The Ottomas Family - Part II
"Thanks for inviting me over, Jules."
David looked around his new friend's room. It was pretty girly, which was to be expected, and very... large. All that space, all to herself. He couldn't help but feel a bit jealous. He shared a room with his little sister, and their beds and desks barely fit in there. He had asked his mother several times if Sharla couldn't share a room with their grandmother instead (knowing that Sharla would throw a fit if she'd overheard it), but his mother insisted that grandmother Dora needed her private space and that he'd just have to deal with it a little longer until he left for college.
Jules smiled. "No problem. I imagine it's not much fun being the new kid, so y'know."
"Oh, I see, it was just out of pity?" David raised an eyebrow, but his wry grin betrayed him.
"Of course." Jules rolled her eyes, before changing the subject. "So how is your new job?"
"It's all right," David said. "Better than being a store clerk back in the city, anyway. Now I'm actually learning something. You know, notes and stuff. My parents won't buy me a guitar, so until I can afford one myself, the only other place I can practice is music class at school. It's also making me realise just how much I have to learn, though." He sighed.
"How so?" Jules asked.
"Well, today, I spent almost three hours tuning the piano for some old lady over at that big red house at the end of Riverbend Road..."
The expression on Jules' face changed in a way David didn't know how to interpret. "Betty Goldstein?"
David nodded. "Yeah, that's it. You know her?"
Jules shrugged. "It's a small town, you end up getting to know everyone sooner or later... But yeah, I know her." She made a face. "Her and the rest of the freaks who live there."
"What do you mean?"
Jules looked away for a moment. "It's kind of a long story. Betty and Catherine, the other old lady who lives there, have been best friends since like, forever. They had another best friend too, Linda Martin, and Linda had a son, Andrew. So, Andrew grew up, married, and had a son... Jacob.
You know him from school, right? Anyway, then Andrew's wife died. Not longer after that, his mother died too."
"Whoa," David commented. "That kinda sucks."
"Kinda," Jules agreed. "Betty and Catherine decided to take care of Andrew and Jacob.
Catherine gave her house away to her niece, and she, Andrew and Jacob all moved in together at Betty's farm.
Not long before you guys moved here, they sold the farm and moved into that not quite as big, but still huge house that you visited today."
David still couldn't understand why this made them 'freaks', or why it inspired such a tone of contempt in Jules' voice. "That's very nice of them, though, isn't it?"
"Yeah, well, it's just that Andrew sees his 'surrogate aunts', as he calls them... as a little more than just that."
Jules shuddered. "I thought it was just rumours first, but I've been over there and I've... seen things. Heard things."
"Oh." David blinked. Then he suddenly realised just what she was implying. "...Oh!"
Jules grimaced. "Yeah."
"That's not... not right. What about Jacob, what does he think of it?"
"He pretends it's not real, he denies all the rumours. He's absolutely mortified at the idea of anyone finding out it's true," Jules said. "We used to go out together, see... But he didn't want to talk to me about it either. Got very mad whenever I asked about it, so I stopped."
"He's dating that blond girl now, right?"
Again, Jules' expression changed, and it immediately made David feel uncomfortable.
"Sandra Roth," Jules said in an icy tone.
"She stole him from me. Kissed him right in front of me when she knew we were dating."
David frowned. "But that's really his fault, isn't i-"
"No!" Jules prostested. "She tricked him. It was all her fault."
David fell silent, and so did Jules. She stared at a spot on the wall behind him as she tried to control her quick breathing. David suspected she knew exactly how unreasonable she was being, but he could see that it was easier for her this way, to believe that there was nothing wrong with her or Jacob or their relationship, but that an outside force had ruined it all for them.
"We were perfect together," Jules said quietly after a while. "He'd lost his mum, and so had I, and we understood each other..."
David nodded. "I can't imagine what that's like... having your mum run out on you like that. My mum pretty much lives for her kids."
"Well." Jules took a breath. Obviously she didn't want to talk about it. "It sucks. And now dad's started dating this bitch who moved here along with Catherine Viejo's niece. Patricia Wan." She said the name in a mocking, sing-song voice.
"She's horrible."
"Really?"
"Very. She's stuck-up and annoying and always makes these fake attempts at 'bonding' with me, but all she really wants is to get into my dad's pants.
Dad thinks we should get along just because she wants to be an author too. Ugh! I wish he'd gone after her roommate instead. At least she's cool.
A rock musician, you know. You'd probably like her."
"Cleo Shikibu, right? They talk about her at work all the time."
"She's really good," Jules said.
Just then, they heard the front door being shut and a voice calling. "Jules? Are you home?"
"That's dad," Jules said, sighing and getting to her feet, and signaling for David to follow her. "Come on. We've got to go say hi."
David complied, feeling apprehensive. There was something about being friends with the math teacher's daughter that didn't feel quite right, at least when he had to interact with him outside of school.
"Hey dad," Jules said as they entered the living room.
"Hi honey. Who's your friend?"
Jules subtly nudged David's shoulder, pushing him in her father's direction. "You know David, right? He's in your class."
"Oh, of course, of course, Samantha Ottomas' son."
David took the hand that was extended to him. "You have a lovely house, sir," he said, lamely.
Mr. O'Mackey smiled. "Please, call me Gabe. Let's have a seat, shall we?"
Jules was already seated in the chair near the TV, and Mr. O'Mackey took the couch, leaving David with the only option of sitting next to him.
"How is Riverblossom Hills treating you, David?" Mr. O'Mackey asked.
David shrugged. "Fine, so far. I mean, it's very quiet compared to what I'm used to, but it's okay."
Mr. O'Mackey nodded. "It must be quite a transition, moving from the city to a place like this. And how's your mother doing?"
"She's good," David said. "She should be having the twins any day now."
"I see. You must all be pretty excited!"
David smiled politely, but there was something in Mr. O'Mackey's voice that he didn't quite like. Maybe it was just his imagination. He was so used to his family - or at least his mother - being judged for having so many children. Understandably, it made it difficult for the schools where she worked when she was on maternity leave almost more than she spent time actually teaching, and David imagined that in a small place like this, there wasn't a whole lot of good subsititutes to pick from.
"So tell me," said Mr. O'Mackey, looking between his daughter and David, "are you two just friends or are you, you know, seeing each other?"
"Dad!" Jules snapped.
"What?" Mr. O'Mackey said. "I was just wondering. I like to know what's going on, is all." He looked at David. "Jules had a bad breakup not long ago and I wouldn't like to see her hurt again."
"Dad!" Jules protested again, almost in a shriek. "Stop it!"
"We're just friends, sir," David said quickly. "Don't worry."
Mr. O'Mackey looked at him and smiled. "Good. It's important to not move too quickly."
"As if you would know," Jules muttered, but her father ignored her. Instead he quite elegantly moved on to something else.
"Honey, before I forget - don't plan anything for tomorrow night, okay? We've been invited to your uncle's for dinner.
He wants to show us the new pictures they took at Stella's."
"Oh, dad, can David come?" Jules immediately chirped up.
Mr. O'Mackey frowned. "I'm sorry, Jules, I don't think so... it's just for family."
"But I bet he's never even seen a plantsim before!"
"Jules, your aunt is not an attraction for you to show off to your friends," her father said sternly. "You know better than that."
David turned to Jules. "What's a plantsim?"
"Told you," Jules commented to her father, then looked back at David. "They're kinda like elves, I guess.
They live in the forests around here, but they're very secretive. They live like... well, plants.
They don't eat or sleep but life off of water and sunlight."
David watched her in amazement. "You're joking, right?"
"Not at all," Mr. O'Mackey interjected. "They have green skin and are photosynthetic, just like a plant. Normally they reproduce asexually through spores, and don't take any mates..."
"...But my aunt Rose is a bit of an exception," Jules continued. "She married my uncle, Jason, and they live together in that big greenhouse-looking house, near the McGreggor farm.
She's got this cutest little spore daughter, Daisy.
I love her. I'm planning to write a book about her, you know."
David didn't know what to say. He'd heard of special sims before, but only in stories and fairy tales. He still wasn't entirely sure that they weren't just pulling his leg, that they wouldn't suddenly start laughing and tell him he should've seen the look on his face.
"Rose and Jason are having twins, too," Mr. O'Mackey said.
"The... normal sim way. Her plantsim relatives were already upset with her for marrying a sim, but after they learned she was pregnant, they've cut her off entirely."
David stared at him. "That's horrible."
"It's a difficult time for them. I don't want to invite any unexpected guests over on their behalf right now. I'm sure you understand... But I'm certain you'll be able to meet them some other time."
"Sure, yeah... Of course." David nodded. Feeling uncomfortable, he glanced at his watch. "It's late, I should be getting home..."
Mr. O'Mackey stood up, and so did David and Jules. "All right. It was nice getting to know you a little better, David. Say hi to your mother and grandmother for me, will you?"
David nodded again. He and Jules put their coats and hats on, and Jules walked him outside.
Even though it was spring, it was still cold after the sun had set. They stood together for a while in front of the house, and Jules made sure her father wasn't watching them through the window before she spoke.
"Sorry about my dad. I know he's a bit of a jerk. He's just being all protective over me because my mum left," she said, rolling her eyes as she did whenever she needed to express how stupid something was.
"It's okay."
Jules suddenly looked down shyly. "...Did you mean what you said? That we're just friends?"
David felt his stomach do a little leap. "I dunno... Do you want to be just friends?"
Jules shook her head, still not looking at him. "Do you?"
"No."
He breathed in deeply.
Then he leaned in and kissed her.
It was strange, soft, very awkward and absolutely awesome.
When David pulled back, Jules was smiling at him. "...See you at school tomorrow?"
David smiled back. "Yeah... See you."
He felt like he was floating all the way home.
He was quickly brought back down to earth, however, when he walked in the door and found Tommy screaming while his grandmother tried to feed him, his heavily pregnant mother walking around in her pyjamas, his father watching a football game on the couch (with only his pants on) and - once David had escaped into his room - Sharla jumping vigorously on his bed, its springs protesting dangerously.
Such was the life of an Ottomas.