The Atwood DITFT: Generation 1, Chapter 3
Author's Note: Hey guys! I have another Atwood chapter for youuu :D I have played all the way through chapter 7, hehe, so don't be surprised if these are pretty frequent... especially since it's WINTER BREAK WOO!! Yeah. I'm really excited for another 2 lovely weeks of break <3 Anyway, here, have a chapter! Be sure to let me know what you think, because I'm still really self-conscious about posting this lol.
The Atwood DITFT: Generation 1, Chapter 3
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“Why, hello there!” came a voice.
Who’s that? Nick thought, nervously looking around. The only person in sight was a woman, one you might describe as pretty, beautiful even. Too beautiful to be talking to Nick-or for him to be talking to her.
“Cat got your tongue?” the woman asked cheerfully. “Or, should I say, ‘dog’?” She winked and smiled at Katie.
“Uh… hi,” Nick said uncertainly. He had never been good around people (he took after his mother more than he’d have liked), but this woman caught him especially off guard, though he could not say why. Perhaps because of how long it had been since he’d had any human contact-it must have been more than a few months.
“Aw, c’mon, don’t be so shy!” the woman enthused. “The name’s Marigold. Marigold Ferris. Are you new to Appaloosa Plains? You sure seem like it!”
“H-how can you tell?” Nick stammered, shocked.
“Why, because you’re so nervous being approached by a stranger! We’re all friendly here. Well, and nobody’s really a stranger at all in this little town! Everybody knows everybody else! If I see a new face, it means there’s a new resident! So, welcome!”
She said all this very fast, almost breathlessly. She seemed so enthusiastic to have met someone new that she could hardly contain it. Nick couldn’t help but be baffled-why was she so glad to meet him?
He realized he had been staring at Marigold for several seconds past the ‘awkward’ mark, simply at a loss for what to do next. “Um…” But Marigold’s smile did not falter.
“Well, do ya have a name?” she teased.
“Nick,” he said quickly. “Nick Atwood.”
“Atwood…” Marigold said, studying his face. “You wouldn’t happen to know of the Atwoods who lived in Riverview? I heard they were-”
“I have to go,” Nick said abruptly. He skirted around Marigold without meeting her eye, and hurried away without another word, Katie trotting inquisitively at his side.
“Oh dear…” Marigold murmured as she watched his retreating figure.
It was the past tense that had gotten him. “The Atwoods who lived in Riverview.”
They did not live anymore.
This walk was hard enough for him as it was, repeating the circumstances that had surrounded their death. But then that girl had just had to butt in and bring it up, and with it, a whole collection of other painful memories.
* * *
“Hey, Nick! Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Atwood!”
The family of three looked up from their garden, and seeing who it was, dusted off their hands and went to greet her.
“Julie, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Phil?” Nick’s father said with a jovial smile.
“And call me Marsha.”
“And you can call me Sir Nicolas De-Mimsy Porpington, if you please!” Nick said in a mockingly formal voice that sounded faintly British.
Julie giggled. “Only if you call me Juliet Capulet and go to the ends of the earth to protect your fair maiden!”
Nick did not realize, then, how much like Romeo and Juliet they would become.
“My parents say I can’t see you anymore,” Julie sobbed one night when the couple had been dating just over a year. “They said teenagers don’t know about love and that they don’t want me wasting my time on some boy instead of studying for school.”
“Hey,” said Nick soothingly, “it’s all right. If you want to do what they say, I’ll wait for you. Forever if you need me to.” He knew it was cheesy, but it was also the truth.
“NO!” said Julie emphatically. “I don’t want to wait! I want to be with you now! I don’t care what they say. They don’t know anything about love!”
So the couple began seeing each other without Julie’s parents’ knowledge. Phil and Marsha understood the situation, and allowed the kids to spend time at the farmhouse whenever they wished.
Julie used excuse after excuse on her parents, everything from a new after-school club to a study session at a classmate’s house, and for awhile everything worked perfectly.
“I love you.”
“Forever.”
* * *
Then Julie arrived weeping on Nick’s doorstep a second time. “They found out. They found out,” she sobbed.
She assured him that they had not hurt her physically (though Nick wouldn’t put it past them-Julie’s parents had a lot of anger issues).
“It’s not so bad, is it babe?” he asked, trying to soothe her. “What, are you grounded? Suspended from seeing me for awhile? We can get through it, don’t you think?”
But it was much worse than Nick had thought. “They’ve kicked me out. Disowned me. I’m never allowed to speak to them again.” She broke into sobs. “I have nowhere to go.”
“…Oh.”
(Sidenote: I absolutely adore this picture, omg)
When Nick had recovered from the shock-he didn’t think even Julie’s parents would stoop that low-he immediately knew the solution. “Don’t be ridiculous!” he exclaimed. “You have us, here! You have me.”
“Really?”
“Wait here,” he said calmly. “I’ll go ask my parents, okay? But I’m sure they will agree. They’d never kick you out on the street!”
“Thank you, Nick.”
Nick was the picture of smooth and businesslike as he approached his parents, who had been having a little romantic moment of their own. “Mom, Dad, I have a question for you guys.”
They listened to his proposal without interjecting, which was something he loved about his parents. They always treated him with respect, even when he was a little child. He knew that if he was mature and could make his point, his parents would take what he had to say into account.
Phil was more skeptical than Marsha (who agreed immediately). He wanted to know all the details and make sure there was no way Julie could reconcile with her own family, which he argued would be the best solution possible. He also made sure his son realized that Nick himself was responsible for Julie’s current situation.
Nick did. And he used that to his advantage: “It’s only right that I take care of her, since I got her in this mess after all!”
Offering to take responsibility for his actions was what finally got Phil in on the plan. But after Marsha had left the room, scolding Phil with a smile for being too harsh, Nick’s father approached him.
“Now son,” Phil said sternly, “be aware that you two will not share a room.”
“Of course not, Dad! She can stay in the guest room-she used to sleep there half the nights anyway.”
Julie’s parents had fought a lot, and she usually hated to be around after the particularly big arguments.
Back when they were kids, Nick would invite Julie over for a sleepover anytime she needed to get away; they would do homework together and goof around, whatever it took for Nick to see Julie smile. It had become more complicated when they were old enough to realize they had gender differences, and even more complicated when they began dating. Luckily, by that time Julie was able to withstand the storm a little better, and often didn’t need to seek shelter at Nick’s house.
“Besides, Dad,” Nick added, “I wouldn’t want to have sex with her. I want to wait until we are married. And an unplanned pregnancy would be the last thing we’d need right now.”
Phil smiled affectionately. “You’re a good kid, Nick. Odd, maybe, but good.” Nick knew his father thought he was kidding about waiting til marriage to have sex, but Nick really did believe it. It was the ultimate commitment, and in Nick’s eyes, a teenager just wasn’t ready, no matter how long he’d been dating.
Phil and Marsha welcomed Julie to their family with open arms. Though she wasn’t a big gardener herself, she did not mind the odor of soil and fertilizer that seemed to hang off of everything at the Atwood farm-including the people. And she loved to cook, especially with such fresh homegrown ingredients. She delighted the whole family with her delicious creations.
She even managed to form a relationship with every pet they had in the house (which was quite an accomplishment). She said she loved animals, but had never been given an opportunity to have one of her own. Phoenix, Nick’s favorite of the cats, quickly became Julie’s best friend.
She and Nick did not share a room. Phil, and Marsha too, had put their foot down on that front. But Nick often snuck into the guest room after his parents were asleep. Not to have sex-Nick really did believe what he’d told his father about waiting for marriage-but simply to sleep together in the most innocent sense of the word.
What they had was special. They would get married, and then Julie’s parents would see.
* * *
“Shoo!” Julie finally exclaimed. “Out of the kitchen. Out of the house!”
“You can’t do that! It’s my birthday!” he whined as Julie turned back to her cooking. Nick was turning 18 that day, and had been promised a special surprise, made especially for him by Julie. He hated surprises, though, and wanted to know now.
“That’s exactly why I can do that! I’m baking you a surprise, and you’ll spoil it if you watch me the whole time!” Julie smiled, pretending not to notice Nick’s expression.
However, when he didn’t move to do as she’d asked, she turned around and playfully shoved Nick toward the back door. “Go on, go help your parents in the garden or something. You’ll get to see this soon, I promise. I love you, but GO!”
Nick finally gave in. A quick kiss for Julie and he went out the door. His parents waved him off, saying they didn’t need his help gardening but there was a harvest waiting to be sold and Katie sure could use a walk.
He hadn’t said I love you back. To her, or to them. It haunted him to this day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
You guys do not know how depressing it was to kill those Sims. I seriously almost cried, lol. It was horrible. xD But hey, I hope you liked it anyway? lol. Thanks for reading you guys! I do appreciate it :) And I'd love a comment, if you have the time! I love hearing what you thought. I may actually immediately start working on the next chapter, so don't be surprised if there is another one soon... But yeah. Happy winter break and happy simming! <3