Kings and queens

Round 11: Spring 2016


Erin Fielding is 21 and Iona is 4.
(Toby is 24.)

Narrated by Erin Fielding

Iona and I moved to a new home this year - it looks exactly like our old one though. The only change is the upstairs. There's two bedrooms and the balcony is smaller. There wouldn't have been room for Iona's bed in our old house and I thought it would be nice if she had her own room.

The nanny is always urging me to go out more. It's true that my social life has been somewhat challenged ever since I moved to Brixton. Most of the communication I have with other adults happens online. I've gotten some friends just by chatting with them. Sometimes it's easier to talk online. Face to face some people tend to get that oh-you-poor-dumped-teenaged-single-mom look in their eyes. In my opinion they have no reason to pity me - my life is brilliant!

Toby Parker is one of my online friends. We've met a few times in real life too and we seem to have a lot in common. We like the same music, same movies and we just basically think the same way about a lot of things. He said I really need to get out of the house and invited me to an outing at Twilight Zone.

I have to admit I do have a huge crush on him. He's just so wonderful to be with. I feel like I can tell him everything.

He wanted us to sing a karaoke duet and chose a love song! I believed every word that I sang but I tried to keep my cool. I don't know if he likes me that way or if he wants us to be just friends.

We ended up staring at each other for a few minutes after the song. I could swear he was interested but then he just gave me a hug at the end of the evening and I went home alone.

Of course I can't rush into a relationship because I have to think about Iona. She misses her father so much and it wouldn't be fair to introduce someone to her if it's not gonna last.

I've finally started to see Greg for what he is: a selfish man! I'm the one struggling with money and all the responsibilities that come with a child and then he moves to god knows where because he has issues - and he expects me to just wait around for him. Not to mention cheating on me while we were dating and then dumping me.

Toby came over the other night for dinner. I just told Iona that he's a friend of mine - which is totally true. We haven't even kissed yet and I still don't know if he really is interested.

He seemed to get along very well with Iona. She was completely smitten when he said that his father is an aeroplane pilot - which is Iona's dream career at the moment. She kept asking all kinds of questions throughout the dinner.

After I had put Iona to bed I got my answer. Toby put his arms around me and pulled me on to his lap. We had our first kiss and it was amazing.

He has come over a few times since then. We watch tv or go for a walk with Iona. I want to take things slow. I rushed into things with Greg and we all know how that ended.

Mom has been calling me almost daily and complaining that I never visit them anymore. So we got on the bus and rode back to Wellington for a day.

Mom suggested that Iona could move in to live with them next year when she starts pre-school. That way she wouldn't have to ride the bus every day. She said that way I could concentrate better on my studies. It'll be my last year in Brixton and mom said that I need to work extra hard to get good grades.

I didn't agree with her at all. There's nothing wrong with the way I concentrate on my studies now and there will be other kids in the bus with Iona so it's not like she's gonna be alone. I would just worry all the time if Iona didn't live with me. Dad backed me up by saying that obviously my studies are going very well since last year I got a 3.7 GPA. This year I've been doing even better. I've gotten an A+ on every single test I've taken.

Mom said that she totally accepts my decision. I know she's just worried about me. Nyah was born when mom was still in college so she knows how hard it is to be a full-time student and a full-time mom at the same time even though she and dad were together and he helped as much as he could.

We had a nice dinner together before Iona and I had to leave to catch the last bus back to Brixton.

I did get a chance to catch up with Lilly. I can't believe how big she's gotten. She's so tall and skinny now! It feels weird to think that she'll start high school next year. Let's just hope she doesn't make the same mistakes I did.

Notes:

• Title from "Kings and queens" by 30 Seconds to Mars
• Erin's GPA is 3.8.
• I guess it's pretty obvious that Erin has moved on from Greg. She actually had higher ACR scores with Toby (88 against Greg's 73) even before I changed their turn-ons to match. They now have 106 which is pretty high for my sims.
• Toby is a former townie who has now become my first playable NPC. I'll post more info about my playable NPC's soon.