dragged down by Phedra.
                Phedra and Layla wanted to have a water-balloon fight, but wanted to be on the same team and Galen had outright refused to join them in any way.
                When Cyrus tried to get out of it by claiming he was spending time with a friend, Phedra insisted she join as well. In the end… just to shut her up… they had agreed.




                Cyrus was only half in the game. He was constantly on the lookout for Helen and worried about the impression his sisters were making on his girlfriend.
                His head was constantly swiveling as he tried to see everything going on around him all at once.
                Phedra had watched Layla in PE and knew just what her sister was bringing to the table as her teammate. However, it wasn’t an excuse for her not to try and show up Cyrus. In order to do that, she needed to have her head one hundred percent in the game.




                It took Phedra a moment or two to take in that Cyrus was a little distracted. She took it for granted, though, that he wasn't simply mesmerized by the lights, sounds, and smells of the carnival-like atmosphere around them.
                Phedra’s cheers and being drenched with cold water finally got Cyrus to get in the game. Around him his view sharpened, and he suddenly forgot about his mom. Since Phedra had aimed for him, he would aim for her.




                Helen had spotted three of her kids at the water balloon battle site and decided to leave a wobbly Galen on the skating rink on his own. He was getting steadier by the minute and didn’t need her anyhow. Buck had left for work shortly before.
                From a distance, Helen didn’t recognize the sim on Cyrus’ team, so she continued to get closer to figure out who it is.
                As the girl partially turned in order to put more power into a balloon thrown in Layla's general direction, Helen recognizes her and keeps walking with her face averted.
                None of the kids spot her as she walks on. 




                The two girls win the game handily. In fact, Layla comes out of it completely dry.
                As Cyrus and Olivia turn to go and get some food, Cyrus decides to have some fun with Phedra.
                Looking back over his shoulder, he calls: “You may have won this round, but remember, I was a gentleman. Now stands before you a pirate seeking his revenge. Best watch your step little sister, lest I run you through in your sleep.”
                “Oh, snap out of it,” Phedra sneers as Olivia suppresses giggles. “What are you going to do to me in my sleep? Snore, most likely.”
                With that she turns and flounces off to find the skeeball tables with her sister.




                Turning toward Olivia, Cyrus takes a moment to just look at her. He longs to grab her hands, just touch her silky skin. but knows he can’t. The longing makes his hands ache, his heart beat all the harder.
                “Sorry about that,” Cyrus apologizes. “I had to say something lame and smarmy so that she’d be sure to go the other way thinking she’s got the upper hand.”  
                “No,” Olivia reassures. “No, I get it. She’s pretty easy to figure out, isn’t she?”
                “Yeah,” Cyrus laughs a bit. “Yeah, she is pretty shallow. But she’s just a kid. She ages up in a few days and we might have some trouble with her. Maybe. Depends on if she stays that shallow.”
                Olivia chuckles.




                Noticing that she’s having a difficult time, too, Cyrus suddenly pulls out a bouquet he had been hoping to save until dark.
                “Go to the Prom with me,” Cyrus doesn’t ask. He demands. “We can meet at the school, pretend to go in, and ditch it. Whadda you say?”
                “Oh, Cy,” Olivia breathes. “Of course I’ll pretend to attend prom for you.”
                “Good,” Cyrus winks at her. “We’ll go somewhere just the two of us. It’ll be wonderful.”
                Olivia blushes once again, a reflex she has mastered and uses well.
                “Wonderful.”
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                Buck arrives home just before the majority of the kids do. He and the caretaker were in the middle of transplanting trees and he was dead tired from the digging and lifting. But his children try and try to tell him that he’s not tired, that he wants to hear all the stories they have from the festival.




                “-I was best at skeeball, Galen couldn’t even get one ball in the hole-”
                “-Should have seen me skating, I know you would have been proud, Daddy-”
                “-Rainbow shaved ice, and another flavor called snowstorm, or blizzard or-”
                In the midst of the clamor made by all three trying to tell their tales to Daddy at the same time, (Helen had had her ears yammered off on the ride home with the three of them,) Cyrus walks in. It’s still ahead of his curfew, but Buck can tell there is something different about the boy, something in how he walks, the lights in his eyes...




                “-I could have beaten her with a higher score, but… I thought I’d be nice this time-”
                “-There was music coming from nowhere all over the festival grounds and lots of people danced-”
                “-The music did not come from nowhere. There were speakers at the top of all those poles-“
                Buck attempted to turn to Cyrus. Cyrus was sure he was going to burst, he wanted to tell someone about Olivia so bad. He had wanted to tell someone for a long time, but knew he couldn’t. Now, spending time with her in such an exposed place, he was floating, going to fly away...
                “Will you pack-a-wolves quit yer yappin’…” Buck tried to shush his brood and see what had Cyrus looking so excited.




                Cyrus’ brain had finally caught up with him and he realized he was in dangerous waters standing where Buck could see him. Buck knew him better than anyone and would easily see his triumph. He'd always been able to read his face like an open book. Before Buck could get the little kids calmed down properly he turned and headed for his bed.
                “’Night, Dad,” Cyrus called over his shoulder as he went.
                “-I’m sure it did seem like the music was floating from nowhere, but it really was speakers up high on the poles… Cyrus, you okay Buddy?” Buck waved an impatient hand at Phedra who was dying to gloat.
                “Just a little tired. See you all in the morning.”
                The moment Phedra noticed that Buck was no longer in control of Cyrus she began.
                “I told you!”
                Buck’s attention caught, again, he finally managed to quiet the youngsters and shoo them off to bed.
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The pictures on the walls have all moved as I did a save game clean-up to get a little bit smaller save game size. That is all. ;)

16 comments:

  1. ooh, Cyrus has a secret. And two little sisters,. Yeah, I don't see that staying secret for too long.
    Cyrus and Olivia are adorable together.

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    1. Silly little teenagers thinking they are all that. He'll learn. ;)

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  2. ARGH!! Blogger hates me and I wrote a really long comment and then 'an error occured' and I can't get it back. Here's the main points:
    -Cyrus has secret, juicy!
    -Oliva is pretty!
    -Who is Olivias mum? Do we know her?
    -I didn't notice the pictures moved.
    -The younger kids are hilarious the way they annoy their parents.

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    1. lol. So this should be a little long to answer correctly. also-it's possibly going to get confusing. Just let me know if it does.
      Olivia's mom is 'Lily Pad Frogleap' who is an IF. In fact she was the IF of Helen's brother William, (whom Helen refers to a LOT. They had one daughter together, Sadie. Hence, Sadie is Olivia's sister, Cyrus' cousin and Helen's neice. Sadie got a mention this chapter, and will in the next as well. Cyrus is unaware he has any relatives in town other than his immediate family.)
      Lily Pad is the woman Trenton married after knocking up Helen. You saw her at the reception scene making out with him. She was pink skinned with pink and maroonish hair. Do you know her? not in this story. For the most part, Helen and Lily Pad ignore each other's existence. Those are the main points and I'll try and clear it up a little more in the next chapter. I forget not everyone knows every single sim in my town the way I do. HA!
      For more on Lily Pad Frogleap these are a good summary, it's not required reading:
      http://furtherinsidemyheadforgraham.blogspot.com/2012/11/chapter-16-this-one-is-for-you.html
      http://furtherinsidemyheadforgraham.blogspot.com/2012/12/chapter-21-disturbing.html
      http://furtherinsidemyheadforgraham.blogspot.com/2012/12/chapter-22-thumb-rules.html

      My kids do that to me. It's where I got it. Neither listen, both talk, both interrupt, both are always right. Drives me up a wall.

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    2. I did mention Lily Pad in my long comment that ran away. I think I mentioned she was the only woman I knew that she hated, but didn't think she had any children. I keep meaning to read your story (I will, one day!) and that will help me understand the relationships better.

      That wasn't confusing :) and I don't have children myself, but I have cousins who are a lot younger than me (I keep forgetting they're all teenagers now!) and so I have some experiance ;)

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    3. Don't bother. It was a practice story written, for the most part, for my husband and it's only ok at best. (He was having a difficult time grasping what was so absorbing about those darn little sims. lol.) I had trouble with adding too many side characters. However, those chapters were my best in that one, and give a good idea as to what happened to make Helen Helen, as well as show just who Lily Pad is.

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  3. Uh-oh, I think Cyrus is going to be in trouble...

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  4. o.O Olivia is purdy! I rather liked Phedra and Layla teaming on him, lol. Does Layla have the athletic trait? I LOL'd at "pretend to attend prom" too.

    So did the save-game cleanup do well for you? Is that easy to do? I bookmarked the instructions someone posted in the thread the other day, but haven't had a chance to look at them yet. Too busy with school and catching up on everyone's updates :D

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    1. lol. Layla does NOT have the athletic trait. She just went in and kicked her dad's arse. The final score was like 9 to 1 for Layla.
      The savegame clean up went AWESOME for me. It took about 15 minutes, I sweated a bit making sure I had the correct codes entered. However, I didn't make any mistakes according to my game. I was the one who posted the link. This really only works in older, more played, CAS heavy, heavily populated, lots of travel saves and worlds. It cleans up IMGS from the EA memory system, and from dead sims who no longer have relevance in living time. Then there is another link embedded in the comments which directs to another save game clean up that is very similar, but cleans up a different file. My seven generation, heavily travelled family and town needed a LOT of work. It deleted something close to 25k unused files and IMGs that equated to nearly 4MBs of memory. It was nuts, and it sped up loading time considerably. I would recommend it to anyone.

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  5. Oh geez. Poor Cyrus. I can't possibly see this ending well. Helen is going to flip.

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    1. She is isn't she? Mwuahahahaha! Oh yes, Poor Cyrus. And it's going to be all the worse as he wasn't up front in the first place.

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  6. Cyrus and Olivia are cute together. Anyway, you had me at that Romeo and Juliet's quote. After one WHOLE subject at university revolving around Shakespeare, one ends up either loving him (me) or hating him for life LOL.

    The "pack of wolves" were hilarious, all trying to get their daddy's attention.

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    1. Aw! I'm glad you liked it.

      Yup. All together like that vying for attention. That seems to be how it works in real life too.

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  7. At first, I was confused why he'd suddenly start spouting Shakespeare to a stranger. A beautiful stranger, but a stranger. Then, of course, I figure out she's not a stranger, and my heart goes THUMP when I think again about what he just did. I love a good romance. :) And it's a Secret romance too. /happy sigh. I wonder how long it'll stay a secret, even if Helen kinda knows already that something is up.

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    1. Lol. Sorry. But teenagers love to add drama even when there is no need for any so of course Cyrus gets his. Yeah, it's hard to keep a secret when you're not exactly discreet. ;)

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