Friday 18 May 2012

Africa

Round 15: March 2023


Dawn Whitfield is 19, Finn Harris is 18 and Shea is 3.
(Zach is 19 and Josh and Lilly are 18.)


Narrated by Finn Harris.

My parents warned me that moving in with Dawn and Shea might not be as easy as I expect it to be. In the beginning it all went really well. Dawn and Shea have their own daily routines and I am trying to become a part of that routine.

It's nice to have real family dinners together.

It's also great to be there to put Shea down for a sleep for the night. I never really got a chance to be a part of this when I still lived with mom and dad.

At first I didn't know what to study but then I decided to major in Economics with a focus on Entrepreneurial Studies. I want to run my own restaurant some day and knowing the business side will be helpful.

Dawn said that Shea will let me study if I let her play with her toys nearby and she was right. That's how she got all her work done last year. We have our classes at different times a day this semester so we haven't even had to hire the nanny for now.

Obviously the good start couldn't last too long. I bumped into Zach one day when I was walking home from my classes. He invited me over to The Lion's Roar for a drink. I said I might as well pop in for a beer but then I'd have to get home.

Josh and Lilly joined us after a while and somehow one beer turned into many more. It wasn't until Lilly asked how it's been living with Dawn that I realised I hadn't even send her a text message telling where I was!

It was past midnight and I tried to be as quiet as possible but I needn't have to worry about waking Dawn up. She was waiting for me in the hallway and looked really angry.

She let me have a piece of her mind, calling me irresponsible and telling how worried she had been. I was so drunk that I could barely stand up and so ashamed that I couldn't even look at her.

She told me that I would be sleeping on the sofa and got upstairs. I don't know if it was all the beer or the fear of messing up everything but I felt like throwing up.

I fell asleep the moment I laid down on the sofa but I kept waking up all throught the night with the thought that I'm stupid.

I woke up to the sounds of Dawn reading to Shea. She didn't even look at me once but Shea came to give me a kiss.

I tried to make up for my stupidness by cleaning up the kitchen. Dawn avoided me the whole day and a little part of me was happy about it because she seemed to be really angry.

I was putting Shea to bed when Dawn came into the room and smiled at me. We waited until Shea fell asleep and went to our bedroom.

I apologised for being a total jerk and she said it's ok.

"I know you want to go out with your friends and that's ok but our situation is different than most other students. We can't just party all night, we have to think about Shea" she said. "I want to go out too so the next time you'll stay home with our daughter and I'm going to get totally wasted and stumble home after midnight."

And then she kissed me.

I was just so relieved that she forgave me. Now I understand that making up is the best part of fighting.

Living together definitely isn't as easy as I expected but it's worth all the trouble.

Grades, spring 2023
- Dawn, art/culinary arts, A+, GPA 4.0
- Finn, economics/entrepreneurial studies, B+, GPA 3.3

Notes:
  • Title reference: Africa by Toto.
  • I didn't want to create any major problems between Finn and Dawn but I thought he might do something stupid now that he's out of his parents' house. Other than that their new life together has gone pretty well.
  • I'm currently creating a proper faculty system for Brixton University. So far I've only got a couple of faculties figured out but I have plenty of time before my next university updates to complete the task.

10 comments:

  1. Lol, I hope Dawn does follow through on her threat, she needs some time out with friends as well, she spent the first year alone with their daughter so a little fun is long overdue.

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    1. I'm sure Dawn will follow through with that threat. She deserves some free time and it'll be fun for her to go out especially now that her best friend Lilly is living on campus as well.

      Thanks for reading. :)

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  2. Tut tut, Finn! But at least he was contrite about it and understands now why it wasn't a cool thing for him to do. I'm glad Dawn's planning on having her own night out too - she deserves one! Going out with her friends every now and then will give Finn more opportunity to practise more solo parenting as well, so it'll be good for everyone.

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  3. Finn knows what he did wasn't very nice and he's lucky Dawn was so understanding. Dawn definitely deserves to get some time for herself, she's been cooped up in that house for the past year or so.

    Thanks for reading. :)

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  4. Aah Finn, it's understandle that he wants to go out and have fun with his firends, but he should have thought about Dawn and Shae when doing that! It's like Dawn said, they have more to think about thant just their next class or exam.
    I do hope Dawn goes through with what she said, and has her own night out!

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    1. It wasn't a great surprise that Finn would go a bit crazy about his new freedom but he should've been more considerate about Dawn and Shea. That one night on the sofa was a good lesson for him though.

      Oh, I have every intention to take Dawn out with her friends the next time I play them :)

      Thanks for reading. :)

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  5. LOL The whole time I was reading about him out at the bar, I was thinking "did he ask permission?!" ;) At least he learned his lesson now and will likely not do it again without at least talking to Dawn first. Can't wait to see the girls night out when you play them again :).

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    1. Ha, he most certainly didn't ask permission, lol! I'm sure he's learned a valuable lesson and will remember to talk to Dawn the next time he wants to go out.

      Thanks for reading. :)

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  6. I like the way Finn and Dawn handled the bump in their relationship. She got angry, he apologized and they got over it. It won't always be perfect especially because they're so young but they should be able to figure it out.

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    1. Finn and Dawn are both trying so hard. Life certainly won't be easy for them but hopefully next time they'll talk before acting.

      Thanks for reading. :)

      Delete