Chapter Twelve

 

Mom and Dad are still madly in love. Honestly, I can only aspire to have a relationship as great as theirs one day.

Thomas grew up into a full adult. He decided to move out right away and find his own way in life. I'm especially going to miss him. Out of all my siblings, I'm the closest to Tommy.

So Mom especially has been pressuring me to find a special someone and settle down. She can't wait to have grandkids. The first lady that really caught my eye ended up being someone I never should have become involved with: Betty Simovitch-Newbie.

Yes, she's a lot older than me, but I couldn't deny the attraction. In the back of my head, I knew that this was wrong. She's married! But she seemed to be just as into it as I was. God, if my mom and dad ever found out about this they would kill me. They're so old-fashioned, Dad, especially. They both waited until marriage to do anything like this.

Like I said the chemistry was insane and it was real. It didn't take long for things to progress, too quickly as it turns out. My first time ended up being with an older, married woman.

 

In the moment, we couldn't stop, but afterwards we both regretted it. Betty didn't want to break things off with her husband for me, which I understand. Plus, she's a lot older than me. Things would not have worked out between us. 

 

Some awkward family time was had while I tried to gauge if anyone in the family had caught on to what had happened between me and Betty. Samuel is a teenager now by the way and still a real pain in the ass. I hate to say it but even though he's always been able to make friends easily, I have no idea how, because he has one of the most unpleasant personalities of anyone I've ever met. I still love him though, obviously; he is my brother.

 

Thomas didn't say anything to me, but when he moved out he had this sort of disgusted look on his face. I think he may have known about my tryst with Betty, and that kills me. Out of everyone, I don't want my brother to be disappointed in me like that. I promised myself I wouldn't do anything like this ever again. I'd be serious about dating.

I dated around for a while, but I never got involved with anyone who was in a relationship or married. And nothing seemed to click unfortunately. I just didn't feel that same attraction I'd felt to Betty, dangerous as it was.

Samuel continued to be a real pain in the ass, and man I really wished he would put on more clothes before yelling at me to take out the trash. 

"I'm the only one that does anything in this household," he grumped.

That was hilariously wrong, but it's pointless to get in an argument with him.

It was only when I went out on a date with Patricia Harrison, a friend from school, that I thought my love life might finally be turning around....

Dad had an attack of senility or something, because he flirted with Patricia right in front of me! I was humiliated and angry all at the same time, not at Patricia, but at my dad for being so inappropriate. 

Obviously, Mom was less than amused too. Dad didn't go further than any mild flirting, but it  was still a huge shock to all of us. Maybe he was starting to get dementia? He and Mom had always loved each other so passionately. Why would he risk it all to flirt with my potential future girlfriend? It didn't make any sense.

Mom forgave him, but she did banish him out to his perfect garden for a while. Dad's planted pretty much every plant you could think of, including eggplants, cheeseplants, steakplants, and burgerplants, which I didn't even realize you could plant! Out of all of Dad's plants though, my favorite is definitely the money tree. So simoleons really can grow on trees! Gardening can be useful after all...

 

Chapter Eleven

I still love to jam out to my tunes. It doesn't really have anything to do with helping my career, but in this area I don't care. It's really fun, and I'm good at it.

Thomas grew up into a full adult like me, but he decided to stay around the house for a while until he figures out what he wants to do.

Ok, so no one is ever going to believe me, but I met an alien. He stopped by our house one night! Seriously, who knew aliens just did that? His name was....er, well I can't pronounce it, and I don't even really remember it.

But he was really interesting and told me all this stuff about being from another planet and having the technology to actually travel here from so many lightyears away.

No one in my family believed me about the alien. Typical. Mom and Dad decided to throw a gift-giving party, and that was when I first saw her. Betty Simovitch-Newbie, the source of many of my future troubles.

Uncle Rudy, Mom's much younger half-brother, came too. I've always thought he was the coolest.

Betty and Arthur came too, of course, and Mom and Dad were thrilled to see them. Everyone dressed very nice for the occasion, even Rudy, who I didn't think even owned a suit.

Samuel adores Uncle Rudy and gets along really well with him.

"So kid, you're gonna grow up and become a musician like me and your brother one day?"

"Duh!" 

"Get up on stage to thousands of adoring fans and get lots of groupies..."

"What's a groupie?"

"Uncle Rudy!" exclaimed Betty.

Dad and Betty spent some quality time together. Betty doesn't come over nearly enough, and we all miss her.

Everyone got a lot of really good gifts. It was most exciting for Samuel of course, being the only kid around. He definitely got spoiled.

All this stuff came from family and friends. Lord knows we certainly couldn't afford it all on our own.

Mom's taken to pinching Samuel's cheeks whenever she gets a chance, which I find hilarious, but Sam obviously hates.

I ran into an old school friend, Patricia Harrison. She's grown into a serious, ambitious person like me. Maybe when I get around to dating I might ask her out...

So I finally got the job at Doo Peas. I'm just a glorified gofer right now, but before long I'll be CEO you just watch.

Thomas is closer to Samuel than I've ever been. Good thing too, the poor kid is so much younger than the rest of us. I've always found him more annoying than anything, but good on Thomas for actually paying attention to the poor kid.

Speaking of which, he's not such a little kid anymore, which is good. It's kinda crazy to think about how old Mom and Dad were when they had him. Mom looks more like his grandma now than his mom. Sam immediately decided to grow a beard, which irritated Dad who believes men should be clean-shaven so that kinda got points in my book. Way to be a rebel, kid.
 

Chapter Ten

 

Dad is still at it, exploring strange places in Riverview to find interesting new seeds and trying to catch all the different types of fish.

He doesn't let getting older slow him down any either.

When I say all the types of fish, I mean all the types of fish. I had no idea there was such a thing as a robot fish, but Dad caught one anyway. He says you can catch them in the river outside the science center, because they toss them in the river.

In my free time from school, I focus on my skills. I'll do whatever it takes to be successful in my career when the time comes. Thomas and I play chess a lot, and so far he hasn't beaten me once. Not to brag but I was able to pick up the guitar quickly too.

Mom and Dad insist we still make time for family meals, and with Mom's cooking I can't really complain.

Dad catches the food and Mom cooks it. That's how it's always been in our family, and I didn't realize until I was older that most people just go to the grocery store.

Mom tried to visit Betty at her new house, which is a super nice little townhouse, way better than our own old house, but she wasn't home at the time. Too bad. I would've liked to visit too and see her new digs.

Samuel is a little social butterfly. He's way more social than I was at his age. It's easy for him to make friends.

Dad was super excited about these latest fish he caught. The first one is a vampire fish he told me. That creeped me out, but the second one he caught creeped me out even more. He went fishing by the graveyard at midnight to catch these things too. Is he nuts?

Dad said he caught a deathfish. Creepy.

Betty decided to hold her wedding with Arthur at the Gazebo in true family tradition. Too bad it was winter at the time. I'm not sure how my sister stayed warm in that dress to be honest.

Mom was beside herself with happiness of course. She's always been so family-oriented. She's told me often that me and my siblings are the most important things in her life.

So yeah Betty and Arthur got married right there in the snow, and it was actually pretty sweet.

I provided the entertainment of course!

Finally, it was my time to become a full adult. Now I'd be able to get the job I've always wanted at the Doo Peas Corporate Towers. When I have my way, we're going to be swimming in the simoleons. No more scraping by, living hand to mouth with the help of the garden.

It's time to get to work!