The Start of Something New

January 2033 - Arcadia, North Carolina

Gates-Watson household - Logan is 43, Shelley is 43, James is 18

James is still home from college for that winter break between semesters. It’s nice to be home, but he isn't really looking forward to working on New Year's Eve. It's not that he hates making money, it's that working means he doesn't get to celebrate the New Year, he only gets to wait on others who are celebrating.

But this night is busy. People quickly fill tables and the bar at The Willow so they can celebrate the start of a new year.

He even spots Isabella as they wait to watch the ball drop on the TV downstairs. How funny would it be if he told her she owes him a New Years kiss just for being there? But he won’t do that. He’s not willing to get her knee in his groin.

She doesn’t stick around long, and James is too busy with customers to really chat with her anyway.

***

James does feel like he owes Isabella something for that night she came after him when he’d had too much to drink.

Should he even give her a thank you gift? Was helping him back inside the dorm while he was drunk and dancing in the rain worthy of a handmade gift?

Maybe he’s being stupid, but he has already started, so he might as well do something with this block of wood.

***

James is leaving his job at The Willow on January second when he runs into Cheryl. The restaurant had been closed the day before for New Years Day, but now they were open again. James had managed to talk his dad into letting him work only half the time instead of all day and night.

But he hadn’t expected to see Cheryl right now.

“Hey!” He can’t help staring at her stomach. They had only dated a short time, saying good-bye to each other over the summer right before they left for their college lives two thousand miles apart. She went to California, he went to Illinois. He had thought about possibly running into her, but not like this. Not with her like that. But he couldn’t ask if she was pregnant. That wasn’t his business. He was pretty sure it wasn’t his baby, since they hadn’t gotten brave enough to take that step together.

But apparently there was plenty of bravery in her now.

“Hey,” Cheryl says. She looks down at her stomach and laughs. “I’m sure you have questions. I went to California, met a guy, and…” She shrugs. “We’re talking about getting married in the summer, but I don’t know. Either way, we’ve got a surprise coming this year.”

They don’t talk long before saying good-bye and going separate ways. It is too much of a shake up to see Cheryl this way. She had said she was too nervous to get into bed with him, not ready for that. And so he hadn’t tried to pressure her into it. He’d been the nice, caring boyfriend for almost a year.

And then apparently she got over that nervousness as soon as she got to college.

He’s so focused on those thoughts that he almost doesn’t see Isabella walking down the sidewalk in the other direction.

“Oh,” he says. “Hey.”

“You need to look when you’re walking,” Isabella growls at him. “Almost knocked me down on this cold sidewalk.”

“Sorry,” he says. He pulls the box from inside his zipped up coat. He put it there to keep it from getting wet by the snowfall. “Here. A late Christmas present. I mean, a Happy New Year gift.”

“What is it?” she asks.

“A little masterpiece I made.” He rolls his eyes. “Just open it. If you hate it, it’s okay.”

She actually doesn’t look like she hates it when she takes it from him and opens it. “Did you make this?” Isabella asks.

James nods. “I’ve worked on it the last couple of nights.”

“Thanks.” She looks at him suspiciously. “You’re not giving me this with any intentions in mind, are you? Because you can’t win me over like that.”

“That would be a great plan,” he says, raising one eyebrow at the thought, “but really I’m trying to be nice. And my winning girls over into bed just from giving gifts doesn’t work. Never worked on Cheryl. She had to go find someone else. Maybe he gave her nicer gifts.”

“You sound jealous,” Isabella says with a smirk.

“Maybe I am,” James snaps back. “Wouldn’t you be jealous if a guy who once said he loves you but wasn’t ready to get in your bed got some girl pregnant as soon as you turned your back? Hell, I feel like maybe I should go be that guy and find some random girl willing to get into my bed. Probably would make me feel better than I do right now.”

Isabella looks at him for a long moment, then turns around and snaps, “Come on.”

***

“You know I was joking about finding some random girl to sleep with, right?”

They’re sitting on the bed in the guest room at his house. Her parents are at home next door but his aren’t. He has only a twin size bed in his room and he didn’t want to risk falling out of it. And the room is a mess. He can’t let Isabella Smith see his mess everywhere. If anything happens, that is. He’s still not even entirely sure what might happen.

“I’m not some random girl,” Isabella snaps. “We grew up next door to each other, we graduated high school school the same year, we live in the same dorm at the same college.” She waves her hands toward the wooden gift he carved. “But hey, you gave me a present you made so obviously you expect something in return, right?”

James sputters a bit, surprised at her words. “No, I didn’t, I mean, I won’t say no if you insist on giving me a gift like this back, but I never expected to—”

“You’re a dumbass, you know that? What guy is going to turn a girl down? Some guy didn’t turn Cheryl down.” Isabella shrugs. 

Isabella’s words spin together in James’s head. Was he seriously sitting on a bed with Isabella Smith, talking about doing something on that bed, something he had never thought could possibly happen? Happen with her, anyway. He had always thought about it happening but had never put Isabella into those images.

“But understand that this doesn’t mean we’re anything,” she snaps. “I’m bored, you’re upset, so why not get this first time over for both of us? I’m not your girlfriend, got it?”

It's his first time, and it will be hers too. She wants to get this moment over with, to move past this idea of a part of life she hasn't yet experienced. It will put all the hesitation she might have about this moment behind her. She'll know what to expect in other moments like this, what to feel, what to do, and it won't be another part of her life that she doubts herself on.

James nods, but she still lets him pull her close. “Okay. We’re in this together. Bed buddies, if you want to call us that.”

She rolls her eyes, but still a laugh escapes her. “Just shut up and make this afternoon worth my time.”

He’s not sure if he does make it worth it, but he tries his best. It’s certainly worth it for him. They make the bed when they’re done, but James knows he’ll wash it tomorrow when he’s sure his mom won’t see it in the washer or dryer. How could he explain to her why he might wash it?

“Not terrible for your first time,” Isabella says.

James holds his chin up. “I’m an expert in everything I do.” He doesn't really have the confidence that he tries to show. It was his first time. Did he do everything like he should? What does she really think about it? About him? What should he think about her? It was nice, he thinks. Good. Great. He wouldn't mind doing it again. If she ever wants to.

Isabella rolls her eyes. “Yeah, Romeo, you really won me over.”

But obviously, what had happened hasn’t made her too unhappy. She doesn’t even leave right away. They go to the garage to play darts.

Isabella is quickly losing and is not happy, muttering to herself when she misses the target yet again.

“Here,” James finally says. “Let me help.”

“I don’t need a personal trainer in darts,” Isabella says. But she doesn’t object or move away when he steps close and puts his hand on her hip. “Move this way just a bit. And stand like this.”

This time she throws it she makes it closer to the center. “Not bad,” she says. “Thanks.”

“I’m your good luck charm,” James tells her with a smug grin. “Think it goes both ways?”

He keeps his arm around her as he throws his dart. But he’s too focused on the feel of her close to him, the smell of her shampoo and body lotion still strong enough to bring back the thoughts of what happened upstairs.

“You missed,” Isabella says with a laugh. “You must be better luck to me than I am to you. Let me try again.”

 

"Eh, I was close enough." 

He doesn’t object when she steps close to him, doesn’t try to move at all. She throws the dart, and once again hits the board, even closer to the bull’s eye than before.

“You’ve obviously got a magic touch,” she says.

He reaches over, letting his fingers touch her hand, trailing ever lightly and gently across her skin as they stand there, both staring at the dartboard.

And maybe he does have a touch that’s magical in some way. Because he’d never imagined a moment like this with Isabella Smith would ever happen or that he or she would ever want it to happen. But it has, and she doesn’t pull her hand from his fingers.

———————

I didn’t set out with the goal of the two of them hooking up like this when I started this gameplay, but it all started to fall into place and so I went with it. I didn't even plan for them to stand like that while playing darts, they did that on their own. This is also one of the reasons I decided to skip ahead a bit in my storytelling here on the blog. I had these events happen and I hated waiting so long to tell about them!

James had that attraction to Isabella! She never objected to anything that happened.

His ex, Cheryl, got pregnant on her own. I don’t play her, just spotted her while he was out.

 

Also, is there a mod that hides the things that appear over restaurant guests' heads while they're dining? I did some photoshopping to take those out of my restaurant pictures. 

And poor Logan and Shelley! This was their household update but James hasn’t gone back for the spring semester yet and so he managed to grab all of my attention. But still, here they are:

 

Logan: Did you hear that?

Shelley: Hear what?

Logan: I thought I heard something coming from the guest room.

Shelley: You're imagining things. Why would anyone be in our guest room? There's not much in there other than that bed.