Chapter 3.3- Mystical Psychic Power of Electricity

            “I got one, Rog!” Mariah’s sang out triumphantly. “Get over here! Come look.”

            It had been quite some time since Roger found Mariah pregnant, grieving and alone in her home and the pair were now nearly as inseparable as they were during their childhood. The renewed closeness hadn’t happened overnight, or even after several days.

            “Exercise is good for the baby, right?”

            “Shut up and dance.”

            The renewed closeness began with the interest Roger took in Mariah’s pregnancy. He devoured pregnancy books one after another and even begged to attend a birthing class with Mariah. To her relief, he didn’t throw her a baby shower. He merely threatened to.

            “I swear, you’re killing me on purpose,” grumped Mariah as Roger snickered. “I thought we were playing as a team!”

            “If this were a team game don’t you think we’d be sitting together?” he returned with a grin.

            Having Roger around again meant Mariah was once more venturing out of her house. She’d pretty much locked herself inside out of grief and shame and he’d noticed that. First, he asked her gently to go places with him. In frustration with her continual negatives he’d finally forced her to join him for outings. Soon enough her reluctance dropped away and she wanted to pick what they would do those spring afternoons.

            One of her first choices was a movie, some sci-fi-ish secret government agent flick that was the latest in a series. Roger had been highly excited about it, but regretted letting her go with him as she’d sat in the theatre snorting over the plotline. As the movie wound up she’d given up all pretense, openly heckling the screen as tears of laughter ran down her cheeks.

            He’d ‘retaliated’ by taking her to the nicest place in town to eat, where she had insisted on eating outside after one of the old biddies passed them to enter, making barely veiled comments about Mariah’s giant belly blocking her path.

            “Really,” Roger soothed. “It’s not about you so much as you really were kind of taking up the whole doorway. She was very rude about it though.”

            “Oh, don’t side with her. It’s because I’m pregnant without a ring on my finger, I know it,” Mariah scoffed into her pie. Cherry pie. This pie ought to be slathered in chocolate. She needed chocolate. Like now. Maybe Roger could order some chocolate cake and share… Ooooo! Chocolate cake and a lasagna. And a pickle! Yes! That sounded fantastic! But first, pie.

            “If you want a ring on your finger we could remedy that,” Roger said leaning forward, voice barely more than a whisper, his eyes sparkling in the candle light.

            “It’s a joke, Mariah,” Roger rolled his eyes as Mariah choked on a cherry, the heat on her cheeks visible. “You know no one is looking at your hand when they aren’t able to tear their eyes off your glowing face.”

            She just wasn’t sure he actually was joking, or if the compliments weren’t sincere. Roger had been strangely intense lately. It had put her off at first, but now she kind of liked this more confident, assertive Roger.

            He’d insisted he get to choose their next outing too, since Mariah made him eat outside in the cold. His choice? Bowling. Hers?

            “I’ve already got a bowling ball inside of me, I am not chucking one down that lane! Pool! Come play pool!”

            “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you over the LAME coming from your general direction. I came here to bowl!”

            They ended up compromising with skeeball instead. And Roger insisted on another chance to pick where they ended up since she’d again stymied his plans.

            “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mariah snorted.

            Today, they were at the Love Day festival for its final day in town.

            “I am not,” Roger scoffed back. “And you promised that you’d do whatever I wanted and I want to see what that Love Tester is all about.”

            “We’re not a couple!” blushed Mariah. Blushing? Really? It was Roger, her very best friend! Blushing was for love sick puppies and people with crushes and oh dear PlumbBob, were her arms tingling even? “That thing is for couples!” she hissed.

            “Last time I counted we are two sims and two sims make a couple of sims,” he insisted, giving her a gentle push. “Love Tester. Now. Go.”

            “Really?” She’d whined once more, refusing to give in gracefully. “It’s not like this thing can actually do anything. It’s just a randomizer connected to a sequencer connected to little colored light bulbs that you pay to activate.”

            “And we’re going to activate it,” he answered, shoving coins into one of the slots. “You promised.”

            “I’m just going to laugh at the result. Unless it’s one of the blue bulbs down there. You know that right?”

            “And? You said it yourself, we’re not a couple,” his voice was suddenly low and cold. Mariah shrank into herself a little, frowning. She hadn’t meant to upset him.

            Her stomach sank, strangely disappointed when the first set of bulbs lit up after they squeezed the… Well, Mariah didn’t want to say what it was but she sure knew what it looked like.

            About to take her hand off the… the thing to gloat when she felt Roger touch her elbow and her stomach cartwheeled again, goosebumps erupted from where his fingers rested making her shiver.

            “It’s not done yet,” he whispered, his face so close to hers she could count his lashes. She hadn’t been expecting him to be so close and she caught her breath, her eyes dropping to his lips as she bit her own. “Let the mystical psychic power of electricity finish.”

            Mariah turned back to the machine, cheeks still aflame, hoping he hadn’t seen through her. Slowly, slowly, the colored bulbs lit up one after the other, climbing higher.

            Passionate. That top little red light blinked back at the silent pair. At first, she’d felt slightly giddy, her cheeks burning (again,) her neck warm, anticipation creeping down her spine, a sense of triumph filling her brain, her heart leapt with joy. Then she heard Roger take in a slow deep breath and fear, doubt and disappoint suddenly burbled up in her. She was pregnant. She was pregnant with Andre’s baby, her mother had just died, she was barely old enough to qualify as an adult, she had bills to pay, she was due any moment now, she didn’t have a job yet, Roger was her best friend and how could she get his hopes up to something that would surely be nothing more than a disappointment to him, why would he want her anyway, she didn’t know he liked her like that, how could he like her like that, she was being stupid and hopeful and gullible, she was an idiot and needed to spare him from the drudge that was her and her soon to be child. She was a moron.

            “Bathroom, b-baby, bladder,” she grunted before he could say anything, waddling away as quickly as she could, refusing to look behind her.

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            “I-Don’t-Want-Any-More-NEWSPAPERS!” Growled Mariah, the newspaper girl had put up her hands in defense.

            “You’ve paid for it, ma’am! I’m just supposed to deliver them!”

            “Then why are you asking questions?”

            “I just wanted to know about your-”

            “I don’t like questions! They make me angry and when I get angry?” She reared back as Roger came around the corner, fresh off his shift.

            “I get very Very angry!”

            “Please! Just call the office and cancel your subscription like you’re supposed to!”

            “I have! And you’re still here asking endless questions about things that don’t concern you! Delivering newspapers I.Don’t.Want!”

            “AAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!! I’m going to eat you if you ever come back! Get out of here! Why are you standing there? Run little girl RUN!”

            Cackling as evilly as she could Mariah watched the poor, prying little girl run away shrieking her head off. Mariah had indeed cancelled her subscription several weeks ago and yet the girl still came. And every day she rang the bell when she delivered, and then tried to ask endless questions about the baby and when it would be here and, worst of all, where was the daddy. Today was the final straw.

            “And don’t Ever come back!”

            Mariah was still laughing when she finally spotted Roger.

            “Really?” Roger asked.

            Batting her lashes, Mariah pouted at his frown.

            “She’s been annoying me! And she won’t go away. Trust me she deserved-”

            “-Don’t even try to tell me she deserved that!” exploded Roger. Mariah didn’t believe it though. If he only knew what the girl had been doing.

            “Oh, Roger-”

            “-No! You don’t get the right to drive away a child like that!”

            “But she’s been a pest and around at all times and asking tons of questions-”

            “So you send her on her way without giving her nightmares and a complex! You are about to be a mother! It’s time you think like one!”

            “Did you ever think that maybe kids just ask a lot of questions and don’t get what’s okay to ask and what’s not? Did you think that perhaps the message didn’t get relayed to her that you cancelled your subscription? Did you think that her parents could actually report you for that when she runs home and tells them? Did you want to be arrested?”

            “No-I didn’t-I just-OOooooh!”

            “What, so you get it now?”

            “No, it’s not-OOoooww-”

            “So you don’t get how it’s not okay?”

            “It’s not that,” Mariah panted. “Rog, I’m in labor!”

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            Yeah, yeah cliffy. But- Roll Reveal!

            The Miscellaneous Fun roll is!

            No Strangers

            Hence why she’s chasing off the nosy newspaper girl. I’m not going to have many opportunities of ‘showing’ in story how that’ll play out other than Mariah doesn’t like to have people ask questions about her and likes her privacy, so you get that reveal now. Lol. Also, it's to kind of show that little mean streak and temper she still has.

            For those who follow my simblr and saw the gif of Mariah and the 3 wise guys at night: she went into labor like 5 different times since, for the life of me, I couldn't remember to put in the pregnancy controller to get everything shot. That take just happened to make me giggle with the 3 synchronized sims.

            Also, the next chapter is kind of a part 2 to this one. I’d originally intended for them to be one chapter, but there was a little too much going on to leave it as one long chapter. I promise a baby in the next one, for sure. ;)