Making Decisions

May 2030 - Windenburg, Germany
University student: Lily Gates-Watson is 19

It’s another semester at Windenburg University and Lily is now entering into hopefully a good end to her first round of classes.

Seeing her family and Ethan for just a short time between semesters isn’t the same as actually being with them.

So she talks to them as much as she can. It doesn’t replace being there in person, but she loves hearing their voices and updates on what’s going on everywhere else.

Although she has friends here in Windenburg, it’s easy to still feel like an outsider at times. Everything is so different than home, things don’t look like the city she knows.

Lily steps away from her friends for a moment so they can’t see how much she misses Ethan and her parents and brother.

One of the guys she’s seen around campus comes over to her. “Hello. Is everything all right?”

Lily makes herself smile at him. “Yes, I’m fine. Just sitting down.”

“Do you mind if I sit too?” he asks. “Sometimes I need a break from the other people.”

“Sure,” she tells him. “I’m Lily.”

“I’m Daniel,” he says as he sits down.

***

Lily spends some afternoons playing chess with her dormmates while her friends are gone to class. It helps pass the time. It helps pass the time when she’s bored or too lonely to go out on town by herself.

But her opponent this time has to bail out of the game early so he won’t wet his pants.

It’s okay however, because Lily’s phone rings, Daniel’s name appearing on the caller ID.

Maybe it was crazy to give her number to a guy she just met, but he seemed like he wanted to be a friend. And she is happy to have someone who wants to talk to her when she’s feeling lonely.

Daniel shows up at the dorm house soon after his call. “Thanks for spending the day with me,” he says. “I was getting bored over there with my roommates and their habits.”

Lily sighs. “It’s pretty boring around here too. I need to get out before I go crazy. Let’s go explore the city.”

A day traveling around town ends with Lily and Daniel looking up at the stars as night falls.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Lily says. “The city I live in back home isn’t bad, but the views here are different. Even looking up at the sky is different.”

“It’s all really beautiful to look at,” Daniel says.

It’s only a moment before his arms are around her, pulling her close to him. And for that moment, Lily isn’t sure what she wants to do, how she really wants to respond deep down.

Lily jumps up out of his arms, her face hot with a deep blush. “I, um…” Her tongue is tied, unable to get the words out for a moment. “I have a boyfriend. He’s in the United States still, in Illinois for college. We, um, we’ve been together for a couple of years now. We…we might get married one day…”

She can’t get out anymore words as those hit her. Married. She wants to marry Ethan. She can’t imagine spending those years after college with anyone else.

They get to their feet, staring at each other for a moment. Daniel only says, “I’m sorry.” And then he leaves, never looking back at her.

There’s only one person she wants to talk to right now. But it’s 10:13pm here in Germany and he said the Bot Savants were having their robotics contest today and so she knows he’s busy with that back in his time zone.

And so she sends just a quick text, telling him how much she loves him. It’s only a moment later that he texts back a short message, telling her that he loves her too.

***

Alana groans when Lily tells her what happened between her and Daniel last night.

“What will you do now?” Alana asks.

“I’ll tell him we can still be friends,” Lily says. “It’s not a big deal.” At least, she keeps telling herself it’s not.

Alana shakes her head. “Good luck with that.”

Lily walks through town on her own after lunch with Alana.

It’s going to be an awkward conversation to have with Daniel and she’s not even sure if he will talk to her.

***

Lily isn’t sure that Daniel will come when she texts him, but not long after she sends the message there he is waiting for her.

“Hello,” he says.

“Hey,” she answers back.

“I’m sorry about what happened last night,” she tells him, her cheeks growing hot as she talks. “I didn’t mean to make you think…”

Daniel frowns. “I thought maybe you’d changed your mind when you asked me to come here. But you haven’t, have you?”

Lily shakes her head. “I’m in love with someone else. My heart belongs to him. I’m sorry.”

And with that, she turns to walk away before she could possibly change her mind.

Was she wrong in this? Are things between her and Ethan really as strong as she thinks--hopes--they are? Can they really survive this long distance?

Lily loves Windenburg, but she'll be so happy when she's back with her family and Ethan.

----------

It’s funny that one of Lily’s classes is about long distance relationships. She knows all about that. Let’s see if she knows how to actually balance a long distance relationship.

B in that Long Distance Relationships class. She managed to pass it and work through one of the surprises that could come with a long distance relationship. ;)

I asked back in May what would you do if a Sim rolled the want to woohoo in a bush and wasn’t with their partner? That want belonged to Lily, right here in her night with Daniel. She wants to woohoo, he’s right there, what should I do?? Finally, I decided that it didn’t really mean woohoo with Daniel because it didn’t say his name specifically. She misses Ethan and wishes that he was the one pulling her close.

And yes, I played this scene back in May 2020 but it’s just now being posted! That’s how far ahead I am in my play versus storytelling.