Pleasantly Strange - Chapter 6
"So when are you going wedding dress shopping?"
Nina had a habit of talking while she worked out, which was not something that many sims shared with her. Dina honestly found it a little annoying; it was often hard to understand what her twin sister was saying through her heavy breathing and the noise of the exercise machine.
"Pretty soon. I'm not too worried about it. I can get pretty much whatever I like, anyway. Price isn't a problem." She couldn't help but sounding a bit smug as she said so.
"Yeah," Nina said, taking in a deep breath as she prepared to do a few more arm lifts.
"Do you have to do that right now? It's really distracting, and I'm trying to watch this," Dina complained, indicating the TV. Her favourite daytime soap opera was on.
"Well, some of us haven't just landed a filthy rich husband, and so still need to keep in shape."
Dina laughed. "You say that as if you're actually jealous. We both know you wouldn't sleep with an unattractive, old man to save your firstborn child's life, and besides, I've offered you several times to come live with us-"
"-and I've told you several times I refuse to live in that creepy old mansion. But I'm sure you would still extend a helping hand should your dearest sister ever be in monetary trouble, right?"
Nina wiped her brow and got to her feet, walking over to sit next to Dina.
Dina looked at her, smirking. "Not a problem. Sure you don't want to give the whole widower thing a try, though, Nina? Sure, it's a little work..."
"...but it really pays off, if you go about it the right way. And then after a little while... you'll be free to do whoever you want again."
Nina snorted. "A little work? And I don't think 'widower' is the correct term here."
"As good as! Maybe he is, by now, for all we know."
"Mm-hmm."
"What, you're gonna get all morally opposed to it now? You're a little late, sis, you should have spoken up a long time ago if you didn't want in," Dina snapped.
Nina sighed. "No, I did. I do. I just think sometimes... we could have thought of a better way."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Look, just forget it. I'm gonna go have a bath, Don's coming over soon."
Dina rolled her eyes. "Of course he is."
Nina stood up, glancing at the credits rolling over the TV screen as she passed it. Then she stopped for a moment, looking back at Dina. "...He still has no idea, does he?"
"Unless you told him, then no, he still thinks he was up there just to get in her pants and break old Morty's heart," Dina said. "Unlike you, I think he would have actually had some real moral objections to the plan, had he known. Likes to fool himself into thinking he's still a good person."
"Maybe that's not such a bad thing," Nina said, before walking away.
Dina frowned at this comment, but got over it quickly. She was used to her sister's occasional jabs, but knew that deep down, Nina's cold feet were simply a result of her envy. Envy of Dina who had the guts to take action and get ahead in life, while Nina did not. She grinned to herself. Don really had no idea... and some things even Nina didn't know.
Dina was almost asleep on the couch when the doorbell rang about an hour later. She propped herself onto one elbow and rubbed her eyes. The sun had set outside.
Nina came running down the stairs and rushed for the door. "Yeah, don't strain yourself too much or anything," she muttered, giving Dina a sour glance.
The second she opened the door, Don was upon her with a deep kiss.
"Nina, baby," he breathed, once he had let go. Nina looked a little dazed. "I've missed you. Between work and Cassandra not wanting me to go out much during the evenings... well, you know."
From the couch, Dina imitated the sound of a whip. "Ignore her," Nina said, tugging on Don's arm. "Let's head upstairs, and I'll show you just how much I've missed you."
Don looked at Dina as he passed her. "Sure you don't want to join us, babe? Twin sisters would be pretty hot... even if you're not identical."
Dina didn't look up. "I'd rather stab myself in the eye with a fork than seeing you and my sister get at it. And as you might remember, I'm engaged, which may not mean anything to you, but I'm not doing anything that might compromise my marriage, thank you very much."
Don shrugged and continued towards the stairs. "Your loss, honey."
Dina listened to them laugh and talk as they disappeared into Nina's room upstairs and shut the door behind them. She angrily grabbed the remote and changed the channel, turning the volume up quite a lot.
There was no way she was going to admit that sometimes, she was a little envious of Nina as well.
Had Darren known what Cassandra's new husband got up to in the house just across the street from him, there was no telling what he would have done. But fortunately both for Don and Darren himself, he remained perfectly clueless.
That didn't make dealing with the marriage much easier. Cassandra hardly came over anymore, she was much too busy with her new married life, and this left Darren with plenty of time to wallow in self-pity. He stayed inside his little art studio the whole day, but the subject of his paintings remained very one-sided...
...and Dirk was too caught up in his own life to have time to constantly remind his father to get a grip on himself.
Though time heals all wounds, as they say, and eventually, Darren realised he was tormenting himself in the same way he had when his wife died. He forced himself to focus on other things, and found that despite his muse being married to someone else, he hadn't completely lost his inspiration... nor his talent.
Dirk was doing excellent in his job and was promoted to an assisting security guard, and gradually, all the bills lying around the house were paid.
Darren started going outside the house again, and found that long walks around the neighbourhood relaxed him and gave him inspiration for new motives. It was during one of these walks that he came across Brandi Broke.
The two of them began talking and Darren learned that Brandi had tragically lost her husband, and was raising not one, but four boys on her own. She, too, was struggling badly financially, worse than Darren ever had. Darren realised that her oldest son was one of Dirk's friends, but he had never really bothered to get to know any of Dirk's friends, too busy with his own grief.
Yet here was Brandi, in the exact same situation as him except worse off in every way, and despite it all she seemed so positive and energetic. It made Darren feel shameful for how he had handled Darleen's death in comparison, and at the same time he gained an enormous respect for Brandi. Suddenly, his pining for Cassandra seemed so endlessly insignificant.
Not long after that, Darren finished and sold his first masterpiece.
"Daniel, can you get that?"
"I'm coming!" Daniel ran into the room, struggling to button his pants as he did so. He glared briefly at Mary-Sue, who was lying on the sofa, watching TV - an activity clearly more difficult to tear yourself away from than using the bloody bathroom.
He ripped the phone handle off the wall and put it to his ear. "Hello?"
"Daniel?"
It took a second before Daniel recognised the voice in the other end. When he did, his breath almost caught in his throat.
"Oh, Mr. Johnson! Hi! Yes, I was meaning to call you... Hold on, I'm just gonna grab the other phone upstairs, my wife's watching TV you see and I don't want to disturb her..."
Mary-Sue looked at him curiously and Daniel gave her a nervous smile. "It's Johnson from work. We were going to dicuss the, er... upcoming training next week. Before the big match, you know. I, er, forgot. I'll just head upstairs now..." He hung up and ran up the stairs, quickly making sure his daughters were both out of the way (Angela was at work, Lilith was loudly practicing her guitar in her room), before picking up the phone in the upstairs hallway. The connection hadn't been broken.
"Kaylynn, what are you thinking? You know better - no calls during evenings or weekends, Mary-Sue and the girls are home then!"
"Yes, it's nice to hear from you too," Kaylynn snapped. "I know the rules, but I have to talk to you."
Daniel snorted into the phone. "Yeah? First you just vanish - the maid company said you were sick, but for this long, and with no word from you? The replacement isn't much to look at, by the way. And then you call me up out of the blue on a friday afternoon and have to talk to me?"
"I have been sick," Kaylynn said quietly. "I didn't call sooner, because I... I didn't know what to say."
"How hard can it be to just tell me you're sick? Geez, you're not like, dying or anything, are you?" Daniel gave a short, uncertain laugh.
"No, Daniel. I'm pregnant."
